Author Archive: Beta Boy
Shut Up Critics! A Review of James Gunn’s Super
It’s not that surprising that when two movies with the same premise of a normal Joe Schmo fighting crime, Super and Kick-Ass, came out, Hollywood went with the movie with a safe, MARVEL audience looking for a straight-up action movie. Unfortunately, it left fans looking for Super in limited release theaters and waiting for the movie to hit DVD shelves. Luckily, it was well worth the wait.
Intelligent Grindhouse is Not an Oxymoron: Review of Hobo with a Shotgun
About 4 years ago, grindhouse, or exploitation cinema, was reborn with the release of the double-feature Planet Terror and Deathproof.. It was a gamble to bring the campy genre with usually amateurish actors back to the big-screen with a big budget, veteran actors, and high expectations. Hobo with a Shotgun has elements of this camp style to gore, but not so much that you fall into fits of giggling every 10 minutes. Whether it was the directing of Jason Eisener, the subtle acting of Rutger Hauer as the hobo, or the cinematography of the many landscape shots, this movie forces you to take it seriously…for the most part.
Transformers: Dark of Film Relevancy
3-D. Michael Bay. For producers, this would be a match made in heaven; for critics, a little further south. To be fair, [transformers3_poster] Transformers: Dark of the Moon had a lot to live up to. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen all but decimated any relevancy the Transformers franchise had achieved with the first movie, which says a lot considering the whole thing is Hasbro’s shameless toy promotion.
Shared Progress: A Review of “Late Bloomer” by The Northstar Session
The Inept Owl has been lucky enough to have a few artists in multiple fields come back again and again with new albums, ideas, and visions. It has the feel of a family reunion, as we see each other grow up and grow out each time we get together for a brief moment in the year. Such is the case with The Northstar Session as I review their latest album, “Late Bloomer”.
Wanna Make A Movie?: A Review of Super 8
For months, middle-aged hopefuls anticipated the release of Super 8, a movie directed by J.J. Abrams and produced by Steven Spielberg. You could hear the phrases “This generation’s E.T.” and “Finally, a movie that will build the characters of kids these days, like The Goonies did for us!”, coming from anyone between the ages of 28 and 36. Think about it: a bunch of Generation X-ers and Y-ers talking about the good old days, and how the kids these days have no respect for good movies, but Super 8 is going to shape them up, put some hair on their chests(for the boys) and make them model citizens. Shit, we are getting OLD!
Days of Future Past: A Review of X-Men: First Class
It’s hard to imagine how far a successful movie franchise can fall until you see it being pushed out to make room for an even larger franchise. Sometimes this is done deliberately, sometimes by accident, and sometimes executive producers think the franchise is so famous they can trim their budget down to sock puppets and still make a buck. I don’t really know where X-Men: First Class falls in regards to those categories. Maybe it’s a little bit of all three.
When TV Networks Offer Virgin Sacrifices: Fall Previews for ABC
The promotional world of satire and parody mediums is a dark, but adventurous place. The critical gauntlet for bands, movies, television shows, and anything else that accidentally makes it into our mailbox is long, blood-thirsty, and rarely praising. Praise isn’t funny. Mockery is. Mockery of praise is funny. Praising mockery isn’t. Mocking the praising of mock….well, you get the point. The one standing at the dark alter today: ABC and two new shows slated for the Fall season.
Thor: When Comic Book Creators Give Up
I know that super-heroes are, in a way, part of modern mythology. I can’t remember a time I didn’t hear the quote, “with great power comes great responsibility”, so super-heroes have helped shape our culture, hopefully for the better. Fine, MARVEL decided to adapt a pile of Norse gods into their universe. Great, they made Thor, god of thunder, a member of The Avengers. Why, besides money, did they go forward with this movie then?
Who Wants to Go Skiing?: A Review of Frozen
15 years later, I get suckered in again, except this time it’s a horror movie: Frozen. I expected big things, like, not wanting to ever go skiing again for fear of being mauled by a wendigo, or getting killed by a chair-lift operator who’s jealous of my girlfriend. Sadly, all it made me want to do was head up to Vermont.
Gamer Review: Fallout New Vegas
In 2008, the Fallout franchise finally broke through the gaming underworld after the release of their first console version, Fallout 3. Luckily, Fallout: New Vegas was not far behind. Would it be as good as the first one? Would the storyline stand up to the previous Fallout 3? Would there be a multi-player? Would the bobbleheads be as hard to find?
