The sad fate of Firefly

This show is hugely underrated and cut before its time. I'm not going to be saying anything different that many other fans haven't said before, but I want to rant about how sad I am that this show is gone because Fox can't appreciate a good show that kicks them in the nuts. It's only after The Avengers success that they may now understand the awesomeness that is Joss Whedon. I don't think there are many other creative geniuses out there that are like Joss. 

Firefly is a creative mixture of sci-fy and western. I can see a little bit of a star wars influence in this show; mainly using Han Solo as an influence. Malcolm Reynolds personifies Han Solo to a T. From the pants to the demeanor he carries I can see Han written all over his character. The cast is perfect. Each one brings heart and sincerity to their part and like all Joss Whedon shows it has heart, humor, and approaches many topics such as religion, sexuality, war, spirituality from a variety of different angles which again makes the demise of this show all the more painful. To see where this show could have gone with just two seasons would have been something! We never get to find out who the men with the blue hands are and they are really interesting and incredibly creepy. Who are they and why did the Alliance want River so bad? What were they doing with those who were as gifted as River? The dynamic relationship between Malcolm and his crew is so heartwarming and they play off of each other that what happens to some of cast in Serenity so much more heartbreaking.

Joss Whedon understands the human condition, he gets how the environment affects each individual and how it affects them. In Firefly the crew understands the dangers they are in constantly and space is the best place to unify the crew, to have them struggle and grow and like other Whedon shows that are cut too soon it would have been amazing to see where this show could have gone

A new tv does not replace your child...but its close.

I'm going to get pictures of this baby up soon but my oh my am I a happy man. So with part of the new tax return I got I was able to purchase a Sony 40" Bravia. Now, I'm by nooo means a tech guy but I would like to say I know enough to know what type of tv to get and let me tell you, the picture on this tv is great (well anything is probably better to the 27" tube I previously had)! 1080p, 120hz, multiple hdmi ports...and that's about as far as I can go with the tech stuff. I can't complain about the speakers because, well, frankly I can hear out of them which is enough. Unfortunately being deaf in one ear kinda makes a good speaker system kinda moot because I only hear in mono. But I can sure enjoy the beauty it projects. It looks phenomenal while watching Avatar in blu-ray, next it's on to Band of Brothers and Planet Earth.

Because I like Radiohead

I just wanted to add this because frankly I think its an amazing video and song. I'll leave you to enjoy

Another mediocre movie for an awesome comic character. Thanks FOX.

So last night I had the opportunity to go and see X-MEN ORIGINS: Wolverine. And I have to say that I was hoping for a whole lot more than what it offered. True, it was definitely better than X-Men 3 (but that isn't really hard to do), it was way below the level of story telling and artistry that this comic character is deserving of. Instead the writers AND director jumped from action scene to action scene, with very little development of the characters in the movie; throwing in other popular marvel characters to let the audience know that they (FOX) know about these people and have the comic fan's interests at heart. But of course this is a load of crap and completely irrelevant to Wolverine's origins.
I have to give credit to the actors though. Hugh Jackman and Liev Shrieber did great jobs in becoming Wolverine and Sabertooth respectively and you could tell that they had a lot of fun with their roles. So I enjoyed them and they made the movie entertaining enough, and the action scenes weren't bad either. That said. The special effects were terrible. It would have been more realistic to tape sticks wrapped in aluminum foil and taped to Hugh Jackman's knuckles then the crappy CGI they had visibly moving around on his hands. And there was sooo much green screen being used that it had a glossy look to it that made you feel like you had to squint half the time just to see what was going on. It's about as glossy as the picture I have posted with this article. Pretty awesome huh.
I think that if you don't know much about Wolverine and his history you'll be able to look over the huge holes that run rampant through out the movie and just enjoy a forgetful popcorn movie.

Revenge of the Sith

Star Wars, Episode III - Revenge of the Sith by Matthew Woodring Stover

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Ok,

I know what you are all thinking "Jacob is just too much of a Star Wars geek to know a crappy book". And you know what? At times I think that I would agree with you but I would like to say this. The book of episode 3 is shockingly very different and much more intense than the movie ever was, and here is the big difference- George Lucas didn't write the book. In this version you actually have depth added to the characters and Anakin isn't a whiny little bitch. He is exactly what he should have been in the movie caring, yet arrogant, and has a better relationship with Obi-wan than he does in the movie and you can relate with him. You can also understand his frustration with the Jedi council as they continue to ignore his abilities and fail to recognize how well he handles himself in battle and gets other Jedi out of the scrapes they get themselves into. Its easy to understand how he goes over to the dark side because in the book its a gradual process. He is distrusted by the council and the only person that trusts him and listens to him is Palpatine, who whispers promises of being able to save Padme. So once he helps Palpatine kill Mace Windu its a whole lot easier to understand how he feels like there is no going back and thus converts to the power of the dark side. I enjoyed this telling of the tragic hero.




View all my reviews.

Indiana Jones was interesting-SPOILERS AHEAD

So like the title says and I am sure that you can put two and two together, I saw the latest installment to the Indiana Jones franchise. And all that I can say about it was that I was conflicted by the end of the film. I wanted to really like it but there were a few things that I had a hard time looking past. Sure, like many of you I enjoyed the film. It was funny and Indy still had his wry sense of humor and witty remarks, Shia Lebouf, and Karen Allen were both charismatic and entertaining. The situations that Indy gets himself in and out of are funny if not a little preposterous but no more unbelievable than when he some how got into the Nazi sub in Raiders or jumped out of a plane with nothing but a self inflatable raft. Its just funny that he somehow survives an atomic blast by hiding in a lead lined fridge, yes, fridge.
Cate Blanchet did a descent job at playing the baddie Russian seeking world domination like all the others. So I was cool with this, However! and let me stress the "HOWEVER" there were some plot issues that I had a problem with and you can tell that George Lucas was standing over Spielberg's shoulder saying "ohh!, ohh! add this! Tell them them to do that! Because I am sure that it was Lucas' s idea (SPOILER) to add aliens to the movie, yeah that's right, I said fricken aliens. And you find out that this movie is going to revolve around aliens within the first fifteen minutes of the movie (and that is when I got the sinking feeling in my gut that all was not well with Indy). I mean, aliens with psychic abilities? This is the quest of the Russians? To gain psychic abilities from aliens they can control the minds of their enemies and thus control the world? Now how does this compare with the rest of the Indiana Jones movies you may ask? Didn't they deal with same kind of absurdities with the ark and the holy grail? Not really and I have to agree with what my sister-in-law said about the movie- this one was science fiction and the first three were mystical and there is a HUGE difference between mystical and science fiction and Indy is NOT science fiction. Indy was about faith, relationship, and the desire for power and having the strength to turn away from that power for something more important like those you care about, and for the writers to throw in the whole alien bit was kind of a cop out and something I could totally see Lucas crapping in his pants about and thinking to himself "pure gold".
The green screen and glossy look of the film was really distracting and annoying and it somehow took away that grittiness that comes when you watch Indiana Jones doing his thing. And in the end when they aliens come together and blast off in their big shiny ship after they finally get the crystal skull of their brother to teleport or fly off into that whole other dimension, that space between space was just full of crap. I think I could have been ok with the alien idea if they hadn't added that whole schpeil about the spaceship and the different dimensions. How does this sound like a good idea to put in an Indiana Jones movie!!! And having Cate Blanchett die with her eyes being burned out from sensory over load just didn't make sense it would have been better if her head had exploded; to much information, brain can't handle it and pop! I could see that. And with all the progress we have made in the special effects department surely they could have done a better job then have her evaporate into pixelated mist. I mean I still get a little freaked by watching Donovan dissolve into the nothing at the end of The Last Crusade and watching Belock and the bald nazi dude with glasses melt away or explode at the end of Raiders because it looked (surprisingly) real. At some point I half expected Jar Jar Binks to pop up out of the ground. I know I should shut up and you can tell me to do so but at the end of the movie you're going to say to yourself "really? that's the direction they decided to go in? really? And you can tell that George Lucas wanted it to end that way. And then you will want to find a bat and Lucas's head and connect them and then punch Spielberg in the face for listening to Lucas

Sunday Night Movies!!

That's right ladies and gentleman! Instead of actually posting meaningful and touching information on this blog it will be used for nothing more than movies that we will be watching every Sunday night at some random home of our choosing. While I am still working out the bugs here I think that we can all agree upon that this Sunday's movie will be Paprika and if you don't like it...tough cookies!!