The Rowbacca Project

New project coming soon!

2012-03-13T13:34:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been an awfully long time since I posted a blog update, I've been rather busy with school and other things, and haven't even had time to write up movie reviews. However, I'm back today with a small post, letting everyone know that I'm in the final stages of pre-production for my upcoming project. Filming should be done by the end of March and I should have the video online in early April. So, I hope you all look forward to this upcoming project, and keep an open ear for more news as it surfaces.

Holey Video Uploads Batman!

2012-01-29T12:22:00.000-08:00

Well folks, I was at work today, I had my external harddrive on me, so I decided to upload all the videos I was involved with from Eye on Campus. So five new videos, all related to the University of Windsor somehow.

Enjoy.

University of Windsor 2011 Fall Open House

Interview with Kim Nelson on her documentary: Metazombie

Launch of the Centre for Engineering Innovation

University of Windsor Fall 2011 Convocation

Interview with Erik Helle about ... stuff ...

New Video Upload, Future Film

2012-01-28T09:59:00.000-08:00

Hi everybody, it's been a while since I last made a post I've been pretty distracted with school, work, and other things in my life, but I come to you now with a new video upload!

If you remember me mentioning working on set of a news show called Eye On Campus, a program covering events related to the school, then you'll be interested in this blooper reel, created by my co-worker David.

Essentially, it's just a series of clips of my messing up everything I saw. Enjoy.

P.S. I'm in negotiations to work on a new short film, hopefully you'll be able to see that by the end of February.

Behind the Scenes at Eye On Campus

2011-12-11T10:18:00.000-08:00

Hello again everyone, sorry it's been so long since I updated you guys on anything, school has been quite hectic. However, I have returned to give you guys a look at the production set I've been working on over the last few months.

I mentioned back in October that I've been working on the set of a production called Eye on Campus, a news show that features stories that involve the University of Windsor. These episodes get aired on TVCogeco, however, if you don't live in the Windsor area, you won't be able to watch them.

Because of that, I'm giving you guys a behind the scenes look at the show, so you can see what it's like for us on set. I hope you enjoy.

Special Holiday Wednesday Review on Monday: Ghostbusters

2011-10-31T10:43:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody, I’m here with a special movie review in light of the holiday season! Today, being Halloween, I’ve decided to post my Wednesday Review today instead, and it’s something, though not a Halloween film, but I find fits the mood perfectly. A film starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Harold Ramis. The one. The only. GHOST BUSTERS!

Ghostbusters Title Card

He slimmed me.

Review after the break.

The film opens with a shot of the New York Public Library (why does everything happen in New York City?) and some eerie music plays. We follow a librarian into the basement where she starts putting books away, and as she turns her back a couple of the books float across the aisle onto the shelf opposite. Then the library cards start flying out of the card catalogue and the librarian freaks out. The effects so far are well done, a lot better than nowadays in my personal opinion. She runs away frantically and then we hear a ghostly growl as light and wind strike her head on and cue the title credits.

From left to right: Harold Ramis and Egon Spengler, Dan Aykroyd
as Ray Stantz, Bill Murray as Peter Venkman, and Ernie Hudson
as Winston Zeddmore.

Bill Murray’s opening scene we get to see how much of a womanizer he is, usual Bill Murray character, and Dan Aykroyd is so caught up in his own little world he’s oblivious to his surroundings. Mind you, Harold Ramis is worse, but that’s just Egon.

“Listen! Do you smell something?” I don’t think “listen” was the word you wanted to use there.

I’m so glad that they’ve spent years of work trying to find ghosts, but never planned out what they would do once that actually found one.

Rick Moranis is one of my all time favourite actors. Plus he’s Canadian, eh? Yeah I went there. With the stereotypical Canadian accent and phrases (which, coincidentally, only began because of Bob and Doug McKenzie (Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas)). Rick Moranis better be in Ghostbusters 3.

Stay Puft Boiling Eggs.

Hey check it out! There’s a bag of Stay Puft Marshmallows on the counter with the boiling eggs! I never noticed that before! Foreshadowing!

I always remembered the TV show and how Slimer was such a big part of it. It always makes me sad to think that he’s barely in either of the films.

Total protonic reversal. Good safety tip. Don’t cross the steams. Might’ve mentioned that sooner though ... it IS a big thing.

They really need to practice their aim with those things.

Gotcha! Slimer was caught! Give a nickname to the newly caught Slimer?

Wow. This is the first time I’ve ever realised that Casey Kasem is in this film too. Mind you, just as a radio announcer, but still, this review is opening up a world of information for me.

You know, Louis really needs to not have his door auto-lock every time it closes. That or remember to ALWAYS have a key on himself.

She sleeps above her covers. FOUR FEET above her covers.

The creature in the chair was totally grabbing her boob. Pervert ghosts.

“There is no Dana. Only Zool.” Classic line.

That’s what I love about old films versus newer ones. In the old days they didn’t green screen or other visual effects, instead they used wires, or costumes, or Muppets, and it looked a lot better ... most of the time. Take Dana floating three feet above her covers, this looks way better than it would if they did it with CGI or green screen.

I love the fact that the helmet Egon puts on Louis’ head is just a soup strainer with wires all over it.

Why is it that Zool seems to be pretty on top of things, but Vince seems a little retarded about everything? Is it just because of whose playing the characters?

So let me get this straight, the sign that Zool and Vince have been waiting for is the containment unit exploding? And the only reason the unit exploded is because of that environmental loony Peck? So what you’re telling me is that, essentially, the bad guys only come to this world because of that annoying Peck guy? It’s all his fault!

Look at the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man's face!

Why did Dana’s wall just randomly explode?

I love the fact that all the inmates in the prison cell are just as interested in building blueprints and ghost attacks as the Ghostbusters are.

That’s how you get to a politician. “Who will have saved the lives of millions of registered voters.”

Oh God ... I would not want to climb twenty-two stories of stairs.

He just looks so happy destroying the city.

“Ray, when someone asks you if you’re a god, you say ‘YES’!”

The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man looks so happy to be destroying the city.

I love the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man’s face when they’re crossing the streams. He’s like “OH Sheeeeeit!”

Ghost Busters is a fantastic movie. It has a great plot that is full of comedy, action, mystery, and suspense. The characters are well developed with little to no problems, and the cast is perfect for their roles. The idea is original. The film has some great memorable lines, plus the invention of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. It has some interesting and different antagonists that keep the film interesting. The effects used are good, they don’t look cheesy and it’s rarely possible to tell what is an effect and what isn’t.

Definitely give this film 8/10 because I love this town!

I LOVE THIS TOWN!

Wednesday Review: Clue

2011-10-26T19:33:00.000-07:00

What’s that you say? You’re reviewing a board game this week? What is this madness?! Well allow me to fill you in. The popular board game Clue was so popular that in 1985 Parker Brothers decided to let Paramount Pictures make a movie about it! Now, how will this be an entertaining movie you ask? Well let me show you a few cast members. Eileen Brennan, Christopher Lloyd, Madeline Kahn, Michael McKean, and none other than Tim Curry, among others. The film is a comedy murder mystery, with three different endings (kinda like how the board game always has multiple endings). Anyway, the film is hilarious so let’s get on with the review!

Clue title card.

End credits cards.

Review after the break.

The opening scene is that of a old fashioned car driving up to a large mansion on top of a hill. Classic murder setting. The driver, revealed to be Tim Curry opens the gate and drives up to the house where two guard dogs wait. He throws them some meat and then steps in a pile of their feces. He enters the house and a caption appears telling us this is set in New England 1954. Tim Curry then addresses the maid and the cook about the evening’s events. It appears to us that Tim Curry is hosting a party for the other characters. Colonel Mustard shows up and it’s revealed to the audience that the characters are using aliases and that their names aren’t actually colours. The rest of the suspects turn up one by one.

The classic creepy mansion accompanied by
the classic lighting and storm.

And cue the ominous music when Mrs White and Yvette the maid are introduced to each other. Apparently they know each other, according to Wadsworth (Curry) anyway.

Of course there’s a thunderstorm while all this is happening. The clichés continue!

Interesting, in the board game each character wears the colour they’re named after. In the film they do not, however, the car they drive does reflect their colour.

From the start of the film we know that there are several things hidden about the characters, besides their names. Mr Green seems to know an awful lot more than he’s letting on.

A letter to Wadsworth.

“This is one of my favourite recipes.”

“I know, madam.”

Remember that. It’s key.

“Anyone here not earn their living from the government, one way or another?” Another key line. Remember it.

Everyone is being blackmailed, this is why everyone has been gathered to this mansion. Now the events of Clue make some sense.

“I didn’t do it!”

Yvette screams. Everyone runs to check on her. One person is missing during that timeframe. Who? You need to ask these questions when solving mysteries.

Well I’m glad the maid just flashed her panties at us. No seriously, I’m glad. She’s pretty hot.

They all rush to the kitchen to find the cook. Once again someone is missing. Who? Why? Ask the right questions, and solve the mystery, you should.

the cop and Mr. Green.

“To make a long story short.”

“Too late.”

Recurring dialogue exchange. Never gets old.

Backstory is revealed. Why would Miss Scarlett ask Yvette if she wanted to see Colonel Mustard’s negatives? All three are connected. Think about it.

Despite the fact that this film is a comedy, I’m really digging into the mystery aspect of this film. What can I say? I enjoy a good mystery.

We split up and search for clues! Clue just became Scooby-Doo.

There’s a scene where we see a pair of gloved hands disposing of the evidence and opening the locked cabinet door to collect the weapons. This is the one scene that doesn’t add up with all three endings.

Ah yes, the secret passageways from the game. Do mansions and castles actually have secret passageways? Or is that just something that the media has hyped up like so many other things?

He dead.

The cop shows up. Amidst a series of shots another character goes missing. Have you been paying attention? Have you begun to draw connections yet?

Yeah ... just leave her body on the front porch. That won’t draw any suspicion at all. And what happened to those guard dogs?

Wadsworth walking through the events at the end of the film really helps to make clear some things that were confusing for the mystery. Especially when there are three different endings and it all needs to be explained three times.

“I did it, in the hall, with the revolver.”

There are a lot of inconsistencies with the plot but that’s expected for a film with multiple endings. Some scenes are fit for certain endings, whereas others are just there and are attempted to fit into certain endings. Had the film only had one ending I’m sure the plot could’ve been fixed up a bit. The shots used in the film were Hollywood standard, nothing spectacular. The acting was excellent; the characters were hilarious and believable. The score for the film was pretty cliché of a murder film, and various elements of the plot were also cliché, however due to the fact that the film was a comedy the clichéness only added to the hilarity. Overall the film was enjoyable, and if you don’t try to dissect the mystery than it’s a good mystery film as well.

7/10 Now I’m going home to sleep with my wive.

The suspects.

Production Update (Watch My Show!)

2011-10-17T14:05:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, remember back in August when I said I was going to be working on a production set that would appear on TV? Well, I've been pretty quiet about it since (mostly because there isn't much to talk about it) but I finally have some news for you guys! Tomorrow night, Tuesday October 18, 2011, at 8:30pm, and again Wednesday October 19, 2011 at 9:30pm, Cogeco TV will be airing the first episode (at least that I've worked on) of the show I've been working on. For those of you in the Windsor area, you can tune into Cogeco TV (I have no idea what channel that is, I don't have TV at home) to watch Eye On Campus, a TV segment about the events of or related to the University of Windsor. I know it's not much, but hey, my work is on TV! So please check it out if you can. For those of you who cannot tune in for it, I'll be providing a link to our website as soon as I can where you should be able to watch the episodes (unless I've been lied to).

Wednesday Review: The Nightmare Before Christmas

2011-10-12T12:54:00.000-07:00

This week’s review is an old Christmas classic (I know it’s the middle of October, but hey, this is what I’m supposed to be watching for class) The Nightmare Before Christmas. The Nightmare Before Christmas is a claymation Tim Burton film, and if you study films, specifically directors, you’ll know that they tend to have a certain style that they do a lot because they’re good at that style. The Nightmare Before Christmas is a prime example of something that Tim Burton does very well in his own unique manner (not saying that claymation is unique, just saying his way is unique). Oddly enough, however, Tim Burton is not the director of this film (contrary to popular belief) because Burton was busy with another film project at the time (Batman Returns ) however he did remain on as a producer.

The Nightmare Before Christmas Title Card

I’m sure many of you have seen the film, but for those of you who haven’t, allow me to give a brief synopsis of the film. Jack Skellington, the pumpkin king of Halloween Town (I guess this review kinda fits for the month, Halloween is only a couple weeks away) is tired of doing the same thing every year. He then discovers Christmas Town and decides that he wants to run Christmas this year and tries to get all the other ghosts and ghouls into it. And of course Oogie Boogie is there to get in the way of him. So enough of this, and on to the review!

Review after the break.

The opening scene is a bird’s eye view shot of seven trees forming a circle. The camera zooms down and amidst the trees to show that each tree has a drawing on it that faces in towards the circle. The narrator (later revealed to be Santa Claus) explains that this story is set a long time ago in the holiday worlds of old (he says it in a rhyme, makes it seem poetic), each drawing on the trees represents a holiday. There is a heart representing Valentine’s Day, a four-leaf clover for Saint Patrick’s Day, an Easter Egg representing, well, Easter, a turkey representing Thanksgiving, a Christmas Tree representing Christmas, a pumpkin representing Halloween, and I have no idea what the seventh one is. Looks like a box with stars on it and a feather on top? I dunno. Anyway, having all these different holidays represented as separate worlds so close together is an interesting concept to me. As the narrator continues his poem, we zoom into the pumpkin tree, the drawing of the pumpkin is actually a door which swings open to let us into the world.

Once inside the tree to Halloween Town we’re immediately treated to a trademark of children’s films, a song! “This is Halloween” begins to play and we get to see quite a lot of detail about the world that we’ve been introduced to. The song shows us a wide variety of monsterous creatures and classical Halloween beings that live in this town. They all sing about who they are and what they like to do, which just happens to be scare people ... a lot. We’re told that Jack is the best there is at Halloween scares, and everyone in the town loves him. We get introduced to Sally, a Frankenstien-esque girl who wants to go out into the world but her creator (kinda looks like some evil duck, almost like he could have come out of Duck Tales ) won’t let her go. And of course we get a small glimpse of Oogie Boogie, the main antagonist of the film.

There’s like what, two minutes between the first song and the second one? That will get really annoying.

I like how Jack throws a piece of his rib cage for the dog.

Wait a minute, wait a minute! If Jack can just walk from his house to the magical forest that separates worlds, then what is the point of those trees? Shouldn’t he have to walk out of the Halloween tree to get to this forest? What’s this?

Oogie Boogie in the moon.

Hmm, I just realised there is an object at the base of each tree that also represents each holiday.

Okay, why is it that in the song “What’s This?” Jack doesn’t know what snow is called, yet he knows that a snowball is called a snowball?

I enjoy the fact that Jack is reading a book entitled “The Scientific Method” nothing about this movie is scientific at all! Well, except maybe the Frankenstein dude ...

I don’t think Jack understands what science is.

Ah yes, the joys of being dead. You can jump out of a window several stories up and it’ll all turn out okay.

The animation in this film is superb. The way that emotions are displayed, particularly on the characters faces, is almost real. Like the scene were Sally delivers the basket the Jack then goes off and hides, the look on her face alone made me believe that she was in love with him.

Hurm, so she picks a flower, it suddenly turns into a Christmas tree, then it burns away. That was done for symbolism and foreshadowing, but I’m not entirely sure why it happened in the context of the plot.

For a guy who has previously only known scaring and evil, Jack sure is kind hearted and nice. The things Christmas can do to you.

I just thought that face was funny.

HA! The scientist would have an Igor!

It sure did take those kids a long time to catch Santa Claus. Took them over a month! They got the Easter Bunny in a couple of days!

Oogie Boogie is a gambling man ... who always rolls snake eyes.

The scene with Oogie Boogie’s first appearance looks pretty sweet! They definitely used black light for this scene.

I don’t understand why Sally has premonitions.

The kid that Jack just gave a present too looks like the Puffs commercial kid.

Are people really that dumb? Let’s send in the military to catch someone impersonating Santa Claus! Because that NEVER happens! And while we’re at it, let’s kill him too, you know, because he’s ALREADY DEAD! Morons.

I don’t understand why in Christmas movies people always think that Christmas will have to be cancelled if there is no Santa Claus to deliver toys. There’s more to Christmas than toys and Santa Claus, a lot more. It’s the spirit of Christmas that makes it what it is, the time for you to spend with your loved ones, celebrating the good that has happened, and for those of the Christian faith it’s also a celebration of Jesus Christ’s birthday. It’s not always about Santa you know. That’s just how commercialized the holiday is. Charlie Brown had it right you know.

Symbolism, I choose you!

Wow, Jack lands in the arms of an angel. Symbolism, I choose you!

When they shot a pumpkin right at the viewer it totally threw me off. So not used to having something on screen fly right at my face.

The Nightmare Before Christmas isn’t your conventional Hollywood film. There isn’t a main bad guy or group of bad guys to oppose the protagonist, in fact the main antagonist is barely even there. The antagonist is more like a person’s self, that is to say, their ignorance of other cultures that are foreign to what they know. The film is in claymation, which is always nice to see, there is a lot of music, but it’s all good music. There is a moral to the story, something that I think films leave out a lot nowadays. A lot happens in the film, but it’s never too much for the viewer to take in.

What’s this? What’s this? I give it 8/10! How queer!

Jack Skellington in front of the moon. With Zero.

Wednesday Review: Pan's Labyrinth

2011-10-05T15:13:00.000-07:00

This week’s Wednesday Review is a film that’s right up my alley for film genres. This week I’ll be covering the film Pan’s Labyrinth. Set in Spain of 1944, a girl escapes the fascist country into a world of fantasy. Now, I’ve never seen this film, but I hear it’s brilliant. I do however know that it is in Spanish with English subtitles, so I’ll be reading the movie instead of watching it, which I never like because it takes my attention away from the film itself. But there is not much I can do about it so I’ll just jump right into the movie now.

Pan's Labyrinth Title Card

Review after the break.

The film starts off with a little texted into to the current timeframe of the film. We then cut away to a girl, who appears to be dying, as blood spills from her nose. Her hand appears to be bloody as well. As the camera zooms into the girl the blood flows back up into her nose, she appears to be healing. The camera zooms into her eye and we are taken into an underground realm (according to the narrator) who tells a tale of a princess who wished to see the human world while we get to see her world. We’re then taken to the present day ... er I mean 1944 ... as the narrator tells us that the princess’s soul will return to the underground realm in another body, and we’re shown the main character Ofelia, who I’m willing to bet has the soul of the princess.

I giant bug flies out of a stone carving and she tells her mom it was a fairy. Apparently bugs are fairies in Spain?

That’s a spooky archway into what appears to be a labyrinth. And where’d her hat go? Did I miss it falling off? I probably did.

That bug is annoying. It better turn out to be a talking bug. Or an awesome monster thing disguising itself as a bug.

Evil good guy is evil.

I’m a bit confused here. The servant of the captain, Mercedes, is telling the doctor that someone’s leg wound is getting worse. This man obviously is not connected to the captain in any way as Mercedes and the doctor are talking in hurried whispers. Are they secretly keeping a wounded enemy hidden in the house or something?

WTF? Why is that stupid bug in her story?! And hold on! Is the fantasy aspect, the crazy monsters, and all that awesome stuff, are they only in stories this girl tells? Because that is not as cool as if they were actually real!

And why has there been no opening title card for me to screen cap and use here?

I swear I’ve heard that story about the rose before.

Wait a minute. So she starts telling a story about a rose, and we see a rose on the screen. Then the stupid bug zips by and next thing I know we’re back in the bedroom as she tells the story. So does the stories she tells come to life? Or was the rose just some really stupid decision put in the movie? I’m so confused on that.

RRAAAA!!! The text is disappearing before I can read it all! This is why I hate having to read movies.

HOLEY SHIT! The captain just smashed a guy’s face in with a bottle!

Holey ... that bug just shape shifted into a fairy. Interesting. It’s still annoying though.

Alright kid, you’re going into the labyrinth, just make sure you know your way out.

Wait, wait, wait! How is it that she can just wander out of the house and across the yard without being caught and brought back into the house by one of the many guards patrolling the area?

Alright, the girl gets a magic, future showing book from a creepy looking faun. I like the Narnia ones better.

The writing in the book might make more sense to me if I could read Spanish ... or if they gave us subtitles for what the writing says.

Did Mercedes just hide a knife in her dress? What’s her game?

“Do you want some milk with honey?” Who puts honey in milk? Or is this just bad translation?

People don’t show random stuff in movies. Unless their an idiot. Everything ha sit’s purpose. I trust that showing a ribbon fly off her dress is important.

It's the princess and the frog!

I see ... Mercedes is helping the enemy. I really feel no different about that. I could care less about this war ... thing ... going on ...

Whatever came out of the giant toad ... that was really gross.

The dress is ruined. Mom won’t be happy.

There’s that stupid bug again. No longer a fairy. God I hate that bug.

The faun is avoiding her question. HE’S EVIL! I really have no idea, I just like doing that.

Wait he is evil! Mercedes said not to trust fauns! He’s no Mr. Tumnus that’s for sure.

WTF? How did that faun get in her house? Wait, let me guess, magic.

Oh God, I really do not want to see a guy getting his leg cut off. Please tell me they leave that off screen.

Oh GOD! They did!

Oh man! Is that that thing with eyes on its hands? I’ve wanted to see that thing all movie!

Y U NO listen to faun? Y U NO follow fairies?

Y U NO listen to faun? Y U eat food?

Huh ... I just realised those fairies sound like Abu from Aladdin. Is Frank Welker in this movie too?!

Ofelia you are not wearing your protective earmuffs! That Mandrake may be young and its cry won’t kill you yet, but it will knock you unconscious for several hours!

You wanna know how I got these scars?

AHH! They sliced through his hand! They showed in on camera! Gross! This movie is bloody violent!

YEAH! Mercedes kicks all kinds of ass!

You know how I got these scars?

Well now that I’ve seen the end, the beginning makes sense.

So ... who exactly is Pan? Is that the name of the faun? Or is it just like bad translation and should actually be called Faun’s Labyrinth?

This is a fantastic film, though not as much fantasy happening here as I had hoped. Something I’ve noticed about films is that Hollywood films have a certain style that other films do not. Since this film was not Hollywood it had a more interesting visual style, plot, ending, and characters. The villain of the film was compelling and was someone you hated. The main character was innocent and naive, which I personally dislike, but it worked for the character and the film itself. There was a lot of contrast between colours used in the film. A lot of the time it switched between bright yellows and dark blues. The ending went where I was expecting it to, but the path there was not what I was expecting. This is both good and bad, but more good I think.

Usually I add some reference to a line in the movie when giving my rating, but due to the fact that it was all in another language nothing is popping out at me so I’ll go with another line from another film. 8/10 of course it’s happening inside your head, but why should that mean it’s not real?

You are no Mr. Tumnus.

Wednesday Review: Dazed and Confused

2011-09-28T20:54:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, I’m back with Wednesday Reviews! In one of my classes this semester we watch a movie every week, so I’ll be providing a review for each movie we watch. Not only will I be doing my school work, I’ll also be giving you guys some insight into more of a variety of films that I would otherwise not be reviewing. So let’s begin my new set of Wednesday Reviews!

This week I’ll be reviewing the film Dazed and Confused, a Comedy Drama set in 1976 about a group of high school students on the last day of school and going out with a bang. Most of the names on the cast and crew list are nameless faces to me, so I don’t really have any idea what this film will be like, I also know nothing about the film as I’ve never seen it myself (though from what I’ve gathered so far from reading about it there will be a lot of drugs, alcohol, and sexual themes throughout the film). So I’ll jump right in here and get started.

Dazed and Confused Title Card

Review after the break.

The film opens with a fade into “Sweet Emotion” by Aerosmith while a montage of various events appear on screen. These events include a girl rolling a joint, people hanging out in the parking lot, a guy working in shop class, some nerds at a table at lunch, and some black guys gambling. Hmm, I just realised my insensitive nature may be offensive to some people who may read this blog ... oh well.

So I’m supposed to be looking for thematic elements and fictional and dramatic elements for my class, so unless I get distracted, there will probably be a lot on those elements in this review.

Man, I have a hat like that guy! Only a different colour.

Best line I’ve laughed at in a while. In an undertone as he walks away “I am so wasted.” Don’t know why I found that funny ... just did.

Not sure why the socially awkward guy told his friend about the Abe Lincoln dream ... maybe it’s a reference to his homosexuality? Or maybe the writer’s just thought it was funny. Either way, I found it to be pointless. I hope the film isn’t filled with things like that.

Hmm ... the socially awkward guy kinda reminds me of Minkus from Boy Meets World.

This film is throwing a lot of characters at me at the beginning of the film and I have no idea who I should be paying attention to most or who is just background characters. I really hope everyone featured so far isn’t a prominent character, which would be too much to focus on for the film.

I love how the high school kids show up at junior high to threaten the kids, and all the teacher does is laugh.

Some of the kids at school.

Nice music track for this film.

Man, I wish there was a slide outside a window in at one of my old schools. That would have been awesome!

So let me get this straight. At the end of the school year, the high school seniors attack the middle school seniors, the guys paddle the guys and the girls ... put pacifiers in the girls mouths? Uuuummm ... okay.

Woah ho! That mom just pulled a shot gun on the senior! A little extreme don’t you think?

Attacking the freshman before they even get into high school ... man these guys are pretty eager.

The guy with the mullet seems to be one only one who is intelligent enough to realise how idiotic this whole thing is.

Just seeing all the initiation processes in this film makes me glad that school is different nowadays. At least in Canada anyway.

What the hell?! They grab this girl, put her through crap, then turn around and invite her to a party! Where’s the logic in all this?!

Well that was interesting. I was just shown a shot of girls using some kind of tool to zip up their pants. My guess is they’re too big for their jeans, but in the desire to look thin they force themselves to wear clothing despite the fact it doesn’t fit them.

Paddling the freshman for initiation.

Well ... now I get that reference from that one episode of Family Guy...

Every girl in this film is dimwitted. That is a very poor reflection on women in society. Most girls aren’t like that, but this film will only make younger audience members want to be like that out of pressure to be popular, when in reality it does nothing for them.

This movie is so far a disappointment.

Some of the shots they use a pretty interesting, not something you find in common Hollywood movies these days. They use slow motion effects for common things, whereas slow motion nowadays is only used for action scenes for the occasional dramatic effect. They used slow motion when a group of guys walked into a party. Nothing spectacular, but good to see something different for a change.

What the crap is this? Why did it show a bunch of kids at a dance? Where did this come from?

Oh man! That line is from this movie? “That’s what I like about high school girls. I get older, they keep staying the same age.”

Revenge!

HA! The kids got the douchebag senior back! Now that’s something I like to see. Good old fashioned revenge.

Ah yes, having a drunk, meaningful conversation about life decisions. How wonderful those times are.

One of the geeky kids decides to get some payback on a asshole you aggravated him earlier then he got the crap beat out of him. I feel sad for the guy, nothing is going right for him. But he’ll probably get him back years from now when he’s a corporate lawyer than the asshole is some drugged up nobody.

Well I’m glad that surprisingly every plot point that appeared in the film was resolved in some form or another.

I wouldn’t know most of the characters names if it weren’t for the picture credits at the end of the film.

Well all in all the movie was subpar at best, the I’m sure many will argue its brilliance. I, however, found the movie to be unentertaining for the most part. The plot was a garbled mess, it was hard to get a grasp on the characters, and there were few interesting shots. The only good things were the fact that the movie came across what it was intended to come across as, a movie that felt like one big party where you have no idea what is going on.

This is not my cup of tea, so I’ll only give it 5/10 man!

Gettin' high.

I'm Bad At This: No Review Again

2011-08-31T15:12:00.000-07:00

I almost forgot to update my blog again today for Wednesday Review. Unfortunately I must inform you that there will be no review again this week. I have mostly gotten over my illness, but have somehow managed to make myself quite busy over the last few days to have time to sit down and write a review. I do not foresee my schedule getting anymore free in the time to come as school will be starting again next week.

So for now I say this, I'll post a review on Wednesday's whenever I get the chance, though it may not be a weekly thing due to my renewed busy schedule during school months. However I will once again be working on production sets and new films, so I hope my updates from those will be more than enough to make up for the lack of reviews.

No Review This Week Again

2011-08-24T13:27:00.000-07:00

Sorry for all this, but I'm still sick and have been feeling rather sluggish so there will be no review this week again. However school is starting up again soon, so my blog should become busy with news and films. Hopefully next week I'll be up for writing another review.

No Review This Week, Future Film/Production News

2011-08-17T13:03:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, I'm not posting a movie review this week. I've been pretty sick with this death cough thing for the last couple weeks and I haven't been feeling up to working on a review. Despite the fact that there is no review, I do bring news of future projects.

I wanted to film a movie this summer but was unable to get a full cast, so it doesn't look like that'll be happening. However, if I can get a full cast in the fall then you can expect a film around then. On another note I'll be working on a production team at my school that features shorts stories that will air on TV. You can expect me to update my blog with information on the production as it's happening.

Wednesday Review: The Mighty Ducks

2011-08-10T10:36:00.000-07:00

Ah childhood, how I miss thee. When the most one had to worry about was getting your homework done and making sure you didn’t touch girls because you’d get cooties. We’d spend our free time indoors playing video games, or outdoors playing various sporting activities. During the winter season hockey was the sport us kids played, nothing as good as a good old game of puck. And what was more inspiring for a group of hockey playing kids than a movie about a group of hockey playing kids that won the Pee-Wee Championships. The Mighty Ducks and its sequels were always movies I enjoyed to watch while I was growing up, so today’s review will be of the first movie in the series.

The Mighty Ducks title card.

Review after the break.

The opening sequence is a flashback scene to when the main character, Gordon Bombay (Emilio Estevez) was a kid and playing for the Pee-Wee team The Hawks. His coach is putting a lot of pressure on him to make the winning goal of the series, he makes his shot, but it hits the goalpost and they lose not only the game, but the championship as well. Flash-forward to the present day. Gordon Bombay is now a hot-shot lawyer who manages to keep a man out of jail when he should have gone there. We’re then treated to a scene about an egotistic, swaggering, showboating man who takes pride in always winning his cases no matter how low he has to sink to do so. Luckily for us his boss puts him in line telling him it’s a business, not a game. So what does our fine lead character do next? He goes out drinking! And driving too! He’s also an alcoholic! Wonderful times!

So Bombay has to go to court for a series of offences to the system. His boss steps in because he doesn’t want his company’s name ruined and he forces Bombay to follow his orders. Suspension of driver’s licence, 500 hours of community service, and a leave of absence from the firm. It may seem like it’ll kill him, but hey, at least we get some hockey time out of it.

Finally we meet the kids, or at least, a group of them. Charlie, Averman, and a couple kids that never show up in future movies but seem to be pretty big in this one, are, apparently, juvenile delinquents, and decide that pulling pranks on random people is a good way to pass the time. Lots of kids did that back in the day; it only made the film more appealing.

So Bombay hates kids ... my what a lovely time these kids will have.

So why exactly would a team keep a kid as a goalie all this time if he was afraid to get hit by the puck? Why not get a new goalie?

Only one loss for the Hawks.

Drive out on the ice? Well at least he knows what he’s doing.

*sniff* *sniff* GOLBERG!

The Hawks are pretty intense players for being, what, ten?

To think, the Hawks only lost the championship once ... and it’s all Bombay’s fault.

Why does the main opposing team always wear black? I mean yeah it’s a symbol of evil and junk, but seriously, it gets old.

It’s been 20 years and his old coach hasn’t aged a day! The miracles of science!

And Fulton comes to watch the game ... cause he can’t skate.

Seriously, how did this team last so long? No equipment, no uniforms, no arena practice time. This team should have been disbanded years ago!

Oooooo, racist jokes ... not cool.

Hey it’s Irv from Everwood! Not that anybody’s ever seen that show ... it was an awesome show ... watch it.

“You think loosing is funny?!”

“Well, not at first, but once you get the hang of it...”

Averman, you’ve got the best lines.

Averman wise cracks instead of playing hockey.

Hans appears ... this film is full of mysterious characters. First Fulton, who isn’t properly explained, now Hans, who also isn’t properly explained. Gotta say, the script is well written.

This kids always wear their Hawks jackets around town ... they’re like high school football players ... and their bullies too ... even more stereotypical!

And Fulton saves them from the bullies! Is he important? Well even if I’d never seen the movie before I’d know he was an important character who would become a top player on the team.

Awesome! Bombay’s teaching them how to cheat! Just what we need kids to learn!

Charlie put Bombay in his place!

There’s nothing like a trip down memory lane to bring back the good memories and make one decide to turn around in life and start acting like a mature, responsible adult.

So Bombay wants Ducksworth to pay for the team’s equipment and what-not. He originally declines, but he changes his mind when he’s offered his own jersey. Really shows how stable our system is. Well, I guess it’s not mine, I don’t live in the U.S. What do I care?!

Quack, quack, quack, QUACK! Mr. Ducksworth!

Ah yes, some classic lines that I enjoy repeating all the time. Soft hands. Concentration, not strength. How true those words can be.

Emilio Estevez is a terrible hockey player! Every puck he shoots flies right over the net! They may have picked a good actor for the role, but not a good player.

“No I mean I can’t you moron! I don’t know how to skate!” Man, the kids in this film really tear into Bombay. Man do I miss the 90s.

You know, I’m pretty sure that rollerblading in a mall is not allowed.

For not knowing how to skate, Fulton is pretty good. I mean he just went down the stairs on rollerblades and didn’t fall down once! That’s pretty good! I’d fall a few times, and I know how to skate!

Yeah Fulton! First one to want to be a duck! He’s got that sense of loneliness about that makes him want to be part of a team. Plus he’s got that awesome shot. Best character of the movies.

Quack. Quack. Quack. Quack! Quack! Quack! Quack! Quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, QUACK, QUACK, QUACK, QUACK, QUACK! GOOOOOOO DUCKS!

“You’re not even a ‘has been’. You’re a ‘never was’.” Man, I didn’t know that line came from this movie! That’s a great line!

Bombay apologises and becomes one of the family!
How touching

Okay, so I’ve watched all three of these movies countless times. I know what all the slang terms they use mean. Except one. What the hell is a “cake eater”?

And the only people who stick by Bombay’s side after Jesse and that one kid hear him say that they’re losers are Fulton and Charlie. And that’s why they’re the best characters.

Charlie has unquavering faith in people. That’s what makes him a good captain and a compelling character. He definitely stands out above the others for this.

I’m pretty sure the principal is one of the teachers in the third Mighty Ducks movie. She’s like Mr. Feeny ... only nowhere near as awesome.

Have you ever read the newspaper clippings they show in the film? I suggest you should. It’s not just random garbage they write there.

In the scene where the kids are just having some fun on the ice, right after they meet a couple players from the North Stars, do you think the camera operator is just skating around on the ice filming everything? Cause that’s kinda what it looks like.

How do you overcome a fear of being hit by pucks?
Tie him to a net!

Do those movie moments where the couple kiss and it’s magical and junk actually happen in real life and I just have terrible luck? Or is this just, like, a movie thing?

That’s the third time they’ve showed that flashback scene. Clearly Bombay’s past is still fighting him on the inside. Will he become that man who put him on this path? Or will he overcome the pressure and be a greater man?

You know who a cooler figure skater is than that Tammy chick? Kenny Wu from the second film. Way better.

Wow ... the Flying V doesn’t appear until an hour and a half into the film, in other words, when there’s only ten minutes left. Totally thought it appeared before then.

Wow ... all these times watching this movie and this is the first time I’ve noticed Guy and Connie kiss after winning the game.

Hans and Bombay.

Overall a really great movie. The script was well written, except for Bombay’s sudden change of heart about halfway through; that sudden change didn’t add up with the character. The movie was entertaining with lots of great moments that kids would enjoy. It had a nice soundtrack with some memorable musical moments that suck through all the movies. The film had some good morals that kids and adults alike could learn from. There was nothing spectacular about the shots however, nor was there a lot of depth into the smaller characters. But over all a really fun movie worth watching.

8/10 just for the nostalgia of it. (I’d probably say 7 if it wasn’t a favourite from my childhood) And for God’s sake, soft hands.

VICTORY!

Wednesday Review: School of Rock

2011-08-03T11:38:00.000-07:00

This week I’m reviewing a film from a few years back called School of Rock. It’s a film starring Jack Black, who plays Dewey, a failed musician that decides to be a substitute teacher, in place of his friend, at an elementary school where he gets them together to form a musical group for a Battle of the Bands contest he wants to enter. It’s a fun film with, surprisingly, a lot of educational information on music and musical history. It’s a different style and genre that I usually review, so I’m going to have to think a little differently on this one. Anyway, he’s the review, enjoy.

School of Rock title card.

Here's the song they play at the end of the film, for a taste of the music in the film:

Review after the break.

The opening scene is at a club or bar of some sort; and Jack Black is part of the band on stage playing. He is, of course, looking like an idiot, and the other band members don’t look too thrilled about his performance. The audience think they suck, and Jack Black can’t crowd surf. All and all, things look crappy.

Odd, isn’t it, that Dewey’s roommate Ned (Mike White) is being asked by his girlfriend if he’s tired of letting people push him around, yet she’s pushing him to kick his roommate out at that very moment? Furthermore will continue to push him around throughout the film?

The bassist on Dewey’s band sounds like he has trouble stringing two sentences together.

The school is the best in the county, and they just hired Jack Black ... well ... that school won’t be the best much longer.

Dewey and student Summer discussing the band project.

BAHAHA! There’s a kid in this class named Freddie Jones. He also happens to have blonde hair and likes to think that he knows everything. I wonder if he solves mysteries and sets elaborate traps too ...

I don’t think you’re allowed to decide when recess is. I mean, I’m pretty sure that even in boarding schools, recess is always at the same time every day, and the whole school gets it. You can’t just decide that recess is happening for that one class right then and there.

Black’s a terrible teacher. But at least the music selection for the film is good.

What’s amazing is that all the kids are actually playing their instruments in this film. Gotta love children with talent, you know they’re gonna go on to be something big. At least, they could, if they wanted to.

The Asian kid WOULD want to do a science project. What’s with the stereotypes man? Not all Asians are rocket scientists!

WOW! These kids are better at singing than the entire cast of Glee! What a surprise! Yes indeed. I am shocked by this news. Wow. *cough sarcasm cough*

Man, that cafeteria food looks delicious! Except that corn ... I hate corn. Still though, makes me wish I had food to eat here.

Despite his ... strange ... way of saying it, at least Dewey knows what’s best for the kids and can help them out. I mean, the kid came to him thinking he wasn’t cool enough to be in the band, but Dewey let him know he was cool. It’s small, but, it’s something that I think is worth being in the film. A lot of kids feel that way about themselves, this may help them realise they’re cool too. Movies have that affect on people.

“Those who can’t do, teach. Those who can’t teach, teach gym.” I couldn’t agree more. Why do I fear I will become a teacher someday now?

Dewey teaching Rock History.

I’m not gonna lie, Dewey could be a really good teacher, at least, a teacher of music anyway. All the effort he puts in and the passion he has for it makes you just want to get in there and learn too.

There’s so much good rock music in this film. Not just the music they play, or the songs they reference, but even the film’s score, which consists of more rock music, is phenomenal!

Despite being a really good teacher to them for music and a really good inspiration ... they missed out on week’s worth of education. I mean sure, a lot of the time kids never take it in anyway, or forget about it after a while, but at least it’s there, somewhere inside their memory. These kids missed out on all that. Thinking along that line, what if they wanted to do other school activities? Like art, or gym, or science? They miss out on it!

Once again Dewey knows what’s best for the kids. A girl doesn’t want to sing in front of people because she thinks they’ll laugh at her because she thinks she’s fat, but he’s able to tell her she’s beautiful ... in his own weird way. None the less, she feels more confident just like the other kid. Another scene worth putting in because a lot of people, not just kids, adults too, go through that. Where they think people won’t like them because their overweight. I’m glad some films make an effort to make people that think that way feel better, or at least they try to anyway.

It seems Dewey is evolving too. When one of his kids runs off he’s worried sick about him. Not only that but he also gives this kid another important lesson on what life can be like and where you don’t want to end up. He also tells off some posers and tells them act responsible. All-in-all, it was a good scene full of good lessons and character development. At least this film has character development, unlike a lot of Hollywood films nowadays.

“It’s a rare blood disease ... stickittotheman-neosus.” Lulz

Maybe it’s my DVD, or maybe it’s my computer, or maybe it’s the editor’s fault, but this film has some bad audio mixing at times. The volume at times will randomly go down for a few seconds then back up. And not just dialogue, or music, or ambient sounds, but everything. It’s annoying.

Hahaha ... Schoolhouse Rock reference. “It’s a magic number.”

Band practice.

The principal ... whatever her name is ... Joan Cusack anyway, she looks so awkward out drinking with Dewey it’s hilarious! Now I want a beer. Damn me not having money!

Awesome ... we get a shot of the school ... with a random janitor ... raking the leaves.

The classroom number is 21B. If only there was another two there ... the classroom could be Sherlock Holmes’ address: 221B.

Not gonna lie ... I really hate Ned’s girlfriend.

At least Dewey has both a heart and a conscience; he really cares for those kids.

On a side note and completely unrelated to this review: it took me a very long time to figure out how to spell “conscience”. I needed to use a combination of phonetically spelling it out as well as using spell check. Now I know how to spell it though: con, science.

HA! The kooky old bus driver. Has no clue what’s going on.

HA! Take that you stupid bitchy girlfriend! Ned showed her up! Gotta love that.

Great thing to do, all the parents are angry at the principal for letting some random dude teach them, then you waltz in and say “I’ve just been informed your children are missing”. Yeah, because that’s not gonna make things worse.

Dewey’s replacement on his old band looks like an idiot on stage there. I mean, what’s he doing spinning around in circles, swinging his hips? He looks so stupid!

So they enter the contest and don’t win. But I like how there’s only one person in the audience who is cheering on the winning team.

Battle of the Bands.

BAHAHA! I never noticed that when the band comes out to do their encore every kid pushes around Dewey’s replacement guy as he walks off stage. And he ends up tumbling down onto the stage. The douche.

Man, check out the list of songs in the credits! Phenomenal!

Overall School of Rock is a great film that people tend to overlook a lot. It has a lot of good morals, character development, an interesting story, a great musical selection! It’s a little boring on the various shots used, basically just the usual Hollywood style look. There were some good comical moments, some awesome moments that just reminds me of being a kid, and some great moments between characters. I like how the antagonist wasn’t a person, but more the idea of a person.

Overall I’d rate the film an 8/10. Stick it to the man!

School of Rock playing at the Battle of the Bands.

Wednesday Review: The Borrowers

2011-07-27T13:09:00.000-07:00

This week’s review is of a film I’ve never heard of until yesterday called The Borrowers. The film was made in 1997 by some company I’ve never heard of called Polygram Filmed Entertainment. Maybe it’s big over in the UK? I dunno. Well anyway, I had two reasons for deciding to watch this film. The first, it has a good cast of familiar and talented actors, the second, it reminded me of the 1980s cartoon called The Littles. Apparently both of these are based off of books ... figures. So I have no idea what this is going to be like, so on with the review!

The Borrowers title card.

Review after the break.

So we start off the film with some kid named Pete playing with what looks like a Rube Goldberg machine and his mother (I assume she’s his mother) gets her hand caught on one of the mechanisms which is in the laundry for some odd reason. Apparently something is taking their stuff, which is why he’s set up a Rube Goldberg trap to catch it.

After the family leaves, it’s revealed that tiny people live in their house, and they are the ones that have been taking things. Now, the scene in which we first see the tiny people would seem more incredible if the film hadn’t given it away in the trailer and other forms of preview material. I have already lost all hope that anything mysterious could happen in this film.

I wonder ... did they build really big sets for the scenes with the little people, or is this just really good green screen for the 90s?

John Goodman will be portraying the villain of the film, as seen with the fact that he has a moustache and slicked back oily hair. I’ve seen/heard John Goodman in so many films that all I can think of his the many voices he’s done ... Sully (Monsters Inc.), Pacha (Emperor’s New Groove), Rex (We’re Back), the list goes on. Funny how none of them are villains ... this is going to be odd.

Look at her hair! It's so weird!

The daughter of the little people has weird hair. I mean, seriously, who has hair like that?

Ha! It’s Malfoy! A little, teeny-weeny, young, Malfoy!

Potter’s apartments? Potterville? It appears that the villain of our story has Pottermania on the mind like everyone in our current time period does! Old John Goodman, he’s ahead of the game here. He’s knows what’ll be big in a decade or so.

The best part about that last statement is that Malfoy is an enemy of Goodman (who play’s Potter) in this film! It’s like Harry Potter as seen from the villain’s eyes. Where Harry is actually the bad guy, and Malfoy is the good guy!

Why don’t these guys “borrow” stuff at night when everyone is sleeping, that way they don’t have to worry about being seen?

The little mom has weird hair too. Kooky little people.

So ... wait a minute ... what happened to all the other little people? Are they all dead? Did they move to another house? They can’t have been discovered, I mean, that’d be all over the news and the kid would expect little people of stealing stuff.

Hey, it’s the toy Indian from The Indian in the Cupboard!

Mr. Weasley is in this too! Man ... this film really is about Pottermania isn’t it?

This kid is way too accepting of little people living in his house. He’s so calm about it ... as if strange and wondrous things happen to him all the time. Well, I suppose if he has the Indian from Indian in the Cupboard then he might have had a magical adventure there too.

WHAT? Why is there a hole in the moving truck?! You think they’d get that fixed! You could lose stuff!

Potter (Goodman) and the exterminator (Williams).

Wait a minute wait a minute. So the exterminator has heard stories about the borrowers? Well that may explain the kid’s calmness about finding them.

The exterminator’s costume looks like a rejected Ghostbuster uniform ... with a hat.

Now that Potter lost his moustache that means he’s suddenly no longer a bad guy right?

It’s weird writing “Potter” and not be talking about Harry Potter.

Why does he carry a mirror in his briefcase?

The kid’s a trooper for holding onto a burning light bulb for so long.

I’m half expecting the exterminator to stop working for the villain and start working for the little people every time they do something.

You know, unless these little people give back everything by the end of the movie, it doesn’t matter how many times you insist they’re borrowing things ... they’re stealing them.

WHOA! It’s that House guy from that show about himself ... the one called House ... I’ve never watched it but I hear he’s a great actor.

So ... is this set in England? If so, why are the main family and the main villain American?

Holey Giant Pigeon Batman!

Seeing those little people standing beside a GIANT PIGEON is really something hard for my brain to comprehend!

Malfoy you little shit! Stop being caught by the bad guys!

Well, apparently more borrowers do exist! I guess they all didn’t die then.

I gotta say, that little dude’s rocket skate kick’s all kinds of ass!

“I need a pen and a string and a piece of paper...” What are you, MacGyver?

The villain just got covered in liquid cheese ... that is gross ... so gross.

BAHAHA Oh man ... that dog ate a barrel of cheese ... this is going to turn out hilarious ... I know it.

Exterminator joins the good guys.

The secretary at city hall is probably the best character of the entire film. If you watch this film, you’ll find out why.

I knew the exterminator would join the good guys eventually.

Why’d the officer stop the exterminator outside city hall but not the kid? And why’d he let him in seconds later? What was the point of stopping him? The scene made no sense!

Holey Moley! There’s a whole army of borrowers! Where do they hide? How is it they haven’t been revealed to the public?

Why do so many of them live in city hall?

Wow ... they’re fast.

Well that film was entertaining. The Borrowers is a great family flick that avoids the usual cliché twists and turns of film today. The effects were good, especially for the 90s, and had I not known it was made in the 90s, the effects could have seemed like, for the most part, something made only a few years ago. However the shots used were fairly standard, nothing spectacular at all, the score kept in time with the film, but for the most part was unnoticeable. There were some really good laughs in the film, and the style was a nice mix of British and American styles of film. I’d recommend this film to people of all ages who enjoy fantasy style films.

7/10 because it’s quiet, conscientious, and inconspicuous.

The family of borrowers.

New video uploaded: Gollum Impression

2011-07-23T15:15:00.000-07:00

I uploaded a video of myself doing my Gollum impression. I hope you enjoy it.

Wednesday Review: Constantine

2011-07-20T12:45:00.000-07:00

This week’s review is another movie I have never seen, so once again I am unable to provide a synopsis of the film to start the review. This week I’m reviewing Constantine, a film based off a DC/Vertigo Comics series Hellblazer. The film sparked my interest because I recently read a comic book with Constantine as the leading character, so I thought I’d take a look into the character’s story by watching the film (of course, we all know how crudely films are adapted from books, but the film will suit my interest). So anyway here’s the review.

Constantine title card.

Review after the break.

The film starts off with some quote about a “Spear of Destiny”. Never heard of it before. Pretty sure it’ll play a big role in this film though. We’re then taken to Mexico where some dude pulls a dagger wrapped in a Nazi flag out from the nook hidden underground. He then gets hit by a car and runs off without a scratch. So I’m thinking that the dagger gives him super powers of some sort. I’m also thinking that that dagger is actually the spear ... though it is a very short spear if it is.

We next jump to Los Angeles where a woman finds a chick crawling on the ceiling looking all demon-like. This film is starting out quite confusing. I hope things explain themselves soon.

I’m only five minutes in and I already like the different shots that they use in this film. They’ve already used a variety of shots just for Constantine himself. I hope they keep up with this and don’t just stick with the usual Hollywood style look.

An example of a cool looking shot in the film.

The demon sounds like Gollum.

Shia LaBeouf is in this film eh? Fun times.

Wait ... he’s playing Constantine’s cabby buddy? I thought he was British? Wait a minute ... Constantine’s supposed to be British too! This isn’t adding up at all!

You know, going into this film knowing it was about demon hunting and a man’s path to heaven or hell, I should have seen a heavy religious undertone and/or overtone in this film coming ... but I didn’t.

Good thing I’m reading the trivia on IMDB, apparently there’s a scene after the credits. Wouldn’t have known that had I not read it.

Oh man! The guy with the dagger/spear thing is killing every creature he walks near! They just drop dead! This is looking to be a pretty awesome complication arising.

“You're not my slave, Chas, you're my very appreciated apprentice, like Tonto, or Robin, or that skinny fellow with the fat friend.” Hahaha I wonder if he means Sherlock Holmes and Watson?

Constantine fighting off a hoard of demons.

You know, all that talk about Catholicism might make some sense to me if I knew anything about religion. But as it is, I know diddly-squat, so I’m seeing a lot of stuff going over my head in the movie.

Sometimes in the video recording of Isabel she says “Constantine”, sometimes she doesn’t. Creeeeeepyyyyyy.

What the hell is that thing?! Some kind of insect man?!

Apparently it was a demon ... weird demon ... but a demon none the less.

This movie does the following: sells cigarettes via product placement, and shows that smoking cigarettes will kill you.

I love the fact that she has a cat. Cats are the best!

I really hope he doesn’t kill the cat nor do something equally mean.

Hell.

Hell looks like a very windy place.

You know a movie’s good if you expect to run into demons every time you turn a corner.

Over half way through and still loving the different shots that they use throughout the film. So glad they didn’t follow the usual Hollywood style look.

So this demon named Papa Midnight has an electrical chair that lets people see the past. That’s pretty cool.

The score for this film really helps to set the mood as well.

The thought just crossed my mind. Why is someone as young as Shia LaBeouf driving a cab in LA? Shouldn’t he has a normal job ... like working at McDonald’s or something?

Constantine just exorcised the demon from Angela and it went off without a hitch. We’re at the climax of the film, that CAN NOT be it. If it is, this movie had a major build up for nothing.

I’m pretty on edge about that demon trying to burst out of her stomach. That still can’t be it though. I feel like there’s going to be one more big thing.

Well that ending was amazing as well as slightly enraging. Which is good because it drove an emotion in its audience.

Another view of Hell.

Now I’ve never read any of the Hellblazer comics, so I have nothing to compare this film to. And even if I did, like all previous book-to-film movies I’ve reviewed, I’ll focus solely on the film aspect. The plot of the film was strong and well driven. The characters each had different personality quirks that made them interesting and compelling. The special effects were well done and the score fit the tone of the film. By far the variety of shots used throughout the film made it such an enjoyable film to watch because it differs from what the general audience is used to. I lack any and all knowledge of religion, so I’m not sure where the film stands on a note of religious accuracy. Overall the film was well done, it was a great film that I’d recommend to people if their looking for visual appeal, compelling story, or just a good dark film.

9/10 What? Oh. This is Kramer, Chas Kramer, asshole.

Constantine, Midnight, and Chas.

Wednesday Review: Up

2011-07-13T11:12:00.000-07:00

This week’s review is of a movie I have never seen before so I can’t give one of my proper opening account assessment of the film this time. This week’s review is of the Disney-Pixar film, Up. I hear this film is really sad ... something about a dead wife wanting to fly balloons or something ... I dunno. Well anyway, let’s get started then shall we?

Up title card.

Review after the break.

So in the opening scene we’re shown, who I assume is the old geezer when he was a child, watching a film about some flying dude. It’s clear that this kid’s life ambition is to become a pilot. On his way home he comes across an abandoned house and a girl inside who also clearly dreams of becoming a pilot. I’m going to make a guess here and say that, assuming I’m right about the kid being the old man, then this girl is his wife.

I like this movie already. I’m already having a few good laughs. Mostly cause the kid keeps getting hurt ... it’s always funnier when someone else gets hurt.

Okay, let me make another guess. The balloon the kid is holding is an allusion to the fact that he makes his house fly with balloons later in the film.

Well I called the marriage thing, and the kid being the old man.

AHA! His man is Carl! Finally.

Okay, so based on this montage of Carl and Ellie sharing a life together, I have gathered this. Her family approved, his did not, they fixed up a house together, they wanted a baby and i assume she can’t have babies? They share everything together, essentially they are perfect for each other, they keep trying to save up money to go to Paradise Falls but have to keep spending it on more important things, eventually they grow old and never go there, he feels bad because he promised her they would, then she dies ... aw man ... that’s really sad.

Carl riding some kind of machine to get down the stairs.

HA! Nice method to get down the stairs! That’s pretty awesome!

Hey! The construction worker is voiced by the same guy who voices Hamm in the Toy Story movies!

Oh ho man! The old guy has gone senile, a Disney Pixar movie has bloody woulds, this movie is kicking all kinds of ass!

At least the Russell kid will get his badge for helping the elderly ... helping him get to Paradise Falls ...

Man, the balloons unfolding looked so epic!

That’s so awesome how he turned his house into a flying machine. I wish I had a flying house.

“Please let me in.”

“No.”

BAHAHA

MAN! I totally thought Carl was actually dangling Russell from the house! But he was just fantasising about doing it! That’s hilarious!

Up, up, and away! See what I did there?

Wait ... why’d he start cutting the cords to the balloons? That’ll just making the house lower ... that’s not what he wants ...

The old man can really move when he needs to.

This kid fails at life. I love it.

You’ve gotta be kidding me. They got to Paradise Falls a third of the way into the film? Okay, something’s not adding up here.

Oh please don’t tell me they’re going to walk to the house for the remaining hour of the film.

Dat one big bird.

Russell’s knee hurts ... I wonder if he has a bad knee like me?

This bird’s pretty awesome. I hope the dog’s that were chasing it don’t belong to that pilot dude from the film that the Carl watched as a kid. The pilot dude would be insanely old!

SQUIRREL!

Okay, Russell tries to put up a tent and gets smacked in the face with a rod. There is a big red mark across his face. Two seconds later it’s gone. What’s up with that?

There are so many dogs there! That’s crazy!

Wow ... it was the pilot dude ... he must be freaking old.

Man, the leader dog has the most ridiculous voice for what it looks like. I would have thought it would have been fixed by now. Of course, it gets fixed right after I type that.

Cliff jumping made easy with your very own balloon house!

Well at least the house helps them when jumping down cliffs.

Wilhelm scream as dogs fall into the water!

Oh man, the crazy pilot dude is burning Carl’s house! That’s all he has left of Ellie!

I like the shot of Carl pulling his house along at dawn. It’s got a really nice effect on mood.

Well, he made it ... with about twenty minutes of the movie to spare. Let’s see what happens next.

You mean to tell me after all these years, he’s never looked beyond the “Stuff I’m Going To Do” page in Ellie’s scrapbook? You have got to be kidding me.

Cool looking scene at dawn.

I like the fact that he throws out all the furniture and stuff to make the house lighter except the two chairs he and Ellie sat in. He places them standing up side by side, almost as if the two of them are sitting there in spirit.

House on top of Paradise Falls.

Point!

Dog flying planes?! Amazing!

Aha! That was great! “Hey! Squirrel!” “Squirrel? Where?” All dogs crash planes.

What a nice ending. Carl, Russell, and Dug all bonded and became a family, Kevin got back to her babies, the bad guys lost, and Ellie’s house ended up exactly where she wanted it.

I like the music in this film.

So all in all, Up was a really great film. It had a good plot, it was well driven, the characters were fleshed out, the animation was good, and it was funny and touching at the same time. There were some plot points that I questioned though, the villain seemed a little to campy Disney villain-ish, but had a flare of evil to him. The score for the film was motivational; it kept the viewer in the mood. The voiceovers were well done.

I’ll rank this film an 8/10 SQUIRREL!

Russell and Carl with Kevin's baby birds.

Tweeting Tuesdays?

2011-07-11T09:53:00.000-07:00

So I spent my Friday night watching The Sandlot 2, and I was tweeting away while doing so. I enjoyed tweeting about the movie to my followers while watching it, however, I do not know if they enjoyed the continual tweets. So here's my question, would you be interested in reading my tweets about a movie as I'm watching it? I feel like I should start "Tweeting Tuesdays" or something, where I just tweet my thoughts about a movie to you guys, where you will be able to respond to me while it's happening.

I'll be doing this in addition to my weekly Wednesday Reviews. And both will be on different movies, so more movies to hear about.

Wednesday Review: Thunderpants

2011-07-06T08:57:00.000-07:00

Well after all this time I figure it’s about time I review a movie I hate. Today’s feature: Thunderpants. “Thunderpants?” you say? Sounds oddly humorous. Well it’s not. But it was made, so maybe some idiots out there enjoy humour that requires zero brain power. Or maybe only people who are stoned out of their minds would find it funny. Either way, this film isn’t funny. Nor is it good in any other way. I once watched it and decided that I’d recommend to everyone NOT to watch it. And here’s why.

Thunderpants Title Card.

Allow me to sum up the plot in one paragraph. Patrick Smash (henceforth known as “Farting Kid”) is constantly farting. There is never a moment when he is not. This drives his father away from home and causes all people at school to hate him because he smells; everyone except Ron Weasley who is a super genius who can’t smell. So Ron Weasley invents Thunderpants, pants that absorb the smell. Then he decides to take the pants one step further and invents Thunderpants 2, a flying machine powered by Farting Kid’s farts. Then some guys in black suits take Ron away and Farting Kid travels the world with some opera dude to find him, only to end up accidentally killing someone with his farts, then being put on death row, then being hired by the USSC to fly Thunderpants 3 to a satellite with his farting, because those men in black suits where American governments agents who hired Ron Weasley to make a spaceship powered by farts. So Farting Kid farts his way up to the satellite, saves the people there, and lives out his dream of becoming an astronaut. The end. Yes, it may sound funny now. But I promise you, in a right state of mind, you will find almost nothing funny in this film.

Review after the break.

So the film starts off with Farting Kid’s mom giving birth to him. And clearly a doll shoots out of her and flies through the sky, that doll is supposed to be him.

Farting Kid is The Sandman!

So I guess Farting Kid’s farts are so powerful they cause his dad to be put into various casts?

So now Farting Kid has daddy issues because he farted him away. Does that not sound really stupid?

Farting Kid gets beat up by Goyle from Harry Potter all the time. I guess that guy just likes to play bullies.

One, why does every kid at that school wear a uniform except Farting Kid? Two, why is he dressed like the Sandman all the time?

The best thing about this movie is that Anna Popplewell is in it ... and she doesn’t even have any lines. She was so cute when she was a kid. It’s like, if I ever have a daughter, I want her to be as cute as Anna.

Isn't Anna just the cutest?

Why would he just sit outside Ron’s place for 24hours? Why not go home and have Ron call him when he finishes making Thunderpants? The kid’s stupid.

Man ... is every day the worst day of his life ... ever?

Why is it that there are no teachers on the playground to stop a school wide beating of Farting Kid?

Man, why is Farting Kid friends with Ron Weasley? He keeps shooting down all his hopes and dreams! I mean sure he can’t smell the farts, but would you really want someone who’s mean to you as a friend?

LOOK OUT RON! THE MEN IN BLACK ARE AFTER YOU!

BAHA! I’m so glad that Farting Kid’s mother drinks her problems away. That’s so gonna help him with his problem.

So Farting Kid has two stomachs like a cow eh? Hmm...

Hey it’s Fudge from Harry Potter too! I forgot he was in this.

Now he has musical farts? Oh God ...

Here come the Men in Black.

Hey, Keira Knightley’s in this too! How can this film have such a good cast and SUCK SO MUCH?!

It must suck to always be introduced as the second best tenor in the world. I mean, you’re constantly reminded that there’s one guy, ONE GUY, that’s better than you.

Did no one test out those flying machines before the competition? Obviously they’re never going to work!

Why is the opera guy using binoculars to watch them fly the machine?! THEY'RE RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU!!!

Okay, I’m pretty sure that even if you don’t make it to the end of the course, you’re still gonna win because you’re the only ones who invented something that could actually fly.

Farting shockwave.

Okay, his fart just made a shockwave across an entire forest. I’ll admit, that’s impressive.

Okay ... is every day the best day of his life ... ever?

Why does everyone who lives in this town own the same kind of car?

There’s a lot of green in this movie. The colour of envy? Willpower? Nature? What’s it representing here?

Shouldn’t these kids be in school? Not out travelling the world farting music and inventing rocket ships?

If it’s a secret between you and Mr. John ... THEN WHY’D YOU JUST GO AND TELL HIS COMPETITION?!

That other singer dude has giant ears.

“Criminal mastermind” Patrick Smash? HA! That kid doesn’t have the brainpower to do much of anything, there’s no way he could be a criminal mastermind.

All the cars are the same ...

Hahaha. Stephen Fry. Nice!

Has anybody ever noticed how crooked Stephen Fry’s nose is?

Oh God ... even his jail uniform is the same green and black striped pattern.

So I guess England still has the death sentence for murderers ... even kids ...

Man ... this kid’s closet is like Doug’s closet ... everything in there is exactly the same. Remember that show Doug? That was an awesome show.

OH MAN! Are those Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans?! Of course they’re not ... they’re just normal jelly beans. Not impressed.

Kids?! Running the USSC? They would do that in this film.

So Farting Kid is just a tool then? So they saved him from being murdered, only to send him into space where he will most likely die? Yeah ... fun ... glad these guys don’t really care about his health and well being.

Farting kid used Flamethrower! It’s super effective!

Farting Kid, I choose you! Use Flamethrower!

I’m surprised his space suit doesn’t follow the same green and black striped style that everything else he wears does.

Of course we don’t see the president’s face ... but his voice makes him sound like a stereotypical Italian mobster.

Chain reaction. Explosion of the rocket. 79% chance. NEVER TELL ME THE ODDS!

I’m pretty sure Anna Popplewell never closes her mouth in this film.

Who’s Houston?

A thought just occurred to me. Why did they have to build a rocket ship powered by farts? Couldn’t they have just used a normal rocket ship?

At least the movie had a good moral to it.

Total times I found something funny: 3.

Well all in all, the movie was a flop. It had a good moral at the end, some good actors, but it completely failed as a comedy. I found myself bored of the film about halfway through it. There was nothing spectacular in the shots used, no interesting special effects, there wasn’t really a compelling story. This movie just utterly failed at pretty much everything it did. I could barely find something good to say about it. I recommend that you DON’T watch this film. Oh God it’s so horrible.

I’ll give this thing ... I dunno ... 3/10 or something ... no like 2/10 ... 2.5? Sure, let’s go with that. It was the worst day of my life ... ever.

Ron Weasley and Farting Kid. BFF's forever.

Wednesday Review: Hook

2011-06-29T12:47:00.000-07:00

This week’s review is a favourite from the childhood, a Disney classic, and a story about a beloved factional character. Hook! Okay, the beloved fictional character isn’t Hook, it’s Peter Pan, but the movie is Hook! Well, I suppose Hook could be the beloved fictional character too ...

Anyway, Hook is a story about a grown up Peter Pan who’s left Neverland, married Wendy’s granddaughter, had kids, and forgotten all about Neverland and what he had learned there. Then Hook shows up and takes his kids so Pan will go back there and face him one last time. So let’s begin shall we?

Hook title card.

Review after the break.

Tri Star Pictures ... such an old production company intro ... oh man.

So the film starts with a bunch of kids putting on a school play of Peter Pan, albeit, very poorly as the director is whispering lines to the cast. We’re then shown the grown up Peter Pan (Robin Williams) watching the play because his daughter, Maggie, is playing Wendy. His cell phone rings and he begins to talk business stuff to an associate. We’re shown his disorganized lifestyle and his lack of attention for his children in this scene. As he ignores the play to talk on the phone and he tries to set up a meeting during his son’s baseball game.

Peter Pan shows up very late for his son’s baseball game, and by very late I mean he missed it by a long period of time. During the game we’re shown his son, Jack, very disappointed that Peter didn’t show up to his game. We can tell there is some history of similar things like that happening in the past a lot, and we can see that this disappointment will alienate Jack from Peter.

Peter Pan Airlines.

Wow ... the airplane is called “Pan Am”. So much Peter Pan references everywhere!

Peter Pan is ironically afraid of heights. That’ll stop him getting back to Neverland!

Peter tells his son to grow up, how very unlike Peter Pan. This one line shows a real character change from the Peter Pan we’re used to, one who never wants to grow up. Another big difference is the young Peter Pan is daring, courageous, and adventurous, whereas this one is very finicky, cautious, and afraid of everything.

Tootles is the best! First scene, he opens the door, exclaims “It’s snowing!” and slams the door in Peter’s face. Hilarious!

Dame Maggie Smith plays Wendy Darling!! I almost feel there is still some love between her and Peter when they first meet in the film, even though he is a man in his mid thirties and she is well in her eighties.

“So ... Peter ... you’ve become a pirate?” Key line of the film, I think, that defines the young Peter from the old.

Kinda ominous that the window lock is shaped exactly like Hook’s hook.

Another defining scene is when Peter chooses his work over his family. Man, leaving Neverland had a terrible affect on him.

Dustin Hoffman as Captain James Hook.

“That mean scary man at the window” eh? Says he’s a window washer eh? Captain James Hook eh?

The parents leave the kids and then Hook shows up and takes the kids away. It parallels the original story where the parents leave and Peter shows up and takes the kids away. I’ve never actually read the book ... I’m just going of the old Disney cartoon on this one.

Everyone loves Wendy! She is a miracle worker. She has helped so many people. I know this may sound cliché, but if only there were more people like her in our world, it would be a much better place.

HA! Michael's teddy bear and John’s hat and glasses are in Wendy’s house! Nice character references there.

22 minutes in: the music playing sounds like Harry Potter music. John Williams does the score for both.

HA! The cab driver’s name is Neville. Oh Harry Potter.

Peter’s been drinking alcohol ... maybe this entire film is a figment of his imagination ...

Here’s a fun fact. During the scene where Tinkerbell is taking Peter to Neverland, she sprays dust on a couple kissing and they begin to fly. The guy is George Lucas.

Neverland. Strange how there's a compass in the water...

It saddens me that the crocodile is dead. He was cool.

Dustin Hoffman plays Hook, and man does he do a great job of it. The film has a great cast, but I’d say Hoffman is by far the best.

Awkward jump cut in the scene where Peter first reaches the Lost Boys’ home. He’s talking to Tink in her little house thing, then there’s an awkward jump cut to a slightly different angle.

Rufio Rufio Ruf-I-OOOO!!!

Rufio Rufio RU-FI-OOOOO!!!!

The Lost Boys’ place looks freaking sweet though. I wish I had a place like that. That’d be an awesome place to just hang out at.

I like the little kid who plays with Peter’s face to find out it’s really him. I don’t know why, but I just like the kid.

Wait a minute now ... Hook just said he hates living in Neverland. If he hates it ... why doesn’t he just leave and go back to the real world? I mean, he went there to get the kids, we know he can leave Neverland. And Peter came back permanently, so we know you can do that. So why not just leave?

A thought just occurred to me ... why to all the kids always visit Neverland in their pyjamas?

Man, it’s creepy how Hook and Smee know everything about those kids. How the Hell’d they get all that information?

The Lost Boys' place looks awesome!

CAW CA DOODLE DOO!!! That’s the best rooster crow I can write and have it make sense. The scene where Peter finally begins to become his old self again is strange. He just warps into a brand new character. I suppose the magic of Neverland can account for that though. He starts using his imagination then he picks up his sword and suddenly knows how to use it. At that moment you hear a rooster in the background and you know that the young Peter has returned. I like the set up they do there, it signals his return.

I think it’s funny that the pirates are really kind hearted, loving people, but they’re just really stupid and follow Hook and act like jerks.

Hook tries to bring Peter’s kids over to, for lack of a better phrase, the dark side. Fortunately Maggie is still young enough to have total faith in her parents, however Jack is at that point in life where he doesn’t know what’s what. He finally let’s out his frustrations and is consumed by Hook’s plan when he smashes all the clocks that Hook has stored over the years. This is a good scene for the development of both Jack’s character and his relationship with his father and with Hook.

Okay, so the pirates are playing a game of baseball ... one question ... where’d they get the baseball uniforms?

The face in the tree looks cool.

The only reason he remembers everything is because he picks up a thimble? Why that specific one? Why didn’t he remember anytime he looked at another one?

I find it funny that during the scene where Peter is remembering his past and remembers the first time he met Wendy, when he’s struggling with his shadow we can see the boy’s actual shadow to the right of him.

Hey it’s Gwyneth Paltrow!

Wow, there’s a literal compass in the water on Neverland.

Aw man the crocodile's dead. I liked him.

Okay, so Peter Pan remembers his past, then forgets he’s all grown up. Tinkerbell asks if he remembers that, he doesn’t, so she wishes she were big so she can kiss him and tell him she loves him. But the kiss makes him remember his wife and kids. Tinkerbell then looked disappointed. Did Tinkerbell have an ulterior motive? Did she want him to forget he grew up so she could have him all for herself?

Why is it in movies where its kids versus adults, the kids always win by a landslide?

OH MY GOD, THEY KILLED RUFIO!

“Bad form” I’m gonna start saying that now.

Death by giant, dead (?) crocodile!

Okay, this has been bugging me all movie ... what the hell is a bangarang?

Yep ... Tootles has finally lost it ... the old kook.

“Seize the day!” Tootles shouts as he flies out the window. Robin Williams played John Keating in a film called Dead Poets Society where the phrase “Carpe diem, seize the day boys” was his recurring line.

Second star to the right and straight on till morning.

Hook is a great family film with a spectacular cast. The plot is strong and the characters are well developed, several characters change throughout the film. There are no special effects used so everything looks real and have a believable feel to it. All the small references to other Pan related things, or even other non-Pan related things, make the film more enjoyable if you’re trying to spot them. The acting is great, and visuals are strong. There’s never a dull moment on the screen and it never feels rushed either. I’d recommend the film to anyone of any age.

8/10 stars and straight on till morning.

The Pan family.

Wednesday Review: Green Lantern

2011-06-22T13:39:00.000-07:00

Due to time constraints with my mom’s broken hip and me helping around the house all the time. I don’t really have time to sit down and write up a full review here. So instead I’ll just write down my thoughts (at least what I remember) on the new film Green Lantern. Since it is brand knew I’ll leave out any major spoilers and just comment on generic things about the movie.

Let’s begin by explaining that I’m a big fan of the Green Lantern. The character is one of my favourite superheroes of all time, and Hal Jordan is my favourite Lantern. So I was hoping this film would do the characters and stories justice. But, as with all adaptations, I will do my best to ignore the fact it’s an adaptation and just look at the film as a film itself.

Review after the break.

I enjoyed the opening scene explaining the origins of the Guardians of the Universe and the Green Lantern Corps. However I’m curious as to why Tomar-Re of all people was the narrator. There were some key differences between the film events and the comic events, but I understand the need to change things from book to film. Not everything will transition well between the two.

The effects were pretty sweet, they used top of the line graphics for the film. The constructs that the rings made were especially well done. The suit ... well ... let’s just say ... they could have done better. I like the idea of making a suit out of CG, it makes sense. The suit is made from the ring, so make it CG like everything else. But like I said ... they could have done better.

Maybe that's not a scar but just facial markings they added
for the movie? Lame.

I couldn’t help but continually stare at the strangely shaped scar on Sinestro’s face.

I wish that we could’ve seen more of the Corps and Oa and Hal’s training, but the decided to take a different route which in the end brought some justice to their choice.

Carol is the person who says the line that defines the difference between the old motto of what it means to be a lantern, and the new one.

Surprisingly Ryan Reynolds didn’t make Hal too cheesy.

I think the best acting was by Peter Sarsgaard, who played Hector Hammond, the main villain of the story. His evolution throughout the film really made his character believable and interesting.

The overall plot of the film was weak. I felt like Geoff Johns (chief executive at DC Comics and the guy who brought Green Lantern back to a rousing success) had a lot of input in the film. It felt more like the film was just there to set up further films, much like Geoff Johns’ writing. My only hope is that the sequel, when and if it comes, will be an improvement.

Oa is pretty sweet.

I heard that John Stewart, another Green Lantern, was supposed to make a cameo appearance in this film as a possible choice for Abin Sur’s successor, and then he would get a bigger role in the sequel, however I did not see the character. If you saw him let me know.

There were a few nods to other comic book things in the film, both related to Green Lantern and not. I was trying my best to spot any references to other Lantern Corps, but only managed to spot three, four if you think hard and speculate, five simply by name of planet though no direct reference to the corps itself, and six ... well ... those aliens at the start just reminded me of Larfleeze.

I’m really hoping we get more Sinestro in the second film. *cough villain cough*

I’m glad they left out the Green Lantern’s weakness to the colour yellow. It’s an ancient problem that no longer applies.

Jango Fett ... I mean, Abin Sur.

I didn’t see the movie in 3D, but there were scenes that I could tell would look amazing in 3D.

The part where Hal creates two airplane constructs to pull him along reminded me of a podracer from Star Wars. Especially the wide shots.

Right before Hector Hammond is approached by the agents of Checkmate, we see him playing chess on his computer. Though I wasn’t paying attention at the time, as soon as checkmate appeared I said to myself “I bet Hammond just made a checkmate move on chess”

Overall I’d say the film lied along the lines of: decent, alright, good, or mediocre. It was visually appealing, but the plot was too stretched and very weak. Once again, I felt Geoff Johns was heavily involved. It had a lot of comedy, but not enough to say it was a comedy type of film. The action sequences were cool, and what we saw of the other Lanterns and Oa ... well let’s just say I’m hoping for more of them in the sequel. (Not gonna lie I was naming off other Lanterns I saw in the crowd when Hal first arrives.) The acting was okay for the most part, they could have found someone better to play Carol than Blake Lively. It feels like it’s setting up for something bigger, so my hopes are on that for redeeming this one. But as a stand-alone film it was weak, but I still enjoyed it if for nothing but the fact that I’m easily entertained.

In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night,

6/10 stars feels just right.

The character has yet to reach its height.

I hope I’ll see Green Lantern’s might!

At least the construct looks neat.

Sherlock stars reunite on another film!

2011-06-16T21:07:00.000-07:00

Remember that Sherlock Review I wrote a few weeks back? Well it's being reported that Benedict Cumberbatch, the actor who plays Sherlock Holmes in the series, will be providing the voice of the dragon Smaug in Peter Jackson's two-part adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit.

It has been previous known for many months now that the actor who plays Watson, Martin Freeman, will be playing Bilbo Baggins. Looks like the two get to work together on another project.

Wednesday Review: A Goofy Movie

2011-06-15T13:53:00.000-07:00

So my review this week is a special review. Why you ask? Simple. Because I’ll be reviewing A Goofy Movie, which is my favourite movie of all time. This will also mark the first time I’ve reviewed a cartoon movie, so things will be a little different, especially since it stars the lovable character Goofy Goof (known for pulling off outrageously ridiculous feats). A Goofy Movie came out in 1995 and is a classic love story about a boy who likes a girl and wants to impress her, however his goofy father bumbles along and gets in the way. The film stars the voice talents of Bill Farmer (Goofy), Jason Marsden (Max), Jim Cummings (Pete), Rob Paulsen (P.J.), and others.

Fact: I’ve watched this movie so many times I can quote the entire movie and give you a layout of what’s happening in each shot. Enjoy the review.

Title card for A Goofy Movie

Review after the break.

The opening scene is a dream sequence of Max running through a field of wheat, dressed all in white, running to meet Roxanne, the girl of his dreams, also dressed in white. The colour of white symbolizes their purity. Then the scene changes to a world of horror as Max begins to mutate into a giant monster. Only to be revealed that he is transforming into his father, Goofy, his greatest fear.

"Don't give me that attitude you guys, I'm doing it all
for you!"

The big event of the movie is the Powerline concert that Stacey is throwing at her end-of-the-year party live on Pay-Per-View. I often get confused as to whether Powerline is the Goofy equivalent of Michael Jackson or Prince. It’s one of the two. Maybe there is no right answer and everything I’ve heard is just fan speculation. Either way, he’s a parody of some famous artist.

Why is it that on the outside of the bus there’s a variety of students in the windows, but the inside of the bus is comprised entirely of cheerleaders?

“Don’t give me that attitude you guys I’m doing it all for you.” One of my all time famous quotes I continuously say came right from this movie.

Goofy and Pete at work.

I don’t remember Goofy’s job in Goof Troop, but I do remember Pete sold cars. So why exactly would Pete give up his job selling cars to work in a photo centre at a Wal-Mart like place? I’m pretty sure he would make more money selling cars.

Okay, so Max has never talked to this girl in his life before, but when he does he says “I’ll call you later”. So when exactly did he get her phone number? Furthermore, he later has Goofy drive to her house. How exactly does he know where she lives? Creeper much?

Nun sighting #1.

Nun sighting number one: Goofy’s place of employment.

Okay, so the crowd is cheering on Max after school about his concert in the gym. We see Bobby hanging from a statue cheering him on. Then we’re shown a bird’s eye view of Max running through the crowd to the street. We’re then shown a shot of Max high fiving the people on the bus. Bobby is one of those people. How exactly did Bobby get from the statue to the bus?

I enjoy the fact that when Max lies to Roxanne about going to the Powerline concert, he flinches and makes a sound like “Dueeee”. Fact: When talking to women about certain things I will also act this way (not saying I lie, just saying I flinch and say “Dueee”).

Max and Goofy aren’t wearing their seatbelts. Tisk tisk.

Goofy drives with his feet.

Okay, in one scene Goofy is driving with his feet on the steering wheel. How is that possible?! There’s nothing on the gas pedal to keep it moving!

Nun sighting #2.

Nun sighting number two: Open Road song.

The perfect cast: You gotta be loose, relaxed, with your feet apart. Ten o’clock, two o’clock, quarter to three, tour jete, twist, over, pas de deux, I’m a little teapot, and the windup, and let her fly!

That’s for all you fishermen out there. You’ll catch Bigfoot.

Okay, so Bigfoot just makes growling and snarling noises. Bigfoot is voiced by Frank Welker. Who is Frank Welker you ask? Well let’s look at it this way. Basically any animal from any movie you’ve seen in the last forty or so years is voiced by Frank Welker. The only time I’ve ever seen him voice a human is Fred from Scooby-Doo. I’m under the impression he’s a talking horse.

IT'S BIGFOOT!!!

Ever notice that Bigfoot randomly appears then disappears while dancing in the background?

Another one of my all time quotes: “How many cups of sugar does it take to get to the moon?”

Nun sighting #3.

Nun sighting number three: the diner.

The song played during their travelling montage is pretty cool. I wish it was on the soundtrack I’d like to listen to it more. But alas! It is not! And I have no idea how I could find it either.

Nun sighting number four: monster truck rally.

Nun sighting #4.

HA! I just noticed the basketball guy from Max’s high school is in the stadium with Max and Goofy when they’re watching the baseball game.

I lied.

According to this movie, Lake Destiny is in Idaho. I wonder, is there really a location in Idaho called Lake Destiny? (Looks it up) Nope. But apparently there’s a Lake Destiny in Florida.

Guess the car needs a new emergency break too.

I enjoy the fact that when Max and Goofy are sitting on their car in the car and they’re coming up to the waterfall they begin the paddle against the current and actually move away from the waterfall!

Nun sighting #5.

Goofy didn’t use the perfect cast. That’s why he was unable to save Max.

Nun sighting number five: Powerline concert.

Max tells Goofy to do the perfect cast. Goofy then proceeds to dance. That is NOT the perfect cast at all!

During the Open Road song we see Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck going on a vacation. Now at the Powerline concert we only see Mickey in the audience. I guess Donald got fed up with Mickey and left.

What the map says Max, we will follow.

I enjoy the fact that Goofy is still singing “Open Road” at the end of the movie.

This movie is my all time favourite movie ever ... As I stated at the beginning. I love the concept of the movie, I mean, sure it has the stereotypical Disney love story that you know will never happen in real life, but hey, I’m a sucker. Max is a really relatable character, the flaws and complications he has many people have as well. The relationship between Goofy and Max is another thing that is really relatable about the film. Lots of people have problems with their father or their kids, and eventually they need to learn to see things from the other’s point of view to make things work. I mean yes, there’s no one out there quite like Goofy, but the basic principle is there. The basic structure of the plot is good with little inconsistencies. It’s got classic Disney songs, great animation (you don’t see this kind of animated very often anymore), good voice acting, spectacular on the whole.

Being my favourite movie, I’m inclined to rate this movie a ten. However, I do not want to be biased so I’ll rate it on an objective point of view. 9/10 for A Goofy Movie. (Insert Goofy Holler here.)

Goofy and Max join Powerline on stage for his final number.

Bad News, Bad News, and More Bad News.

2011-06-12T14:30:00.000-07:00

A few days ago I had promising news of a new film in the works. Unfortunately that will have to be shelved for an undetermined amount of time.

Unfortunately, my mom broke her hip, so I will be returning home to help around the house until everything gets in order. I have no idea how long I will be away, but as soon as I get back to Windsor I'll jump right back in to getting a team ready for filming. Hopefully I'll be filming in July and we'll see a final product in August.

However, one good thing is that I have decided to move forth on filming with my new Sherlock Holmes film, a sequel to the one I made in high school. Based on the length of the script, we're looking at a 40min film, it'll be my biggest project yet, and I hope it will test my skills as a filmmaker.

I will also do my best to continue writing Wednesday Reviews. Though, I apologise in advance if they neither come on Wednesday's nor every week. I will be busy helping my mom for a few weeks, so my time towards an projects may be limited.

No Review, Possible Film in Works

2011-06-08T12:53:00.000-07:00

Well folks, I have some good news and some bad news.

For those of you who enjoy my weekly Wednesday Reviews, I will, unfortunately, not be writing one this week as I have been to sick to do much of anything. If I am feeling better I may write it later in the week, if not, then next week.

However, the good news for everyone is that I am in talks with setting up a production team for a new film (or more) for this summer. No details yet, but hopefully one of my ideas in the post Summer Film Ideas will be made this summer. I'll keep everyone posted.

Wednesday Review: Sherlock

2011-06-01T12:08:00.000-07:00

Today’s review will be on a show I discovered a few months ago called Sherlock, about a modern day Sherlock Holmes solving mysteries around London, England. The show has only run for one season, with the second currently in production. The reason I’m reviewing a show and not a movie this week is simple: Sherlock is more like a series of TV movies rather than a TV show. The first season contains three episodes, each an hour and a half long, roughly the length of an average movie. Sherlock gives a nice modern twist to all the characters from the novels. If one were born in the 20^th Century, one would act differently than if they were born in the 21^st Century. So changing the characters around to fit the time period makes some sense as well as makes for an interesting watch. So here’s my review of the first episode; A Study in Pink.

Sherlock title card.

Review after the break

The film starts off with an exposition of Dr. John Watson’s life. We first see a series of quick war clips, flashing by, a sun spot light cast upon the camera lens; then a person (Watson [Martin Freeman]), waking up from the nightmare of serving during the war. Following this scene is one of Watson, sitting alone in a white washed room, symbolising that he is alienated from the rest of the world. He moves to his desk and pulls out a laptop from the desk drawer, we glimpse a handgun in the drawer, and he opens up the laptop to write on his blog. The blog is blank. We jump to a scene between Watson and a therapist. The therapist urges Watson to write in his blog about his daily activities because it will help him fit back into society. In response to this statement Watson says “Nothing happens to me.” How wrong that statement will soon be.

Following the opening credits, we see a man and his wife talking on the phone, shortly after we see him taking a pill and dying. We then see two guys walking along in the rain. One leaves to get an umbrella, then we see him taking a pill as well, and also dying. We see the third victim at leaving a club, only to find her keys missing from her purse. Following this is a shot of her taking a pill and dying as well. Little do you know everything you need to figure out the mystery is in this opening sequence.

Wrong!

In this series Holmes (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) is very tech savvy, able to send a text message to several phones in one location anonymously. It should be expected that Holmes would know this because he only keeps useful and important information in his head, in a day and age when technology is the primary source of all communication, this would be very important and useful.

I find myself looking, not at Holmes, but at the other
side of the screen.

The variety of shots used in the show is brilliant. Each one has a motive, a meaning, a purpose. They range from close up, to wide shot, they go to the extremes, they use depth of field, apply visual effects in the vein of Adobe After Effects, and a whole lot more. I am always impressed by the look of the show.

The music is cool too. It has an old 19^th-20^th Century feel, but still has the bounce of the 21^st Century in it.

It’s amazing how one can figure out the most complicated things just by looking at the smallest details and using simple logic. When Holmes and Watson first meet Holmes gives a description of part of Watson’s life all from the way he walks and the cell phone he has. Makes me wish I could figure things out from little information like that.

The gay jokes between Holmes and Watson begin right as soon as they move in together and they continue to show up without the series.

Mrs. Hudson is an idiot.

Both Watson’s blog and Holmes’ website “The Science of Deduction” are actual websites. Look ‘em up.

Holmes' website

Watson's blog

The same girls that walked by 221b Baker street when Watson and Holmes first enter the place, are walking by it again, in the same direction, when they leave.

If you don’t pay attention to every little detail while watching this, you won’t be able to solve the mysteries. Of course, perhaps you would like to watch it and not solve the mysteries but let Holmes do it for you. I personally rather enjoy solving mysteries and I try to do my best to solve them before Holmes does.

You know, Holmes wouldn’t be such a bad dude if he wasn’t a complete ass whenever someone wasn’t fast enough to see things in his logic.

The cameras on Watson.

Watson's meeting.

After inspecting the fourth victim’s body, Holmes runs off and leaves Watson at the crime scene alone. Watson leaves and as he does a payphone rings. Everywhere he goes for the next couple minutes whenever he walks by a phone, it rings. Finally Watson answers a phone and the speaker shows him that he is controlling the security cameras around him. Watson is told to enter the car outside the phone booth. Once they reach the destination, Watson meets someone who claims to be Holmes' “arch-enemy”. He seems to know a great deal about both Holmes and Watson. Upon first watch I was under the impression that we had just met Moriarty for the first time. Though introducing the greatest villain of Sherlock Holmes this early in seems rather unusual. Keeping him hidden throughout the series would be more interesting.

They use some cool scene transitions with overlay effects. A new scene overlays half the screen, then pans across to make the new scene cover the entire screen. They use this at the coolest moments, when lighting or mood is right.

During the scene where Holmes is setting a trap for the murderer, while they wait at Northumberland street, is the point where I figure out who the killer is and Holmes doesn’t. Tell me, can you figure it out?

The map in Holmes' head.

The chase scene is another scene that’s full of cool shots, too hard for me to convey in snapshot images. But as Holmes and Watson chase the cab we get flashes of random street signs, the cab, bit of road, all moving fast paced along with the music. Every now and then we see Holmes' map inside his head of where the cab will go and where they should go to cut him off. It’s a brilliant scene.

I solved the mystery 13min before Holmes did.

The thing about a Sherlock Holmes film is that everything in each shot is meant to be there. If you’re looking at a shot and think “Oh hey, that’s nice, look at that” odds are you’re looking at some piece of a mystery. Nothing is ever there for no reason.

Despite the fact that Holmes has already out smarted the killer, the killer manages to taunt Holmes back into the game and Holmes risks his life for no reason other than he’s curious to see if he was right or not. Didn’t anyone ever tell you Holmes? Curiosity killed the cat.

Lighting setting the mood.

When the killer is dying, the blood underneath him randomly disappears.

Turns out the guy I originally thought to be Moriarty was actually Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock Holmes’ brother. Don’t know why Mycroft didn’t just tell Watson he was Holmes’ brother when they first met.

This show is an amazing take on the stories of Sherlock Holmes. It is faithful to the series (a much as it can be for being a modern retelling), and at the same time it’s different and innovative. The mysteries are hard to solve and the evidence is right in front of you. The acting is superb; both lead actors fit the characters perfectly. There is a sense of an overarching plot laid down in the episode, similar to when they lay out potential sequels for movies. The effects are well done, each overlay or Adobe After Effects type of shot is remarkable, and it is never overdone. By far the most compelling part is the shots they use in the series. As I said before, everything is there for a reason, each shot has a purpose. This stands out so distinctly in the show it makes me wish more films were like this. Very little bad can be said about the show. The only things I noticed were bad were intentional character flaws or that disappearing blood. Overall, Sherlock is a brilliant show that I recommend to anyone who likes good mysteries.

It’s elementary, my dear readers, that this show will be a 9/10.

Watson (Freeman) and Holmes (Cumberbatch).

Wednesday Review: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

2011-05-25T16:20:00.000-07:00

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is the first of three pretty awesome movies from the early 90s (third one could have been better). As you will know, CGI effects were non-existent at that time so the turtles were actually guys in rubber suits, with Splinter being a Jim Henson puppet. I personally think that those costumes are way better than the CGI stuff nowadays, but maybe I’m just a fan of the old school look. The film is a lot darker than the TV series that was such a hit it that it led to the creation of the movie franchise, and in every way, that makes it better.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles title card.

Review after the break.

Judith Hoag as April O'Neil

The film starts off with various establishing shots of New York City and a woman (later revealed to be April O’Neil [Judith Hoag]) explaining the crime wave that has spread throughout the city and how no one has even seen the perpetrators. Then we see a person steal a man’s wallet and he passes it off to another person, and so on, never revealing a face until the last person. This is a visual narration to accompany the audio explaining no one has seen a face. I think it’s very clever.

“Who we gonna call?” ... Ghostbusters???

I enjoy the fact that in the opening shot of April leaving the studio she’s wearing a yellow coat, a reference to the yellow outfit she always wears in the cartoon? Me thinkith, yes.

Raph's sai breaks a light.

April’s first encounter with the turtles is in an alleyway when April walks in on people stealing from her van. We are shown a sai hitting a light, then blackness until the police show up to find all the criminals tied up. We see Raphael watching the scene from a sewer as April takes the sai he threw at the light. So begins Raph’s brooding throughout the movie.

The establishing shots used in the film are fantastic. You’re really able to get a feel for where the characters are and what it’s like there.

The turtles listen to Splinter's advice

The turtles return home in excitement to explain to their master Splinter that they have fought their first battle and won. Of course Splinter, being old and wise tells them that their secrecy is of the utmost importance. For humans would not understand what life is like for them. Raph is angry that he has lost a sai but Splinter calmly says that it is lost. Raph’s anger is something that continuously comes up throughout the course of the movies, often leading them into trouble.

Splinter’s voice is heard before he is seen. This is good to surprise the audience with the fact that four mutant turtles have a rat for a master. It’s not something one would expect.

We’re shown the carefree teenage side of the turtles when Splinter asks them to meditate and they begin playing “Tequila” by Chuck Rio, only replacing the word “Tequila” with the word “Ninjitsu”.

Trench coat wearing Raph

Raph dawns a trench coat and hat and heads out to see a movie. Gotta love that look.

“Wise men say forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for a late pizza.”

Wayne Gretzky on steroids?

On his way home from the movie, Raph encounters Casey Jones (Elias Koteas) after stopping a purse snatching. The two bash heads both in personality and in a fight.

“DAAAAAMMMMNNNN!!!!!!” – Raph’s quote of the movie.

The different ways they use lighting in the sewers is pretty cool. Candlelight, natural light through the sewer grates, lights from lamps, not much of it is lit with lighting kits. It gives the film a more realistic feel to it.

Remember that criminal from the start of the movie? The one was saw the face of? Turns out he’s April’s boss’s son. Important? I think so.

Our first look at Shredder is pretty intimidating. We’re shown a shadowy figure watching several televisions, each one with the same interview with April O’Neil, where she asks about a clan known as “The Foot”. Shredder throws a dagger at the TV and orders his men to silence her. If that’s not dark, I don’t know what is.

It’s a good thing Raph wanted his sai back. If he wasn’t following April he wouldn’t have been able to save her from The Foot. Then again, they never would have followed him to his home and captured Splinter. You win some you lose some.

The Foot

The shaky cam of Raph running in to save April is one of the few instances I think the shaky cam works. It’s like he explodes with rage. There’s a better scene similar to that later on.

When Splinter tells the origin story of himself and the turtles to April the lighting looks amazing. Everything except the characters is entirely black, and even then the characters are shrouded in darkness themselves, only parts of them can be seen. The same lighting effect is used again when he tells the story of his Master Yoshi and Oroko Saki to Danny.

Raph's uncontrollable rage.

My favourite scene of the entire movie is when the turtles return home from April’s a find that Splinter is gone. Raph pushes his way into the room and the camera spins around him, shaking, and then it spins faster and shakes more vigorously and Raph lets out a bellow of rage. I love that scene because it’s like Raph’s rage is so uncontrollable it bursts out of him in a shockwave so powerful that people up on the street can feel it.

Danny has father issues which lead him to fully abandoning his father and joining The Foot, his new “family”. Of course, this leads to him telling the Shredder where the turtles are, destroying April’s home, and almost killing Raph, but hey, he meets the captured Splinter and has spiritual conversations with him. Once again, you win some you lose some.

The turtles enjoy a nice game of Trivial Pursuit.

I’m sorry, but there’s a kid smoking a cigar. Is that allowed? Like, I mean, are you allowed to put that in a movie for kids to watch? Won’t that give them the wrong idea? Maybe I was just raised a certain way, but that seems like a bad idea.

Until Leo ruins the game.

“I am your father!” Shredder totally just stole a line from Darth Vader.

Raph’s conflict with Leonardo is something that continues throughout the films as well. They fight over what to do, Raph wanting to take action while Leo wanting to wait and figure it out. The fact that Leo is their leader is mentioned by Raph in their first fight of the film. Apparently he isn’t their leader, but just acts as one, which pisses off Raph.

And somehow Casey is able to spot Raph from several rooftops away ... in New York ... super sight? Why not, he’s pretty cool.

“All fathers care for their sons.”

Nice hat Donnie.

One error I noticed continuity wise, how did Raph get his sais back? While fighting The Foot on April’s roof, we are shown a Foot soldier throwing them over the side of the building. When the turtles are training on April’s farm, he has his sais back. When did anyone have time to grab them?

Casey Jones cuts carrots with a katana.

I enjoy the fact that Casey cuts carrots with Leo’s katana.

Splinter visits the turtles in a spiritual form telling them they have discovered the true meaning of being a ninja. His parting words seem like words that say he has died and they never shall see him again. The scene should be heartfelt and touching, but the tone of the rest of the film does not put me into that mood. Maybe it’s just me, or maybe it’s because I’ve seen the movie so many times I can quote scenes. Anyway, this scene sparks the turtle’s decision to go back to New York to stop The Foot and save Splinter.

The spirit of Splinter contacts the tutles.

Inverse Ninja Law

While fighting the Shredder, the turtles practice the one-at-a-time attack rule. A rule in films that states that no matter how many bad guys are fighting the good guy, they only take turns to fight him, never ganging up on the person. Of course in this case it would be the reverse one-at-a-time attack rule, since there is one bad guy and four good guys. In the same vein, the film is full of the Inverse Ninja Law, where a small group of hero ninjas can easily defeat waves of incompetent enemy ninjas only to have difficult fighting a stronger lone ninja (in this case, Shredder).

East Warehouse at Lairdman Island?! I didn’t know New York had a warehouse and an island named after the creators of the Ninja Turtles Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is an awesome movie based on an awesome concept. Mutants and Ninjas and pizza all rolled up into one?! What kid doesn’t want to see that?! The film had some cool fight sequences, the lighting was particularly good, the costumes are awesome (that may just be a personal preference though), the plot is solid with few plot holes, and the film gives off an overall dark feel while still having light-hearted humour. The downside is the lack of emotions that the turtle costumes can express and the limited movements that can be done with the costumes. It’s a great family film to watch, and one that you want to go back and watch again and again.

8.5 out of 10. Cowabunga dudes!

COWABUNGA!

New video uploaded: Trashin' the Camp

2011-05-24T16:14:00.000-07:00

I was bored, so I made a new video. Hope you enjoy.

Wednesday Review: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

2011-05-18T18:36:00.000-07:00

I will start by apologising for the long winded review. I just write down what comes to mind and I share it with my readers. Sometimes I can go off on a tangent. So hopefully you'll stick around and read the whole thing.

NOTE: This is not a review for the film as a novel adaptation, but as a film itself. Also, this will not include how Narnia is full of Christian allusions.

Title card from the film.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is the third instalment in the Chronicles of Narnia series based on the book of the same name by C.S. Lewis.

There are several changes between this film and the previous two that should be taken into consideration before criticizing the film. First off it should be noted that Disney stopped production of the Narnia series after Prince Caspian didn’t fare too well at the box office, so Fox picked up the series in its place. (Walden Media still produces the film though). Another change is that the music is no longer scored by Harry Gregson-Williams, but by David Arnold instead, music can impact a movie more than most people realise. Furthermore the biggest change is in directors. Andrew Adamson directed the first two films, whereas Michael Apted directs this one. The director has an idea of what he wants the film to look like. With one director the audience will feel a sense of continuity as well as have an idea of where the series will go. With a change in directors it is a new adventure each film because the audience will not know what the director will decide to change or keep from book to film.

Aslan greets the gang.

Review after the break

The Seven Lords of Narnia.

In the first two films the audience grows familiar with the Pevensie children, four siblings who go on magical adventures to another world. This time, however, only the youngest two children (Edmund and Lucy, played by Skandar Keynes and Georgie Henley respectively) return to Narnia bringing along with them their cousin Eustace (Will Poulter). Upon arriving in Narnia they meet up with Caspian (Ben Barnes) who is now King of Narnia. Caspian is on a voyage to discover what has happened to his father’s closest friends, who had fled from the tyranny of Caspian’s uncle Miraz. So the children join Caspian on his quest to find the seven lords of Narnia.

This film differs from the previous two in that the previous films were more action oriented, whereas this one is more adventure oriented. The first two films were filled with battles and betrayals, whereas this film is filled with travelling and discovery (although it still has its fair share of battles). The plot of this film is slower than the previous two, but still fast enough to keep you watching.

The entrance to Narnia, through a Narnian painting.

At the start of the film we are introduced to Edmund trying to pass as an older citizen so he can recruit in the war. Afterwards he explains that he shouldn’t have to take it because he is a king, whereas Lucy explains that they are not in their own world. This parallels the previous film where Peter proclaims that he shouldn’t have to take any gruff from people because he’s a king, with Susan telling him that they’re not in Narnia anymore. In having this simple discussion in this film, it shows that the characters are growing up and taking on similar personalities as their siblings. It also symbolizes that Peter and Susan are still here, in a way.

During the first scene we are also introduced to a subplot that is carried on throughout the film. Lucy notices a soldier chatting with a young, beautiful lady. When the woman fixes her hair, Lucy also does this, showing her desire to be beautiful, a plot point that continues to drive Lucy through the film.

When we are introduced to Eustace we are immediately shown how much of a little spoiled brat he is; whining and complaining about things that he doesn’t like, tattling on his cousin, hiding sweets away under the bed and blaming Edmund, and so on. Also, why does he have a diary?

Despite Peter and Susan not being in the novel, both characters make appearances in this film. Susan first appears almost immediately in the film, in the form of a letter. We are given a glimpse of Susan writing the letter that Lucy and Edmund receive. We’ll see more of her later.

The Dawn Treader

Our first real glimpse of the Dawn Treader is right when they get into Narnia. And boy is she a beaut. The figurehead of the Dawn Treader is that of a dragon, its neck reared back ready to attack. The sail is a bright purple adorned with the Narnian crest. I could go on, but I’m not here to review ships, but rather films, so I’ll just say the ship was well designed for the film.

It isn’t until Caspian introduces Lucy and Edmund to his crew are we introduced to the familiar Narnia theme (probably has something to do with the whole, new composer thing I mentioned earlier).

Reepicheep is a brilliantly designed CG animated mouse. He looks very realistic, the animation for this film, as well as for the previous two, continues to be impressive, specifically on the creatures.

Caspian holds Edmund's flashlight.

Once again, Lucy’s obsession with beauty when she fixes her hair and asks Caspian if he has found a queen.

“We have nothing if not belief”

Apparently mermaids are made from water in Narnia ... unless those are water Dryads ...

It isn’t until 22min in that we are introduced to the major “villain” of the story, the mist. It envelops things and then they disappear. The mist did not exist in the novel, however the idea came from one of the islands, which causes dreams to come true (and by dreams it means nightmares). They expanded on that to have the island send out the mist and make it absorb people into it. After all, the novel didn’t really have a villain, so they needed to make one.

The mist.

Fact: Minotaur’s kick all kinds of ass. Faun’s dance too much.

The seven lords of Narnia just happen to have seven magic swords from Aslan that just happen to stop the evil mist from taking over the world.

After Eustace and Reepicheep have their sword fight, we are given the first glimpse of Eustace’s change. All it is is a small smile after Reepicheep congratulates him on the fight. Small, but the mark of change is still there.

The use of invisible/half invisible/see-though effects on the island of the Dufflepuds is really interesting. It looks really ... well ... cool. Especially in the transition from unseen to seen. It makes me glad to see special effects used in movies.

The book of incantations is sweet. I want one.

Opp! There’s some green mist in that book! Guess what’s coming next?! And Lucy finds a spell to make her look like Susan. Great effects used here to transform Lucy into Susan. Oh Anna Popplewell, you’re so gorgeous. And Aslan finally makes his appearance! Sort of. A voice angrily calling out Lucy’s name as she rips the spell out of the book. Que the green mist again. I think we all know what’s coming ahead.

Coriakin and his amazingly cool map.

Man do I want a map like the one Coriakin (the magician) has. The islands pop out of it, there’s an awesome mural on the map depicting events from the first two movies, images move. It’s awesome!

I wonder what Coriakin knows when explaining the Dark Island to the travellers. He looks right at Edmund when he says “It can take any form. It can make your darkest dreams come true.” I wonder if he knows about the taint of the White Witch inside Edmund.

“To defeat the darkness out there, you must defeat the darkness inside yourself.” I think we found the moral of the story.

Finally Lucy is the cause of the terrible things to happen to the main characters in the films. In the first two films she was always the pure hearted one who followed Aslan. In this film she gives into temptation and reads the spell to make her beautiful like Susan, causing the mist to spread through the Dawn Treader, infecting the others.

Skandar Keynes, Anna Popplewell, and William Moseley
as Edmund, Susan, and Peter Pevensie.

The first challenge of the mist is upon Lucy. She casts the spell I keep mentioning and turns into Susan. Of course, in doing so she erases herself from history and therefore no one ever goes to Narnia so none of that could have happened and then she realises her mistake and POW! She’s back in Narnia in this little dream sequence talking to Aslan. She overcomes the mist and it moves on to infect the rest of the ship. And Edmund has a little encounter with the White Witch.

Edmund and Caspian are tempted into fighting each other over a pool that turns things to gold. And Eustace is tempted by gold and turned into a dragon because of it. The dragon looks fantastic, as with all the other special effects of creatures in the film. Kinda wish we could have seen the transformation though.

The change into a dragon really helps Eustace become a likable character, not only by the audience, but by other characters as well. Reepicheep and Eustace become quite close friends (something that neither showed any inclination of doing at all up to this point in the film).

Eustace and Reepicheep begin bonding after Eustace
has been turned into a dragon.

Aslan’s face is in the stars.

Question: how did the stone knife that the White Witch used to kill Aslan get all the way out to Ramandu’s Island?

The visual effects are heavily used to make everything seem magical. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. This mist ... not seeming all that magical to me.

The brotherly moment between Edmund and Caspian makes up for the fight they had earlier.

Of course, just because Eustace is a dragon now, doesn’t mean he’s changed entirely. The fact that he’s still afraid to enter the Dark Island shows that the old Eustace still lives within the dragon’s body. It’s a good use of character development. He didn’t just change automatically, but gradually changed into another person.

Once Rhoop announces that your fears will come reality, Edmund immediately says “oh no”. ... It’s the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man.

This thing is terrifying once it gets cut open.

Epic sea serpent is epic.

Not gonna lie, when Eustace was knocked into the water, my first thought was “Oh no! The fire on Charizard’s tail will go out! He’ll die!”

I guess Aslan can turn into a seagull if you ask him for help. I wonder if the seagull Eustace was talking to earlier was Aslan too ...

Eustace cuts through mist. It's not very effective.

Lucy fires an arrow from Susan’s bow right into the eye of the sea serpent. Never doubt the power of Santa Claus’ magic.

Eustace’s change back to human form was not as cool as it could have been.

Dear Eustace: a sword cannot cut through mist.

The White Witch is always there.

The taint of the White Witch nearly caused them to lose the fight against the sea serpent. It’s great that after all this time Edmund still has this one gigantic character flaw that keeps holding him back.

Apparently those seven magic swords give Peter’s sword some extra magic powers. Aslan really thought that one out.

Super magic sword.

I guess destroying the embodiment of your fears destroys the dark island. I guess it’s true what Coriakin said, “To defeat the darkness out there, you must defeat the darkness inside yourself.” They really drove that one home. Some nice literal meanings, no metaphors, great job guys.

Eustace became a really good swimmer all of a sudden. Swam from one island to the next in a matter of minutes. I think becoming a dragon turned him into some kind of super kid.

So the reason they were brought to Narnia was to learn about Jesus in their own country? Not sure how that makes sense ... but I’m gonna go with it.

Reepicheep sails to Aslan's country.

Fact: the art used during the end credits is the art from the books.

Overall The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is a difficult book to adapt into a movie and keep it interesting. Obviously things had to be changed to keep the film interesting, and as a book to film adaptation, it sucked. A lot. But as a standalone film I found it to be well constructed. They keep in touch with elements of past films as well as pushing boundaries expanding the Narnian world. However there were moments when what was going on didn’t make sense or felt to rushed, particularly the points when they were sailing from one location to the next. The effects on the creatures were well done and some background effects were pretty interesting as well. The plot held a nice mixture of comedy, action, adventure, and drama. The characters all developed a lot of character growth throughout the film. The actors were strong and believable, there was never a moment when I was think “Hmm, you’re just an actor, I don’t believe this.” However, on a whole the film could have been constructed a lot better.

For Narnia, and for Aslan, I’d give it 7 or 8 out of 10. So uh ... 7.5 ... I guess ...

God damn she's so gorgeous. 10/10 for Anna.

Summer Film Ideas

2011-05-13T17:25:00.000-07:00

Hey all, I have some movie ideas that I hope to make this summer and I'm wondering what your opinions on them are, what you think of them, which you'd like to see most, etc.

My first film idea is a mocumentary style film about the guy from Art Attack. Remember that show? It'd be a comedy about how he has an unhealthy obsession with art.

The second is more of an idea of a topic rather than a film, but I'd like to make a Star Wars Fan Film at some point. Not sure of what exactly. Maybe something with cool lightsaber effects, or stormtroopers. They're popular.

My third idea is the pilot episode of a Dungeons and Dragons web series. Each episode begins with the group sitting around the table playing the game, then after the opening credits it changes to a plot driven epic as if the players are the characters in real life. It'll be like Lord of the Rings ... only not.

And my fourth idea is a sequel to the Sherlock Holmes movie I made three years ago. I've been planning this sequel for two years, and wrote the script last year but didn't get around to filming it. I will be applying my knowledge from studying film at university to improve the style in the sequel.
Here's a link to the first Sherlock Holmes film if you want to give it a watch:
Sherlock Holmes: Episode 4 - A SCITS Hope

Anyway, let me know what you think of these ideas and what ones you'd like to see most. Leave your opinions in the comments box below, on my Youtube Channel, or on Twitter.

Wednesday Review: Starship

2011-05-11T17:47:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, sorry I've been away for so long, being back home with my family and friends seems to take up a lot of my time. Projects will probably a little low during the summer months, so I'm going to be updating my blog at least once a week, every week, with a review of a film I've watched. This doesn't necessarily mean a recent Hollywood film, it could be and old film from the 70s, a film I saw at a film festival, a film on the internet, anything. And I'll be calling these reviews Wednesday Review. I'm bad with names, so sue me.

The first film I'm going to review is an musical that first debuted on stage in Chicago in February, then made it's way to Youtube on April 30th. I watched it the moment it hit Youtube but was unable to find time to review it until now (so I watched it again ... cause it's totally awesome). So he's my review of Team Starkid's Starship!

Review after the break

Starship Logo.

Example of visual effects now used in Starkid Productions.

Starship differs greatly from past Starkid shows in that there are a lot of special effects used this time. The opening scene is a promotional video for the Starship Rangers, a group of intergalactic travelling, planet conquering human beings. The entire scene is shot in front of a green screen with various visual effects placed in the background. Team Starkid have used a lot of Adobe After Effects (or a similar program) to create various effects in the show. Though most of them are simply laser beams fired from guns, the opening scene features a wide variety of different images, videos, and effects that are not only visually appealing, but very skilfully used. This scene alone shows the wide array of skills that Team Starkid has.

Starship Ranger Promotional Video.

Starship also differs from past Starkid shows in that the opening song does not occur immediately at the start of the show, but rather 2:22 in. Since this is Starkid’s first big show outside of school the team has access to a lot more equipment. For the first time the actors have microphones which is great because the audience is able to hear everything the actors are saying instead of being drowned out by music or else not projecting their voice enough. The second thing that is new, and the biggest thing of the show, is the puppets used. There are about a dozen different puppets in Starship operated by various cast members. What’s remarkable about these puppets is that they were designed by someone who works for Jim Henson Productions. These puppets are top of the line, Muppet-Style creatures.

Now, enough comparing Starship to older Starkid shows, it’s time to focus on the show itself. Being a stage play, it’s a lot harder to work with than a film, so the camera, like suspected, is only so good. There are several points were we see the camera zoom, pan, or tilt at moments where it shouldn't, which can make it visually jarring. It’s clear that the camera operators have some knowledge of film etiquette and do their best to relay a stage play as a film. The acting, as per usual, is both very well done, as well as comically well timed.

Joey Richter as Bug.

The actors operating the puppets are clearly seen operating them, and at times it can be distracting watching the actors instead of the puppets. However the camera operators have done a good job trying to frame the puppets instead of the actors, so that the audience will avoid looking at the actors. On a related note, the audience must use their extension of disbelief to pretend that the actors are not on stage, but rather only the puppets are, and that those puppets are real creatures.

Cast of bugs performing "I Wanna Be".

Looks like I’m going back to comparing it to older Starkid shows again. But once again Starkid, or more specifically Darren Criss, has written some great tunes for the show that get stuck in your head long after the show is done. *Quietly hums “I Wanna Be”*

Every line Jim Povolo says is hilarious.

Joe Walker as Solid Snake.

Nick Lang is a fantastic voice actor. In A Very Potter Sequel he played four different characters (that I’m aware of) each one with a different voice. Once again we get to see his talents at altering his voice in Starship. I’m positive he could easily get a job doing voice overs for cartoons.

Even with new special effects to use, nothing beats the good old fashioned Styrofoam cut-out.

One of the great things about Starship is it’s abundance of pop culture references. For example we’re introduced to Joe Walker’s character Solid Snake ... I mean Commander Up. Let’s not forget Doctor Space Claw. There are probably about as many references in Act 2 Part 3 from the 4min marker to about 5:30min marker as there are in the rest of the show put together.

Dylan Saunders as Tootsie Noodles and Meredith Stepien
as Mega-Girl.

Meredith Stepien plays Mega-Girl in Starship. Some Starkid fans may not recognise her, but for those of you that looked back at their work before A Very Potter Musical, you might recognise her as one of the band members of The Hot Girls from Little White Lie. P.S. She’s amazingly attractive AND a good singer AND funny. Just throwing that out there.

Pincer operated by four people. One on each claw, one on the
body/tail, and Saunders on the head.

Pincer is probably the most complicated creature/puppet thing of any Starkid show yet. It takes four people to operate it. Not entirely sure if I’d say it’s clever or cliché that they light Pincer with a villainous red light every scene he’s in. On one hand it’s a good use of foreshadowing, on the other it’s something very simple, obvious, and over done.

Gotta get me one of those Headbands.

Bug, Joey Richter, and Ron Weasley all shop at the same store for headwear. Gotta get me one of those headbands.

The jab at Glee was one of the best lines in the show, stalling the show for a full ten seconds full of the audience’s cheers, laughter, and applause.

Eep Opp Ork Ah Ah

Overall the show is a great film. It has a Disney feel to it, but has all the action of a sci-fi story. Despite being an almost three hour play that claims to be a musical, the soundtrack is only about half an hour long. This is another reason I like to think of this show as more of a Disney movie than a musical. The acting is superb; with actors playing multiple roles it really broadens their acting scope. Not only is their acting good, but their singing is fantastic as well, which is key in a musical. The plot is a little cliché, but if you go in expecting that, and wanting that, then it’s a great film to watch. It has its plot holes as well, but there are far less of them than you’ll find in most Hollywood movies today. You can tell they took the time to fix any mistakes like that.

The visual and audio effects used for this show helped to make it better than their previous shows. The music really blends into the story rather than standing out as individual songs this time. It’s funny, heart-warming, action packed. There’s even that tear jerking moment at the end.

Overall I’d rate the show a 9/10. Not everyone’s perfect, like me. That’s why I’m holding out for a 10. Totally awesome guys.

Cast performing final number.

Blog Oddities

2011-04-22T14:13:00.000-07:00

I'm not currently working on any projects, however I do have some ideas that may come to fruition over the summer. But for now my blog will updated with various reviews of other films, or other things that catch my interest that I think readers would like. Perhaps I can get a cast and crew together and get working on another film within the next month.

On another note, I have noticed that not once have I mentioned Star Wars on this blog, yet, the blog name is what I like to call my Wookiee name (Rob + Chewbacca = Rowbacca). In case people come to this blog thinking that it is a Star Wars blog, no, this is not a blog about Star Wars, nor will it ever be. However, there might be a Star Wars fan film coming soon ...

Bigfoot: The Musical! Online now!

2011-04-17T13:19:00.000-07:00

Bigfoot: The Musical is online now! Here's the video for your viewing pleasure. Don't forget to let me know what you think, wether it be here on my blog, in the comments section on Youtube, or through Twitter.

Enjoy!

Bigfoot: The Musical. Another Sneak Peek and Release Date

2011-04-14T18:42:00.000-07:00

Here's another sneak peek at Bigfoot: The Musical. I was going to include a song and an embedded player, but I couldn't figure out how to work that, so you'll have to settle with what I've got.

DVD cover.

The DVD cover has just been finished, as you can see we've put a lot of work into this, and you can expect no less in the film itself. The DVD cover displays the three main characters of the film: the protagonist, Bigfoot; the love interest, Amanda; and the antagonist, Humphrey. Also as you can see, the film is packaged in a two-disc format, one disc a DVD of the film, and the second is complete soundtrack from the film!

The film will be uploaded onto Youtube on Sunday, April 17th. The soundtrack will become available to download for free if enough people request it.

Spoilers after the break

Album artwork.

Now it's time to give away part of the plot for those who can't wait for the release.

Alan-A-Dale tells the viewers about Bigfoot, and who he really is. A kind hearted, gentle creature, who wants no more than to be loved by Amanda. Unfortunately, Amanda's recently passed away mother had one request, for her to marry Humphrey and unite the two families. Now Humphrey doesn't really care for Amanda, he just thinks that they will make beautiful children. He's more concerned about himself than her. So when Bigfoot keeps showing up, he feels that he needs to do something to get rid of him.

Amanda's friend Aurora feels that Bigfoot may not be as beastly as they think he is. She thinks that Bigfoot may actually care for Amanda and urges her to find out the truth. Meanwhile Humphrey has enlisted the help of three Hunters who seek to capture Bigfoot to gain fame and glory.

Bigfoot, unaware of either plan is surprised to discover he is suddenly the object of so much attention. When Aurora discovers the truth about Bigfoot, she tells him to meet Amanda. Once Bigfoot sets out to woo her once again, he is met with a surprise that may make his pursuit of Amanda end there.

AND THAT'S ALL I'M GIVING YOU! I feel I have been over generous with the details I've just given away, so I'll leave out the remaining portion of the film for everyone to wait and see when the movie hits Youtube on Sunday, April 17th.

Bigfoot: The Musical. A sneak peek

2011-04-12T16:44:00.000-07:00

Well, as I said the other day, my upcoming project is a musical about Bigfoot. I revealed the logo for the film, but left out any details about the film, so today I'll be giving everyone a sneak peek into the project.

More after the break.

Bigfoot: The Musical is told by Alan-A-Dale, the minstrel of Robin Hood lore. The story tells of Bigfoot, who is in love with the kind and gentle Amanda, as he tries to show his affections towards her. Unfortunately Humphrey, Amanda's arranged husband-to-be, gets in the way, and does his best to stop Bigfoot from getting close to Amanda.

The story is very similar to the generic Disney movie, where two men fight over the lead female, the protagonist being ugly and outcast, the antagonist being handsome and "perfect". Plus with the musical twist on the film it makes it even more Disney-like.

The film has it's fair share of comedy as well. The three Hunters provide over-the-top ridiculous humour, Humphrey provides antagonistic humour in an "I'm better than you" style.

All the music (with the exception of the song used for the fight sequence) is original music. I wrote the lyrics, and my friend Ken composed the music. For his first foray into musical writing, he did an amazing job, and I hope that others will think so as well.

The film will be online in less than a week. I'll provide another sneak peek into the film a few days before the release ... and provide a release date as well.

Upcoming Project.

2011-04-10T16:38:00.000-07:00

Well, filming has wrapped up for my new project, so I figure it's time to reveal it, which should be hitting Youtube in about a week. I've taken a simple idea, a complex filming style, and a generic film genre and mixed them all together. The result: Bigfoot: The Musical.

I don't want to reveal any details just yet, but let's just say that I feel that hilarity will ensue.

The Rocky Road to Truth

2011-04-09T11:23:00.000-07:00

Since I want this blog to primarily be a place where people can view my work, I'm going to start posting things I've worked on or am currently working on. These posts will not be everyday, but I'll to do them as often as I can.

That being said, my first post on one of my projects is a film I made last semester for my film class called The Rocky Road to Truth. It is a story about a university student who discovers his friend has gone missing and sets out following a series of clues and witnesses to discover where is missing friend is, and what happened to him.

More after the break.

The following information contains spoilers, do not read on unless you wish to have plot points revealed, or until you have finished viewing the film.

First off, I have had many viewers not understand the film, even though it seems fairly simple to me. Rocky, in case you didn't realise it, is a personification of the ice cream Rocky Road. Several hints are laid down throughout the film, yet still I have had people not realise what he is. The first hint is in the title, "Rocky Road", the second is in Joe's opening monologue, "I just wanted to go home, relax, and eat my ice cream", or how about Joe's line when interrogating Sami "A certain Road went missing, goes by the name, Rocky." Even if people didn't pick up on those hints, that's okay, but the ending where Joe runs to the new box of Rocky Road ice cream, or the credits that show the party scene only with ice cream instead of the person, you'd think that people would get it by then, right? So my point being, Rocky is ice cream. Why you ask? Cause it's ridiculous.

The idea behind the film was slightly different than what came out of it. Originally everyone thought that Rocky was a person and that each person saw Rocky differently. But that would have required more of a cast, and not many people were willing to act for me, so I scrapped that idea in favour of one Rocky Road persona. Also in the original script, Joe thought of Rocky as ice cream, so he always said "Rocky Road" instead of just "Rocky". However that change, I felt, made the idea of Rocky being a personification of ice cream to be more of a challenge for the viewers to see. Apparently too challenging for some though.

As stated above, I had problems getting actors for my film. There are four Ashley's in my film, who are a direct reference the the Ashley's from the show Recess, however, I have two girls playing two Ashley's each. That is a bit confusing, but I had hoped that the change in costume would help make the point that they are different people more understandable.

I hope that viewers enjoyed the few references to other films or aspects of films that I included. The Ashley's would be one, the Wilhelm Scream at the seven minute marker, the line in the opening narration "It was long and drawn out, like not enough butter scraped over too much bread." which is a line from Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings, the part where Joe breaks the fourth wall "Yeah, they actually talk like that.".

Originally I had planned to use the song "Happy Together" by The Turtles starting at the part where Joe runs to the new box of ice cream, and playing through to the end of the credits. Unfortunately I was unable to get the rights to use the song, so I had to go with something else. Though thinking back on it, Weird Al's "I love Rocky Road" would have been perfect for the film.

Connecting Media EVERYWHERE!!!

2011-04-08T13:05:00.000-07:00

Now I have full connection to other social media outlets!
...
I think ... I'm bad at this ... I might have done it wrong ...

Anyway, the point is, check out my Youtube Channel and my Twitter Page.
...
Maybe I'll make a fanpage for myself on Facebook at somepoint ... we'll see.

Rowbacca Enters The Blogging World

2011-04-07T21:59:00.000-07:00

Greetings and salutations to those of you reading this! My name is Rob and I'm making my first foray into the blogging world (except that one time for that one class project I had to do).

If the name "Rowbacca" sounds familiar you may have seen my Youtube Channel

Allow me to explain my reasoning for creating this blog. I'm an amateur filmmaker, and as of recently I have been making more films that can help me go on to greater things. It is my goal to get more people interested in the films that I make in order to expand my viewership and get my name out there. I figure a blog might be of some help to that cause.

Not only that, but I figure I can use this to co-ordinate any other projects I may be working on. This way if someone is interested in one thing I do, maybe they are interested in other things, and this blog will help them find it all.

Anyway, I'll wrap this first post up quickly. I'll be sure to update the blog with more information soon.