The Billionty-Oneth Geek: Older Than 8 Since 1991

We're just about at the halfway point of 2008 and I thought I'd shed some light on how the mainstream film industry is doing so far... at least compared to last year. Posted in the picture above is just a comparison of the top 20 grossing movies of 2007, and to this date, 2008. What's interesting is that of the 11 films that surpassed $200 million in total gross, only 3 of them showed favourable reviews (ie. an RT score > 70%); that being Bourne Ultimatum, Harry Potter Order of Phoenix , and Ratatouille . However, 2007 was bolstered by huge threequels which helped earnings by and large. Shift your eyes to the right side of the picture and you'll see how we're doing in 2008. We're halfway through the year and only Iron Man and Indy have crossed the $200m line. Based on the earnings trend of Kung Fu Panda , I'm guessing it will likely pass that line. A lot of "high-profile" movies this summer have bombed critically and financially. I mean...

Admittedly, I've never seen The Sixth Sense . The only reason is that the ending was spoiled for me before I got the chance, so I just felt like I wouldn't get that same jaw-dropping surprise at the end as (unspoiled) first time viewers would. However, having seen bits and pieces of it, I respected the material, and the director for that matter. With Unbreakable and Signs , under M. Night's belt, it seemed what we had here was a gifted storyteller; capable of creating an atmosphere and suspense. He followed those up with The Village , which generally received a mix reaction, but for the most part I enjoyed it. Even though there were issues with the way he cut it, I thought he still managed to craft an interesting story. Then came Lady in the Water. Something had gone awry here. I have no doubt that if he were to remove all that self-referential bullshit, that it would have been alright. This was more of a rant than a movie. But you know, at least it had good act...

My school career is officially over (as far as I know at the moment) culminating this weekend with the convocation. I have now a Bachelor's of Applied Science in Chemical Engineering to my name. To the left is myself and my friend Peter.

The Incredible Hulk is the second feature produced by Marvel Studios after May's release of Iron Man . This was not a sequel to the 2003 version by Ang Lee nor was it a remake; simply put, it was Marvel hitting the reset button and starting over again. And if this film is any indication of what Marvel has in stored for the future, then things are looking good for the geekdom. The movie starts off with a quick summary of the Hulk's origin, all done within the opening credits. The movie then catches up to Bruce Banner who is in hiding from American authorities while trying to discover a cure for his condition. He has cut off all communication with the world except for one mysterious character known as Mr. Blue, who he communicates through instant messaging. The American military led by General Thunderbolt Ross tracks down his whereabouts and sends a group of soldiers to capture him in order to exploit his condition. Banner, who escapes their attacks eventually ends up back in A...

Unlike TNA Impact, the Slammiversary pay-per view this year was pretty enjoyable, all things considered. All the wrestling itself was fine. That said, there were a few things that were stupid. Here's a quick recap of the card (the bold indicates winner): 1. X-Division Title: Petey William(c) vs Kaz 2. The Beautiful People vs Gail Kim, ODB, Roxxi 3. TNA Tag Titles: LAX(c) vs Team 3D 4. Awesome Kong open challenge 5. Wedding of Black Machismo and SoCal Val 6. AJ Styles vs Kurt Angle 7. TNA Championship (King of the Mountain): S amoa Joe(c) vs Booker T vs Christian vs Robert Roode vs Rhino The thing that separated this PPV from the average TNA show was that: a.) they didn't try to fit every single wrestler on the roster into the show and b.) only one of the matches had stipulations, that being the King of the Mountain championship match. If you discount the Awesome Kong squash match(es), there were only 5 real wrestling matches. Of those, 3 of them were really well done, ...

The Hollywood of late has seemed to think it's their duty to tap into our nostalgia; by producing sequels to movies we saw in the 80s, producing remakes, or bringing cartoons to film (eg. this film, Transformers , Rambo , the upcoming G.I. Joe , remake of F13th [much to my chagrin], etc.). For the most part, it seems to be paying off, at least financially and at the same time, it's all great for the world of geek, but is it right? I mean, there's a certain part of that nostalgic feeling that is taken away when you view it's more newer incarnation and then go back and view it's older predecessors. To me, it just seems like we're cheapening our memories and feelings for the original material all for just a mediocre-to-cheap thrill. That brings us to this film, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls . I don't want to get into too much of the plot as it can get spoilerific. I'll use the synopsis from IMDB: "Famed archaeologist/adventurer ...

I caught The Strangers the other night, and I can say that I was mostly entertained. The movie felt like a throwback to old school 70's genre movies brought to the 21st century, sometimes channeling elements from John Carpenter's original Halloween , and the more current, Funny Games by Michael Haneke. In fact, with the exception of cell phones, there were no devices to tie the movie down to this century. I mean, they even used a record player to play music. Who does that anymore!?!? It's just fucking creepy! Supposedly, this true story occured in 2005 too. But I digress. The first half of the movie did well to make us care for the characters as well as building suspense. The plot, for those who are unfamiliar, has a young couple returning to a remote country home late at night after a friend's wedding reception. The couple, played by Scott Speedman and Liv Tyler, are themselves at an emotional state due to a marriage proposal that fell through earlier in the...

Hi people of the interwebs. This is probably the billionty-oneth blogger you've seen written by another geek. And so, I don't know if I can offer anything different or mind-blowing, but certainly I will share original thoughts, opinions... well, whatever's on my mind. That's how these stuffs work right? Hopefully more geek-related matter though (ie. genre-movies, comics, prowrestling, videogames, etc.) but also some outlooks on life and issues. We'll see what happens. This is my third foray into the world of blogging, the first two being utter, utter failures, but like I said, we'll see how this goes!