Summer Lacklusters!!!

I don't know if it's just me, but this summer has been a very big letdown in terms of movies. Every year, there's at least one or two movies that I get really pumped for in the summer season, but this year is the first year in a long time that nothing has really piqued my interest. I mean, there were/are movies that I wanted to see but nothing to go completely geek over. The ones that did come out never fulfilled the geek expectations (Terminator, Transformers, Wolverine... I'm looking in your direction).

I blame the studios for pumping out so many family oriented movies this summer. They've infested the cinemas with PG-schmuck. Oddly enough, I think much of the blame has to go to Paul Blart: Mall Cop. When Blart first came out back in January, I don't think anyone anticipated how successful the movie would turn out to be. On a modest budget of $26 m, the movie went to gross $180 m worldwide (about $140 m domestically) which is quite a high grossing movie for that time of the year. This surprised many analysts, who came to the conclusion that people want to see light-hearted/family friendly movies during these bad economic times.

Now look at the number of family-friendly movies released this summer: Night at the Museum 2, Up, Land of the Lost, Imagine That, My Sister's Keeper, Ice Age 2, G-Force (I may be forgetting some). And you can even add in the chick flick-ish movies like Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, The Proposal. Totally nothing to go geek over. There were a few diamonds in the rough though, notably Star Trek and Drag Me to Hell.

August is usually seen as the cooldown month, where the high profile releases slow down, and studios tack on lesser hyped films. But actually, I'm looking more forward to August than any other months this summer. Next month we'll get to see G.I. Joe (the last huge release for the summer), District 9, Final Destination 4, Halloween 2 (remake), and most important QT's The Inglorious Basterds.

Anyhow, in conclusion I'm disappointed at this summer. I don't remember going to the theaters so few times in a summer. But on the brightside, at least there's a few titles to look forward to in the next month. Later geeks.

(Edit: add to that list of family friendly movies, Aliens in the Attic, which opens this weekend. Another reason to stay away.)

THE ARTIST!!!!!!!

The Artist is director Michael Hazanavicius ode to the silent films of yesteryear. Not only focus on a silent movie actor and movie making, but it in itself is also a silent movie. The movie follows a silent movie actor named George Valentin through the rise and fall of his career. At the start of the film, we see George as this superstar celebrity; he loves the glitz and glamour of being a famous actor and soaks in all the attention he can get. He loves having his photos taken and being adorned on the front pages of newspapers. He is THAT kind of celebrity. At the premiere event of his latest movie, he bumps into one Peppy Miller – a young woman with big ambitions and dreams in Hollywoodland. The lives of the two intersect and an attraction immediately blossoms. The romance could only go so far as Valentin is a (happily?) married man. George’s superstardom reaches its height at a precarious time. And as the 1920s are ushered out, so are silent movies. The new decade brings w

Finally, the Xbox 360!!

So as I mentioned in a previous post, I received an Xbox 360 for Christmas from my dad. A great present it was! I've had 3 weeks to enjoy it so I guess I can give you my impressions of it now. First the controller. In truth, I haven't felt a controller this comfortable in my gaming life before. As a child who grew up on the 8-bit generation, with just a directional pad and 2 buttons, there was quite a learning curve getting used to using two analog sticks at the same time. You might say, "Hey Lam, how bout the PS2? You have that machine, and that has analog sticks". True, but of the twenty or so games I have for that, all of them used either only 1 analog stick, or allowed the option to switch on to the directional pad. Using 2 sticks at the same time was at first just uncomfortable. This made for all sorts of trouble as I was playing Gears of War . Luckily for me, I had computer controlled teammates that watched my back. I love the Media Center capabilities

DTV Madness: Jack Brooks - M.S. and Gingerdead Man 2

Okay, honestly, I think this will be the last DTV post for a while. One man can only take so much shit. I'm only human, I have feelings too. These two movies pushed my limit. I'm going to be in DTV-detox for the next month or so. Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer I thought that with a title like this, it couldn't fail. I thought that with a poster like they had, it couldn't fail. Then I realized something... I failed. I failed in thinking that this movie had any hope. I was expecting some fun horror, mixed with comedy in sort of a Buffy the Vampire Slayer kind of fashion with a bumbling hero and smart quips. I mean, with a title like Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer , was I wrong in expecting a variety of monsters get slayed as the title suggests? It didn't help much that the monsters looked uber cheesy. They looked like something right out of a Power Rangers episode. But to their credit, at least they stuck with practical make-up and effects rather than CG. The mo

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