New Star Wars movie is good - no spoilers.

I just saw the new Star Wars film. I liked it a lot. It's definitely better than Eps 1-3, and I think it also better than RotJ.

FRIENDLY TIP: THERE IS NO AFTER-THE-CREDITS SCENE. You can leave as soon as the credits start rolling. You won't miss anything.

Season of the Witch

I just watched the movie Season of the Witch with Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman. I liked it a lot, though it certainly wasn't perfect. In any case, if you are a fan of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying, you should watch this movie. It's pretty much a perfect fit.

Dark woods, knights, knaves, and evil magic are all present. A witch is escorted in a cage/wagon to her trial at a monastery. She uses magic to foil her guardians (or maybe she's an innocent being framed).

Some of the special effects weren't great, but I liked the combat scenes, and the banter between the various characters.

Dredd (2012 movie)

I watched the new Dredd movie today. It was actually pretty good, though a bit more gory than I care for. Karl Urban and Olivia Thirlby both were excellent, as were most of the bad guys. There were a few unnecessary extra gory deaths, but if I remember the comics right, that happened a fair amount in them.

The movie definitely had the right atmosphere. It was quite obvious that gangs were the day-to-day enforcers, but that Judges were feared (and kind of admired) by the general population. The tech was awesome (especially the pistols, which had voice commands to select ammo type).

I was kind of surprised that Karl Urban did not show his face even once. He always had his helmet on. I'd heard this before, but I really figured they'd find a way to have his helmet off for at least a little bit.

Olivia did a great job as a psychic. The movie is mainly about her first day on the job. I really liked how the movie dealt with her first field execution, and its affects on her. I won't go into detail, but it did not avoid the fact that she is judge, jury, and executioner, and she is aware of just what that means.

The bad guys were decent, though definitely more gangbanger punks and not some supervillain, like many comics movies would feature. 

Overall, I recommend the movie, at least on DVD, for any gamer. Dredd fans will likely be pretty happy with this, as well. My only issue is that I think the ultraviolent deaths early on weren't really necessary. As the movie went on, most of it was toned down, but early on, be ready for some gross deaths and corpses.

I saw the movie in 2D. I really, really wish the studios would stop wasting money on 3D. Guess what, I will not watch a 3D movie. I don't need the headache. Sadly, the movie is apparently a flop, and the 3D is likely part of the reason. Overall, I'd give it a solid 7 out of 10.

Revenge of the Sith

Episode III: Revenge of the Sith is a decent movie, but I liked Ep. II better.

Once again, Anakin's dreams push him to the Dark Side. His own actions trying to avoid Padme's fate brought about what happened in his dreams, which I always love to see when it comes to prophecies.

Palpatine finally makes his move. He is nearly destroyed by Mace Windu, but Anakin saves the day. Mace was definitely going Dark Side, which was shown by his wanting to kill Palpatine instead of just arresting him. I suspect Mace was always struggling with being a good guy. Anakin saw this and wasted the motherfucker.

I hate the world "younglings". Whoever came up with it should be banned from writing forever.

Anakin went full Sith in a hurry. He always had anger issues, but it didn't take a big push to have him running around killing little kids.

Order 66 was handled well, in my opinion. I actually felt sorry for the Jedi, even though I'd only seen them on screen less than five minutes over three movies. That guy leading troops across the bridge and then turning around as he realized he wasn't being followed was a great scene.

I love scout biker armor painted camouflage.

Wookies should not do Tarzan yells. I can't believe I had to write that.

The big battle scenes were well done. The whole panorama lasted only a few minutes, but it really showed the scope of the war.

Anakin choking out Padme was interesting, as he thought she'd completely betrayed him when he saw Obi-Wan in the ship.

The Yoda-Palpatine fight was ok. It was kind of funny watching two old guys fight.

I didn't think the Obi-Wan vs. Anakin fight was all that great, other than the very end. It dragged on, and was more about the scenery than them fighting.

Obi-Wan letting his supposed brother slide into lava and cook was fucking cruel. He's crying about how he loves Anakin, but he wouldn't even pull him away from the fire. At least stick him with your lightsaber so he doesn't cook to death, asshole.

Padme lost the will to live. Bitch.

NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Star Wars prequels (The Clone Wars)

Episode II: The Clone Wars was actually much better than I remember. I liked it more than Ep. I, for sure. I think my biggest disappointment in the theater was that the movie was really "The Lead-Up to the Clone Wars" and not the actual Clone Wars, themselves.

Anakin was whiny immediately, which was a mistake. If he'd started out a little more humble and gradually twisted to evil, it would have been more believable. Instead, one of his first scenes is him bitching about how Obi-Wan is keeping him down. Very poor decision on Lucas' part. Hayden was actually a better actor than I remember, but his script just sucked in most places.

Ewan McGregor really stepped into the role of Obi-Wan in this movie. I think he did a fantastic job. His big fight scene in the rain against Jango was well done. Especially considering that neither won, it just ended up a stalemate.

I liked that Jar-Jar was used by Palpatine to gain control of the Senate. Now we know why that goofball was even in Ep. I.

This was not Christopher Lee's greatest work. He did ok, but I could tell that he wasn't comfortable with the role. Also, he just didn't pull off the sinister Sith vibe very well at all, which is surprising, considering how many villain roles he's done so well in.

I like Natalie Portman running around in a tight white spandex outfit with no bra. The scene where she was sitting with Anakin in the spaceship watching the computer message from Obi-Wan was very "interesting".

I really didn't get Padme getting all excited and horny after Anakin told her he killed a bunch of women and children. Then again, she's in full cougar mode, so who knows?

The big battle at the end was pretty good. A bit deux ex machina, considering just how fast they managed to get the clone army together and ready to fight.

The big lightsaber battle at the end was good, but not great.

The wedding scene was good, though the metal hand looked way too cheesy.
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I think that Return of the Jedi kind of showed that denying love is a really bad idea, and it was one of the big reasons for the downfall of the Jedi. Balance in the Force really means not denying yourself completely, but also not diving in headfirst and using emotions to fuel everything you do. Both Jedi and Sith are wrong.

Rewatching Star Wars Prequels (The Phantom Menace)

I haven't watched the prequels since they were in the theater. Figured I'd rewatch them to see how they've held up.

I remember The Phantom Menace as being pretty decent when I saw it at the movies. However, after watching it yesterday, I'm much less impressed. Lots and lots of actions scenes, and next to no plot or even decent dialogue.

The pod race was WAY too long. It should have been cut down to only a couple minutes (I think it lasted at least five minutes in the movie). In any case, it was just way too long.

Jake couldn't act for shit. It's not really his fault, since he's just a kid. It just pisses me off that Haley Joe Osment was busy making The Sixth Sense at this same time, and he was a great actor. (Also, it's been 13 years since Ep I was in theaters! How the heck did that happen?)

Jar-Jar was bad. If he'd been toned down a bit, I think most people would have been ok with him. Stupid crap like his taking fruit off the table with his tongue was annoying, though.

Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor both did good jobs, but Natalie Portman was kind of bad. Ray Park was awesome as Darth Maul, and I think he only had 5 or 6 lines in the whole movie. Ian McDirmid was very good as Palpatine.

I loved the gungan and droid armies. Very cool tech. Costumes were extremely well done overall, as well.

Again, they could have cut out one destination or some scenes, and added some actual character development to the movie. It just seemed to jump from one action scene to the next, with the exception being the initial half of the Tatooine location.

Overall, the movie did not hold up well. It was flashy and bright, but had little substance.

Avengers Movie

I won't post spoilers, but I will say this movie is fantastic! Easily the best supers movie I've seen (and that's saying something, compared to Captain America last year). If you have not seen it yet, you really need to go watch it.

9/10 (I'd rate it a 10 but for some very minor things I didn't care for. If you're not a comics nerd, it's probably a 10/10).

Hunger Games movie review (no spoilers)

I read the first Hunger Games book a few months back, and really enjoyed it. Today, I saw the movie.

I thought it was pretty good, but not great. It REALLY needed another 20 minutes or so during the actual Games. Many characters that are quite important in the book (especially Rue and Cato), are barely shown in the movie, and give us little or no reason to care about them.

A big chunk of the movie was the lead-up to the actual Games. I understand there was a lot to get through, especially for people unfamiliar with the book, but it took too much time away from the actual premise of the movie. 

I will give the director solid props for conveying just how much the people were afraid of being selected to compete, and Jennifer Lawrence's scene (as Katniss) right before going up the tube was extremely well done. She's a fantastic actor.

In fact, almost all of the actors were great. The only one I thought was kinda average was Peeta, and I think that had more to do with his voice tone than anything. Still, he did a good job overall.

The main bad guy (Cato) in the book was not even much of a presence on screen. The knife girl did a better job showing that she was dangerous. The big black kid was probably on screen less than two minutes, and he was a major concern during the Games as well.

Again, Rue was REALLY not done well. I blame this on the editor. The actress did fine, but the movie just plain didn't show why she was so important to Katniss. Her character should have had at least five more minutes of screen time just to explain their bond.

The finishing scenes were decent, but the very end was ambiguous, at best, for anyone who hasn't read the book.

Overall, I give the movie a 3 out of 4. If you've read the book, it's probably a 3.5.

trailer for "The Hobbit"

I'm excited! Love that the dwarves are singing. Many familiar faces, as well. Wish it would get here before next December!

Nosferatu

One of the most surreal, creepy scenes ever made.

Stan Lee Media sues film company, says it owns Conan

LINK HERE

Stan Lee Media, Inc., a company founded by comic book legend Stan Lee, wants a judge to rule that it is still the rightful owner of the character Conan the Barbarian. In a lawsuit filed Aug. 19 in federal court in L.A. and obtained by EW, SLMI is demanding 100 percent of the film’s proceeds. The company claims its bankruptcy in 2001 would have prevented anyone from taking the rights to the Conan character away. In the suit, Stan Lee Media, Inc. claims the company was betrayed by a former lawyer who made an illegal deal to transfer the rights to another company that would later green-light this summer’s Conan movie. The poorly reviewed remake earned $10 million on its opening weekend, barely beating the debut of the original Conan the Barbarian in 1982."

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Fucking corporations. You didn't invent the character, and you deserve no money for him.

Note that Stan Lee is no longer involved with this company, and has even been sued by them!

Captain America

I saw "Captain America" earlier tonight. Fantastic movie! The vast majority of the movie is set during World War Two. The movie does a great job of showing the transformation of Steve Rogers into Captain America. I won't post any spoilers, but I think most people are going to be very happy with how this movie was done.

Highlight performances were Chris Evans as Cap, Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter, Tommy Lee Jones as Colonel Phillips, Hugo Weaving as the Red Skull, Stanley Tucci as Dr. Erskine, and the whole crew of Cap's Team during WW2. Really, the acting was top-notch throughout.

I liked the plot a lot. It kept a nice pace, unless you are an action junkie who gets upset if something doesn't blow up every minute. Cap was believable. Not overblown, not a tough-guy, just a good man who wants to do right. I LOVED how he was portrayed. Major kudos to the writers and director.

Overall, I think this is my favorite superhero movie to date. It slightly edges out The Dark Knight and Iron Man and Thor.

Another thing, now that I've seen this movie, I really want to play in a supers game again. It's been too long!