The PC Thug: R.I.P. Dwayne McDuffie

Posted on February 23, 2011 by Felix Vasquez

Dear Dwayne McDuffie,

Ever since hearing about your death, I can’t help but think what a huge loss the comic book and pop culture world has suffered. No really, I think it’s no understatement that the news of your death is leaving a giant hole in the comic book world, and since the announcement of your death my mind has shifted from “Oh that’s pretty sad… wait… man that sucks… wait… wow, that’s shitty… oh god… we’re fucked.” Because let’s face it when was the last time we had someone like Dwayne McDuffie say “Hey! Wouldn’t it be cool if minorities weren’t cliches and stereotypes?” And yes, wouldn’t it be amazing if our minority heroes weren’t secondary sidekicks or poorly promoted rehashes of the same old formula we’ve seen day in and day out?

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Howlin' for You (2011)

Posted on February 23, 2011 by Felix Vasquez

Leeroy: I’m pretty sure god would consider it a sin not to glorify that ass!

2008’s “Grindhouse” did not by any means revive the infamous double bill in movie theaters mainly because audiences attention spans are slim to nil. But on the bright side, the massive financial failure did breed a legion of indie and under ground filmmakers who would for many years re-invent the mock grindhouse movie trailer we saw displayed during “Grindhouse.” Subsequent the success of “Machete,” and “Hobo with a Shotgun,” every single filmmaker with a wild imagination are concocting their own mock grindhouse trailer. The Black Keys “Howlin’ for You” can now be seen as an exclusive music video where the group not only touts their fantastic rock song but also tells the tale of Alexa Wollf and her journey for vengeance!

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Gnomeo and Juliet (2011)

Posted on February 23, 2011 by Felix Vasquez

You’ve heard this story a thousand times but we’re telling it to you again, whether you like it or not. Yes, that’s usually the sign we’re about to stumble on to one of the animated greats of the millennium when even jokingly we’re told that this story has been retreaded a thousand times. But we’re going to hear it anyway. “Gnomeo & Juliet” is a film that is marketed to someone but I’m not sure whom exactly. It’s too obscure for kids to understand, and too sugary sweet for the adult sector to enjoy.

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Superman XXX: A Porn Parody (2011)

Posted on February 21, 2011 by Felix Vasquez

Able to leap tall booties in a single bound, it’s Superman XXX! As a long time Superman fan since the age of five, I’ve found myself oddly intrigued by what they could do with a Superman related porno movie. Batman and Wonder Woman are easy targets for porn parodies. Batman’s entire shtick is based around black outfits and hanging around young girls and boys in caves, while Wonder Woman’s entire crime fighting routine is based on bondage and wrapping men in rope to get them to do and say what she wants. She’s the original dominatrix. But Superman is a tougher concept mainly because he’s such a boy scout it’s tough to imagine anything with Superman even remotely pornographic.

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Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son (2011)

Posted on February 21, 2011 by Felix Vasquez

I love how studios assume that just because you stuff a moderately funny man like Ken Jeong in a hip moderately entertaining show like “Community,” you’re destined for comedic greatness. They thought they could work Jeong in for easy laughs in “Vampires Suck!” and they failed. And lo and behold he shows up in the first five minutes of “Big Momma’s” playing–what else–a crazy Asian man who happens to be a disgruntled postal worker. No one in “Big Momma’s” acts like an actual person you’d see on the street. No one would actually chase down and violently tussle with a mailman but hey, Martin Lawrence is grasping at straws in the final film series he really seems to be holding on to for dear life.

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How to Train Your Dragon (2010)

Posted on February 20, 2011 by Felix Vasquez

Young hero in the making trying to prove himself. A father who doesn’t believe in him. The bond of a young hero and his enemy. And a young anachronistic heroine who helps the hero find himself. We’ve seen it all before and then some, but thankfully with “How to Train your Dragon” is handled the formula so well, it’s almost original and unique. Almost. Dreamworks’ animated action adventure film is your classic boy and dog story, except the boy finds his man’s best friend in his purported enemy, a young dragon who forms a common ground with him in a world where humans and dragons are eternally grappling at war with one another and are told they must do battle.

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The Social Network (2010) (Two-Disc Collector's Edition) (DVD)

Posted on February 18, 2011 by Felix Vasquez

While reports of David Fincher’s “The Social Network” being a modern “Citizen Kane” have been absolutely outlandish and ridiculous, Fincher’s courtroom drama about wunderkind Mark Zuckerberg is a near masterpiece and one that works as a cultural zeitgeist depicting the beginning of a technological revolution and the end of intimate human communication as we know it. “The Social Network” is one of David Fincher’s most verbose and openly intellectual mainstream films to date, a film about the cultural zeitgeist that is social networking and the social animal that derived such pleasure not only from devising such a complex and magnificent program that would distance each other forever that ironically required close and intimate quarters and contact, but from using this program to scorn the individuals who used their own upper class status to keep themselves differentiated from Zuckerberg.

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