It takes a real out of the box thinker like director James Gunn to really approach “Guardians of the Galaxy” with a fresh sense of vision that doesn’t make it feel like a stock space epic. Truly, “Guardians of the Galaxy” is the most complete Marvel movie since “The Avengers.” It adopts the quirks and flash of the Marvel universe, while also introducing us to a group of complex and truly interesting rejects that become saviors of the universe thanks to colliding fates and unusual circumstances. Suffice it to say “Guardians of the Galaxy” is a near masterpiece, and one with an amazing soundtrack. Rather than sidestepping everything from the comic, director James Gunn embraces the fun of the diverse alien bunch, while also injecting his own demented dark comedy.
Tag Archives: Aliens
Kindred (2014)
It’s pretty clear that director K” is ambitious and has aspirations to be so much bigger. Considering the budget and the limitations, “Kindred” is pretty fantastic and garners implications that could hopefully lead to a sequel sometime in the future. I was definitely sucked in to the world Nicholson and writer Josh Bryer unfolded for us and I just wanted to see more and where it was all leading.
Dead Shadows (2012) [Blu-ray]
Director Dave Cholewa’s “Dead Shadows” is HP Lovecraft meets “Night of the Comet,” and while surely that sounds like the ingredients for an amazing horror film, in the end it’s just a serviceable post apocalyptic horror thriller. It’s by no means a waste of time, but it never delivers on a lot of its ideas and story themes. Much of the concepts and sub-plots feel very under developed and half baked, with “Dead Shadows” unfolding in a very inexplicable series of events. I tried my best to follow along, but Cholewa really offers horror audiences a convoluted narrative for a movie that boils down to shooting aliens and monsters in the dark.
The PC Thug: What is “Lilo and Stitch’s” Appeal?
Okay, I have to ask what the hell is the appeal of “Lilo and Stitch”? Every person I’ve come across in the last fourteen years has had something positive to say about those stupid movies. Even people that don’t like it, just find it lukewarm Disney crapola. This is the studio that gave us “The Incredibles” and “Wall E,” and they were clearly not even trying to deliver quality entertainment for their audiences. They made a movie to create a toy line pure and simple. It’s a movie created for merchandise. It’s their predecessor to “Cars, if you will.
5 Things We Love, and 5 Things We Hate About “Space Jam”
I am very surprised that “Space Jam” continues to garner such a cult following, even to this day. I remember watching it for the first time back in 1996 and leaving it thinking “That kind of sucked.” Even years later, I remember it as a movie that did nothing but pander to audiences, push massive merchandise, and worked as a PR tool for Michael Jordan who’d garnered some poor fan fare after his foray in to baseball. “Space Jam” is not that good a movie.
Even in my current love for nineties nostalgia, you’d have to argue very hard for me to buy the movie on DVD or Blu-Ray. And I almost bought a bag of old pogs on online, a few days ago. In either case, Warner is hoping to cash in on fans of the first movie by creating a sequel tentatively titled “Space Jam 2.” This installment will apparently star Lebron James, in place of Michael Jordan.
1996’s “Space Jam” was a goofy movie, with a paper thin plot, and lackluster comedy obviously constructed by a committee of corporate suits, Jordan’s PR team, and some writers who built the perfect publicity machine for Air Jordan, all the while selling off some Looney Tunes crap with McDonald’s.
That said, we have our fond nostalgia for the movie, however minuscule, so here are 5 Things We Love, and 5 Things We Hate About “Space Jam.”
Alien Arsenal (1999)
Once again David DeCouteau and Charles Band re-invent “Laserblast” for a new audience. The wretched original is once again re-conditioned in to a teen friendly adventure in the vein of “Power Rangers,” and it’s an apparent attempt to market on the audience. The movie is silly and often makes no sense, but I do tend to miss the old days when Full Moon and Charles Band attempted to appeal to children and teenagers. Ralph and cute Tomboy Baxter are nerds in their school, both of whom spend their time riffing on science fiction and being picked on for reasons I have tough time fathoming. Truth be told, they don’t stand out really.
Shandar – The Shrunken City (1998)
You have to love how our kiddy duo complain that the bottled city of Kandor–er–Shandar isn’t protected when it’s been seated by hieroglyphs deep in a cave underground. And in Pennsylvania! No one would ever expect a bottled city to be hidden in Pennsylvania. Directed by Ted Nicolaou who brought us many of Full Moon’s more entertaining genre outings, “The Shrunken City” (or as it’s known now: “Shandar–The Shrunken City”) is a entertaining enough for kids, but incredibly convoluted. I was never quite sure what the hell was going on, all I knew was that two kids found the miniature city of Kandor–er–Shandar.