Try a sip, you might like it (True Blood)

Unless you happen to be dead yourself, you should know about the undead craze that is blanketing our planet.  By undead I by no means am speaking of anything that slid out of the creative mind of one George A. Romero.  I am, however, referring to a certain race of supernatural beings that are called vampires.  Yes, the other undead.  They are immortal, super-strong, very fast, drink blood, have skin that literally pales in comparison to a humans, and can apparently fly in some story variations.

Perhaps my most fondest memories of the fanged blood-lusters are from one of my most coveted television series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  I mean yeah, I initially watched it because of the high degree of hotness that was Sarah Michelle Gellar.  I thought she was extremely “purty”.  But the drama powered storylines as well as the comic relief and surprising relation to real life teenage angst despite the fictitious characters forced me to continue coming back for more.  I then gravitated on over to Angel, its spin-off, when it finally debuted.  Joss Whedon happens to be something of a genius.  Since those very classic good times, different ideas and variations of vampires have been slung upon us to hopefully accept and eventually love. 

Read On...

Sucker Punch (2011)...will leave you with a Black-eye that you'll like

Bringing us visual delights such as 300 & Watchmen, director Zack Snyder transfers another epic green screen production into theaters. This time around our heroes are not muscled warriors nor do they have super powers. Well not unless you consider the ability to fight giant samurai and even bigger dragons while wearing tiny outfits a super power. Sucker Punch tells the visually-powered tale of a young girl desperately trying to escape an institution that her step-father admits her to against her will.

Emily Browning plays the lead role of Baby Doll. Following the death of her mother, she is placed in an all girl institution by her step dad. While there she meets four other young girls whom she befriends; Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish), her sister Rocket (Jena Malone), Blondie (Vanessa Hudgens) and Amber (Jamie Chung). After struggling at first to deal with being locked away, Baby Doll is able to retreat to a type of alternate reality within her imagination which allows her to cope with her troubles. During these trips into this reality, she comes across a Wiseman (Scott Glenn) who instructs her that she needs to find five things in order to escape her prison.

Read On...

Conan the Barbarian Teaser

The remake to one of Ahnuld's classics is set arrive in August; here's the first teaser:

Battle: Los Angeles (2011)

Independence Day, Cloverfield, The Day the Earth Stood Still, District 9, War of the Worlds; yes it would seem that we have a certain curiosity for life that is otherworldly. Heck even flicks like Predator, Men in Black & Superman are all alien related. From UFO’s to flying saucers to Martian Manhunters, we would all love to know if there is other life out there. Furthermore, we would love to know if it’s friendly. Until we receive some hardcore evidence of both, we have our books, television shows, independent You Tube video directors and by far, we have our movies. The latest and perhaps, yes, in my opinion one of the greatest to hit movie houses and midnight releases filled with patrons who apparently have no jobs to go to the next day is Battle: Los Angeles.

Aaron “Two-Face” Eckhart plays our main hero, Staff Sergeant Michael Nantz of the US Maine Corp. On the very verge of retirement, he is ordered to fall in with a group of young Marines sent to retrieve a small cluster of civilians who have been trapped by the unexpected attack of extra-terrestrials. I couldn’t help but wonder if he was thinking to himself, “FML” when he got the word he was going back into combat. What looks to be his last “Hoo-rah” takes place in, shocker, L.A. Looks like Kobe and the Lake show won’t be getting another chance to go for a title. Before you begin to think the aliens are Celtic fans, they have also invaded other major countries around the world. All of these places falling heavily and taking major losses at the hands, or whatever they use as hands, of these invaders.

Read On...

I Am Number Four (2011)

Hollywood’s infatuation with beings from another world continues to populate theaters with films about aliens and invasions and alien invasions. Before we get a chance to feast our eyes on the much anticipated Battle: Los Angeles, we get to past the time with the film adaptation of the teen fiction novel, I Am Number Four. Not so much as a straight out invasion story right off the bat but a “good-guy alien running for his life” story. A slight change from always having the protagonist of the story be the human race which is usually fighting a losing battle.

Number Four/John Smith (Alex Pettyfer) looks like a normal teenager who has a pretty easy time getting blondes in bikinis to invite him for night-time rendezvous’ in the ocean. His secret is soon out when one of his kind, Number Three, is found and murdered by a group called the Mogadorians. That secret being that he is from another planet. Yes, an alien with special powers that he hasn’t quite come to master full control over just yet. Sound familiar? No? Ok, I’ll keep going. John is one of nine toddlers who were sent to Earth along with their protectors for their safety. Three are now dead, leaving six remaining. His guardian, Henri (Timothy Olyphant), also from the planet of Lorien is his sole adult influence and protector makes the decision it’s time to pack up and leave, again, from their home of Florida after a small mishap with that same blonde in the bikini exposes his true identity. Still not familiar? Ok, continuing on.

Read On...

Television, how I’ve missed you so

            I used to revel in the idea of rushing home to watch cartoons after school as a kid.  Even more so about the notion of waking up early on a Saturday morning to flip through the abundance of animated entertainment that was on T.V.  I would provide you with a list of 'toons that I so coveted but that might literally take a week or so.  But amongst the top would have to be Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (the original one, even though I did watch the new one as well) and probably X-Men. 

To the disappointment of my parents, I allowed the glow of the tube to shower over me quite often.  I just loved to watch T.V.  You can imagine how the “school week” rule threw a monkey wrench the size of Kim Dash’s ass in my plans to watch all of my shows.  The rule clearly stated that during the week, no television was to be watched.  My brother and I could go outside and play after we finished our homework but no television watching.

Our way around this was to record every show that we wanted to watch during the week and play them back during the weekend.  After the amount of hours that we packed onto one tape was watched, we seldom had time to do other things.  Especially when Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers came out.  For some reason, we thought that show was pure gold.  ~Looks off into space reminiscing: *Pink Ranger*~  

Read On...

Black Swan (2010)

Met with critical acclaim after it was first released at the 67^th Venice International Film Festival in September of 2010, Black Swan has since gone on to gather even more fame and hype.  Mostly due to its’ combination of elegant dance and the deep psychological portrayal of a person under pressure to simply be perfect.   Natalie Portman headlines a film filled with sex, drugs, emotional & physical stress and just plain paranoia.

Nina (Natalie Portman), an aspiring and paralyzingly-timid ballet dancer, competes and is ultimately chosen to dance the lead role in an upcoming production of the classic Swan Lake.  In order to completely pull this role off, she must take on the duties of portraying two characters.  The first persona that she must accept is that of the White Swan, a role in which the ballet director, Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel), finds her perfect for.  Her desire to be perfect in every move and motion plays directly into what is needed to be a great White Swan.  The White Swan’s evil twin, the Black Swan, is slightly more difficult for her to grasp.  She isn’t used to dancing with the recklessness and abandon that is encouraged to dance this role.

Read On...