Trailer Tuesday #6 Clone Wars Gets a Hairy Visitor, + Spider-man and the Oscars

What's that?  Today isn't a Tuesday?  Well, it is in.... Narnia....   Actually, the real reason is that there wasn't a Clone Wars episode to review from last Friday, so you get to celebrate Trailer Tuesday early!  Yay!  Speaking of the Clone Wars, you'll never guess who's making an appearance in the upcoming season finale.  For maximum excitement, please scroll down slowly.

Wait for it...

Wait for it...


Wait for it...




Wait for it...




AND......

ROOOOOWWRRR!!!!

Yep, our favorite walking carpet is making a return to the galaxy far, far away.  See him in action in the following two previews.





As an added bonus, here's a behind the scenes video with the developers of the show working with the guy who originally played Chewbacca in the films.  They even got him to do the voice!  Awesome.



Yep, pretty awesome.  While the next thing isn't a trailer, I just thought that it looked cool.  Apparently they're rebooting the Spider-man movies with a fresh cast and storyline.  Here's an intriguing photo that I found of Spidey's brand new suit, which looks pretty sweet.



Spidey's back!

     If you look closely the suit has a more gritty feel to it than the old one.  I also like how the gloves seem to spiral out of the arms of the suit, with the red and blue.

     Well, not all things are awesome in the world.  I never watched the Oscars last night, but apparently the film that won "Best Picture" decidedly didn't start with an "Ince" and end with an "ption."  Yep, Inception, the greatest movie ever, lost the grand prize to some puny little film called "The King's Speech."  Shocking, I know.

     However, to ease the pain, here's a not-so-serious look at the nominies, courtesy of our friendly neighborhood howitshouldhaveended.com.  Enjoy!

True Grit Movie Review



Wanted:  This Awesome Movie

     Calling True Grit a western immediately leads one to assume that it will be riddled with gun fights and cut-throat outlaws, and while True Grit has those things, the focus of the film is instead on developing its characters.  The movie begins with fourteen-year-old Mattie Ross entering a western town seeking revenge against the man who killed her father, outlaw Tom Chaney.  She enlists the help of Rooster Cogburn, a notorious mercenary, and Texas Ranger LaBoeuf to help her track down her father's murderer and bring him to justice.

     The meat of True Grit isn't action packed shoot outs (of which there are only a few), but rather watching the characters grow off of each other.  As a young girl Mattie is initially dismissed by the older, more experienced men; Cogburn tries to set out without her and LaBoeuf goes as far as to beat her for slowing them down.  Thus it becomes really satisfying when you watch the characters bond as they are forced to struggle through the same challenges together.  It was also fun to watch the rivalry between Cogburn and LaBoeuf play out, yelling at each other one moment and saving each others lives the next.

     Unfortunately, there is a bit of a missed opportunity when it comes to Tom Chaney.  He comes off as a brutish and not too bright thug, with no irredeemable qualities whatsoever.  It could have been a nice moral dilemma for Mattie if she discovered that the murderer wasn't so bad after all, but this idea isn't even touched upon.  Chaney is the villain and deserves to die, and that's about all there is to it.

     One reason True Grit succeeds despite this is because it isn't afraid to have a sense of humor.  It's amazing how one moment the movie is gut-wrenching and the next moment crack a joke or three.  For a movie dealing with such serious subject matter it surprised me just how many times I laughed out loud throughout the duration.  It's also great to see how the movie shifts from serious to light-hearted and back again in a series of contrasts that make both moods equally poignant.  One moment we witness the grisly murder of a rancher and the next the tension is diffused with Cogburn remarking "the ground's too cold-if he wanted a proper burial he should have died in the summer."

Conclusion:  Those looking for an action packed joy ride should look elsewhere-you can count the number of shootouts in film on one hand.  While the slow pace may disappoint some, it definitely pays out in a big way by delivering some of the best characterization that I've seen since Inception.

Rating:  9/10 "Awesome"

Favorite Moment (Spoilers):  Watching Cogburn race through the wilderness to saze Mattie's life was an emotional ride, made even more so once he ditches the exhausted horse and runs forwarded on foot while carrying her.  This is the moment that defines their relationship.

Star Wars the Clone Wars "The Citadel" TV Review

Good Times...

Want to watch this episode?  Head over to Starwars.com or follow this link. http://starwars.com/video/view/001229.html.  Episodes are put on the website the Monday after they air on TV, and are taken down two weeks later.

     After the Mortis Trilogy which delved into the deeper aspects of the Star Wars saga, "The Citadel" takes the series back to its roots with a classic, action-oriented prison escape.  Jedi Master Even Piell is taken hostage by the Separatists, placed under close scrutiny of the Citadel, an impenetrable fortress specifically designed to hold Jedi.  It thus falls on Obi-Wan and Anakin to form a crack team of Jedi and Clone Troopers to infiltrate the Citadel and rescue Master Piell.
     "The Citadel" chooses a minimalistic approach to the story, focusing instead on action sequences.  The lack of a deep story line could have harmed this episode, but fortunately classic feeling that it envokes of the Original Trilogy, specifically the Death Star sequence of A New Hope, more than makes up for it.  The adventure begins with several nice touches as Anakin and his master develop a plan for breaking into the Citadel.  Anakin suggests that they carbon-freeze themselves to avoid detection by the droid's scanners, resulting in a nice scene that draws parallels to Han Solo's freezing in The Empire Strikes Back.  It was also fun to see R2-D2 take control of a squad of reprogrammed battle droids to help out with the mission.
     The Citadel itself felt like a classic villain lair from a batman cartoon, full of dangerous booby traps that the Jedi have to navigate around, setting the stage for some awesome action scenes.  That said, the feeling of danger is a bit lacking.  A couple "red-shirt" clones die along the way, but for the most part the team rescues Master Piell with relative ease.  I know that there's plenty of stuff thrown at them before hand, but for a prison that's specifically meant to hold Jedi, I was hoping for a more perilous experience.
     The episode does try to throw in some characterization, but it isn't much.  Ahsoka disobeys Anakin's orders and tags along with the rescue mission.  And that's over with before the episode's even half way through.  The warden of the Citadel does turn out to be a somewhat interesting villain, but he's got nothing on Hondo.  There is an exciting character reveal towards the end of the episode, which I won't spoil here, and while the episode ends soon after, I'm excited to see where they'll go with him for next week.
Conclusion:  "The Citadel" scales back the story and effectively delivers an action packed experience with several fun nods to the Original Trilogy.  The simple plot does show through at times, but it was still a great episode in which to enjoy the simple pleasures of classic Star Wars.
Rating:  8/10 "Great"
Favorite Moment (Spoilers):  It was cool to see the deadly Commando Droids make an appearance in this episode, and my favorite action sequence with them was when a giant magnet disarms the clones and Jedi, forcing them to fend off the attack with only their bare hands and the Force.  Oh, and seeing Skywalker dangle from the magnet by his robotic arm was also a plus.

Waterworld Move Review



The actual movie is significantly less epic than this

     Waterworld is a perfect example of a movie with an awesome premise that unfortunately fell flat thanks to its poor story and boring characters.  In this sci-fi adventure the polar ice-caps have melted, leaving Earth's surface covered completely with water, forcing humans to adapt to this new, harsh environment.  The movie itself follows the exploits of a nomad traveling the seas who teams up with a young girl and her guardian in an attempt to escape a band of pirates called the "Smokers," who believe that the tattoo on the girl's back is the key to finding dry land.
     The biggest problem with Waterworld is its characters.  The nameless Mariner is your typical rogue who likes doing things his own way, and in the end turns out to be a complete jerk.  He kills an entire ship full of innocents without batting an eye and make two attempts to kill the annoying little girl that he's forced to take with him.  Sure, in the end the become friends, but until then he makes for a poor protagonist.  The other half of the problem is that the little girl is annoying, and you'll find yourself wanting to throw her into the ocean as well.  So when they finally do become friends you could hardly care less.  The film's villain is also boring.  A bald pirate with an eye patch and affinity for shooting people?  Yawn.
     Waterworld also has the disadvantage of being set in a world in which there is nothing but water.  Yes, there are floating villages and such that pop up here and there, but after a while the big blue gets monotonous.
     So, what did this movie get right?  Well, it did have an interesting premise, with the whole myth of dry land built up fairly well, and it was interesting to see how the humans survived on the ocean.  There are also a handful of action scenes scattered in between watching the boring sea, that are fun, but not particularly creative.
Conclusion:  Waterworld could have been a cool post-apocalyptic science fiction if it weren't for its unlikeable characters and lackluster story.  There are a few cool bits scattered here and there, but they aren't worth waiting for in the sea of mediocrity.  The potential is there, but it never blooms.
Rating:  5/10 "Mediocre"
Favorite Moment:  I'm wondering whether or not I should even put this here since I'm not even recomending the film....  Okay, you know what, I'm right.  No "Favorite Moment" section for anything below a 7 from now on.  Maybe I should start doing a "Least Favorite Moment" section for movies like this...

Trailer Tuesday #5 Superheroes Galore!

Superhero movies seem to make up half of the theater listings now days, so I thought that I'd show off a few recently announced comic book flicks.
The first trailer is pretty short, but oh well.  Captain America:  The First Avenger is set during World War II and apparently there were both supervillains and superheroes during that time period.  Who knew?


The next one is X-Men: First Class, a prequel to the X-Men movies set during the Cold War.  This actually looks pretty cool even though I'm not a big fan of X-Men; it looks like the movie is taking place during the Cuban Missle Crisis, which could set the stage for some awesome alternate history/historical fiction goodness.


And since we're on the subject of superhero movies I'm pretty much required by law to at least mention the upcoming sequel to the Dark Knight, which has the confirmed title "The Dark Knight Rises."  Yeah, not the best title in the world, but keep in mind that it's Christopher Nolan, the genius behind not only the last two Batman movies but also the phenomenal Inception.  I wouldn't expect anything less than awesome.

Star Wars the Clone Wars "Ghosts of Mortis" TV Review



Oh yes they did!

Want to watch this episode?  Head over to Starwars.com or follow this link. http://starwars.com/video/view/001226.html.  Episodes are put on the website the Monday after they air on TV, and are taken down two weeks later.

     The "Mortis" trilogy of episodes has done some pretty bold things, but "Ghosts of Mortis" really takes the cake.  In what seems to be a direct violation of the films, the Son captures Anakin and shows him a vision of his future.  I'm not talking about a possible "Oh, maybe this will happen, maybe it won't" future, but a "holy cow are they serious he's totally showing him Darth Vader" type of future.  Obviously the canon of the films requires the Father to erase Anakin's memory of the whole ordeal, but fortunately there's plenty of meat before then in which we get to see how the Chosen One reacts to such a startling revelation.  His brief stint with the Dark Side is temporary just like Ahsoka's, but this time it feels more authentic.  It's also interesting to see his reasons for doing it, and how they compare and contrast with his reasons in Episode III.  While there's evidence that the Son has poisoned him to a certain degree, you can still see the old Anakin come out several times; the Son may have pushed him over the edge, but Anakin is still Anakin.

     Speaking of the Son, he was great in this episode.  "Altar of Mortis" did a great job of building up his character, and this episode made it even better by showing a more vulnerable and compassionate side to him.  There's a great scene in which he pauses for a brief moment while raiding his sister's tomb to reflect upon her death, showing that even though they are on opposite sides of the spectrum they are still brother and sister.

     Not so great, unfortunately, is Ahsoka's character.  You'd think that after her possession in the previous episode that she would open up some more, or at least reflect back on it, but no, she's still plain old Ahsoka, which is a bit of a wasted opportunity.  The only thing this episode does to build upon her character is to reveal that apparently she's just as much a mechanic as Anakin.  Go figure.

     This is where the main problem of this episode comes in.  In the previous episodes we had the characters go off on separate ways frequently, with each piece fitting together into the overall story.  This time around, however, Obi-Wan and Ahsoka seem to do little more than be dragged around from one point to another.  As Obi-Wan remarks, he and Ahsoka wouldn't have been brought to Mortis if they weren't meant to participate.  So why don't they?

Conclusion:  It's pretty clear that this episode was meant to revolve around the Son, the Father, and Skywalker, and in that regard, it does fantastic.  "Ghosts of Mortis" is a bit slow in some parts, but in the end it shapes up to be a great, if not outstanding, conclusion to this remarkable trilogy of episodes.

Rating:  8/10 "Great"

Favorite Moment (Spoilers):  The scene with the Son in the tomb is touching, but the final confrontation between him and his father is even better.  His plea to his dying father is powerful, even if there may be selfish reasons behind it.

Genesis Alpha Book Review

Guess what genre this is, I dare you

Genesis Alpha is not the kind of book that I would normally read.  The only reason that I stumbled upon was because I was bored and while browsing a Top 20 Reads list I found both the title and a short synopsis about computer games and genetic alerations.  Those two things and the cool name were what sold me, and five minutes later I had checked it out at our school's media center.  Why is it not something that I would normally read?  It's a thriller, and a pretty gritty one at that.  There's a lot of existential stuff and ethical questions about stuff like genetics and murder.  Yeah, this book is built around murder, and while it leads to some pretty shocking revelations I was surprised to find that I enjoyed the ride.
     Josh is an average kid who has an awesome older brother named Max who plays a computer game called Genesis Alpha with him all the time.  Then one day Max is charged with the murder of a teenage girl, a mystery around which the novel revolves.  At first Josh is adamant that his brother is falsely accused, but eventually evidence begins to crop up that challenges his views of both his brother and himself.
     As a thriller, this book is laden with "gotcha!" moments, most of which-heck, practically all of them-are strategically placed at the end of a chapter, forcing you to start a new one in a hungry race to see what happens next.  I literally couldn't put the book down, I was reading in between classes, on the bus ride home, and then for like four hours just lying down on my bed, reading page after page until I reached the end.  If that ain't the sign of a good story, I'm not sure what is.  There are a few artificial cliffhangers though.  I remember at the end of one chapter something unbelievably shocking happening and then I turn the page and the author's like "nope, just kidding!"  Geeze, my nerves were already up tight, no need to break them in two for no reason whatsoever other than to keep me reading to the next chapter, which, by the why, I was already more than willing to do in the first place.
     Yes, the adrenaline rush is great, but fortunately Genesis Alpha provides more than momentary thrills.  Like I said before, there's some pretty heavy material addressed here, from the moral dilemma of cloning to the questioning of our ability to make choices, and I liked how the book manages to deal with these subjects while still leaving the answers fairly ambiguous.  They also aren't just there just to be there, they are interwoven with the story pretty well, and even connect to each other sometimes.
     As you have probably guessed by now, characterization is pretty important to me.  Great characters are what make a story, and fortunately Genesis Alpha has some, with a few hiccups here and there.  Josh is a solid protagonist; even though he's mostly a force to be acted upon rather than act, he's still interesting to watch at the emotional level.  He has to struggle with a lot and it shows.  Is his brother really guilty, and if he is does that make Josh capable of the same evil since he is Max's brother and therefore has the same genes as him?  As interesting as Josh is, there is one character whom I find completely ridiculous.  A thirteen-year old paparazzi?  I think not.
Conclusion:  Genesis Alpha is not for the faint of heart.  It's got some pretty intense stuff, both emotional and physical.  If murder and moral dilemmas are too much for you, you better sit this one out.  If that sounds like the makings of great literature, dig right in.
Rating:  8/10 "Great"
Favorite Moment:  That would have to be the part when the family is sitting down watching the news, and the attorney points his finger at the t.v. camera, exclaiming "Josh is a -----!"

Side Note:  What's up with all of these positive reviews?  Am I simply a fountain of praise spewing out onto everything I read/play/watch?  Never fear, pessimists, your day is coming....tomorrow....

Trailer Tuesday #4 How It Should Have Ended

Internet Land is full of spoofs and pardoies and popular movies.  My favorite site to go to for this type of entertainment is howitshouldhaveended.com.  Here are some of my favorite spoofs that they've done.

Star Wars the Clone Wars "Altar of Mortis" TV Review

I don't know, for some reason I just don't trust this guy...

Want to watch this episode?  Head over to Starwars.com or follow this link. http://starwars.com/video/view/001220.html.  Episodes are put on the website the Monday after they air on TV, and are taken down two weeks later.

     "Altar of Mortis" picks up right after the events of "Overlords."  The trio are heading back to their galaxy when suddenly the Son captures Ahsoka, forcing Anakin and Obi-Wan to pursue.  The result is a solid episode in its own right, but not quite on par with last week's adventure.
     Once again Anakin and Obi-Wan split up, although this time the reasons are mind boggling.  Anakin wants to head straight to the Son's tower and rescue Ahsoka whilst Obi-Wan chooses to seek the Father for guidance instead.  I know that the show is trying to emulate Anakin's dogheadedness from the films, but what baffles me is why Obi-Wan lets him go off alone, when he obviously has no clue as to how to reach the Father.  Oh well...
     Anyways, while Anakin's going off on his foolhardy adventure Obi-Wan enlists the help of the Daughter, who takes him down to the Altar of Mortis where a cool scene plays out that harkens back to the Sword in the Stone.  While the concept of a magical sword is a bit cliche, it didn't feel out of place, since these episodes are devling more into the mythological side of Star Wars.  It's also interesting that it's Obi-Wan who recovers the sword and not Anakin.  It will be cool to see how this plays into the whole Prophecy of the Chosen One thing.
     As I've stated previously, the Clone Wars has been swamped with fantastic villains, and it looks like yet again we're getting one in the Son.  The Son in many ways is like the Emperor, manipulating the characters and putting all of the pieces perfectly in place in order to achieve his ends.  He isn't a carbon copy though, which I like.  He has a roguish sense of humor and attitude that really stands out-yes, he's evil and cunning, but he's also arrogant and young.  I wonder if this is what Palpatine was like as a teenager.
     This episode also played the relationship between Anakin and Ahsoka quite well.  The Son briefly possesses her with the Dark Side, consequently revealing what might be lying underneath her psyche, with her anger at her master's lack of confidence in her and her insistence that she doesn't need him anymore.  Unfortunately this is broken when she childishly objects to him calling her "Snips."
Conclusion:  Obviously there are still a lot of questions left unanswered, but at least "Altar of Mortis" avoids becoming just a bridge between the beginning and end of this trilogy by heightening the stakes and playing on some interesting character dynamics.  Needless to say, I can't wait for next week's episode, "Ghosts of Mortis."
Rating:  8/10 "Great"
Favorite Moment (Spoilers):  The duel between Anakin and the possessed Ahsoka was pretty instense, not to mention well choreographed.  It also had a sweet finish with Anakin briefly hugging her in relief after she was healed.