Creative Image Blogs: January 2010

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Comic Book Review: Green Lantern #50

The final two chapters of the epic crossover saga, The Blackest Night will hit stores over the next two months. In the meantime, the action is taken up a notch in the main Lantern books: Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps. For the special 50th issue of Green Lantern, Coast City, Hal's hometown is under siege by tons of Black Lanterns (recently deceased heroes and villians brought back to life in all their decomposing glory). But Hal is not alone. He has several allies and friends by his side including Star Sapphire, Wonder Woman, Flash (the recently returned Barry Allen), Mera (Aquaman's wife), The Atom, Sinestro, and Atrocitus (baddest of the Red Lanterns). But this motley group doesn't just have to contend with the Black Lanterns but also The Spectre, who has become one also. The Spirit Of Vengeance is a powerful force to begin with...add to that the power of a Black Lantern and look out. Hal pretty much throws everything at The Spectre and it doesn't even begin to faze him. But Hal comes up with an insane plan that just might work. The last time The Spectre was involved in a crisis was when he battled Parallax, the entity that possessed Hal's body and wreaked havoc all over the universe. Hal recalls that The Spectre was actually afraid of Parallax, and that might be the only way to bring down The Spectre. Of course not everyone thinks this is such a good idea, even Sinestro, Hal's longtime enemy. So Parallax is let loose and takes over Hal's body to set up next issue's battle royal. What a hell of a cliff-hanger! The team of writer Geoff Johns and artist Doug Mahnke keep firing on all cylinders with Green Lantern. Johns has been writing this book for 4 years now and I'm just wondering how long he can maintain this quality of storytelling. I hope for a while, because GL is by far the best comic book on the market right now. And I can't wait for the exciting conclusion to this classic in the making Blackest Night saga.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Movie Review: Quantum Of Solace

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OK, despite all the so-so reviews that have come out, Solace is pretty good. Not as good as Casino Royale, but I still enjoyed it. There are chases galore by car, foot, air, and water. Very exciting stuff. Craig is rock solid again as 007. But after this mission I hope he lightens up a bit. Let me get all the negatives out of the way first. The bad guy in this one is totally useless. Let's just say his final fight scene with Bond has him screaming like a little girl. And his henchman is so thin and unimposing, I'm thinking who would be scared of this guy. And some of the action scenes are edited very fast and the camera is shaking the whole time. But you get used to it after awhile. And Gemma Arterton is a waste as Bond's fellow agent Fields. She comes in for like 5 minutes and then is gone. Might have been more effective had she been in the film a little bit longer. Now on to the good stuff. As I said Craig is perfect again as Bond. He handles all the action scenes wonderfully and what little dialogue he has, he is very effective with it. Judi Dench is top notch as M. I can't see no one else doing this role as good as she does. The music score is thrilling, the locations are beautiful. And last but not least Olga Kurylenko as Camille. At first I didn't think she would be any good acting wise. We know she's a stunner. But she actually surprised me with a dramatic and tense performance that is the best in the whole film. And I rank her as the 2nd best Bond woman aver, right behind Carole Bouquet's role in For Your Eyes Only. Which are somewhat similar. I hope to see more of Miss Kurylenko in the future maybe in a drama. So all in all Quantum delivers the goods. A solid follow up to Royale. But now for his next mission, let's hope Bond can find something to smile about.
B

Friday, January 29, 2010

'Psych' returns on a new (better?) night

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Movie Review: True Romance

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True Romance is one hell of a movie. I personally believe it's the best Quentin Tarantino movie ever and he didn't even direct it...that honor goes to Tony Scott. But anyway when Clarence (Christian Slater) a comic book store clerk meets Alabama (Patricia Arquette) they fall in love. But she being a call girl, she brings some baggage along. Namely her pimp Drexel (an exotic looking Gary Oldman). Well a confrontation between Clarence and Drexel turns ugly and soon the lovers are on the run with Drexel's
associates in hot pursuit over some stolen drugs. The lovers leave Detroit and head to LA to try and unload the drugs and score some money. Easier said than done..soon hitmen and the LAPD get involved leading to a glorious shoot-out in a ritzy hotel with maximum carnage. This film has one of the most impressive casts you will ever see. In addition to Slater and Arquette, you also have Dennis Hopper as Clarence's dad; Christopher Walker as the main bad guy in pursuit of his employer's drugs; Brad Pitt as a dope head room-mate; Samuel L. Jackson as a drug dealer; James Gandolfini as a brutal hitman; Tom Sizemore and Chris Penn as LAPD and Bronson Pinchot as a Hollywood executive. Plus a cameo by Val Kilmer as Elvis Presley, who is part of Clarence's consciousness. Great movie with a great music theme that plays through out the entire film. A must see. Be warned it's very violent and very profane.
A
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Virgil: Now the first time you kill somebody, that's the hardest. I don't give a shit if you're fuckin' Wyatt Earp or Jack the Ripper. Remember that guy in Texas? The guy up in that fuckin' tower that killed all them people? I'll bet you green money that first little black dot he took a bead on, that was the bitch of the bunch. First one is tough, no fuckin' foolin'. The second one... the second one ain't no fuckin' Mardis Gras either, but it's better than the first one 'cause you still feel the same thing, y'know... except it's more diluted, y'know it's... it's better. I threw up on the first one, you believe that? Then the third one... the third one is easy, you level right off. It's no problem. Now... shit... now I do it just to watch their fuckin' expression change.

The Hidden: Cool 80's sci-fi flick

Cool 80's sci-fi/action flick about a mysterious FBI Agent (Kyle MacLachlan) arriving in LA to track down a serial killer with the help of veteran LA detective Tom Beck (Michael Nouri). But it seems the killer is not who he seems and once the fed lets Beck in on the secret..that they are actually hunting an alien who is jumping from body to body, the fun really begins. For an 80's flick, The Hidden holds up remarkably well. MacLachlan and Nouri make an effective odd couple duo and the action scenes are extremely exciting. A bonus is Claudia Christian as a stripper who is one of the bodies the alien uses for a little bit. She is a sight to behold, looking gorgeous but also deadly as she packs an automatic machine gun with grenade launcher. Car chases, shoot outs, and a little humor make The Hidden a winner.
B
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Doctor: Detective Beck. No one deserves to die like that. I don't care what the man's done.
Cliff Willis: He killed twelve people, wounded twenty three more, stole six cars, most of them Ferraris. Robbed eight banks, six supermarkets, four jewelery stores and a candy shop. Six of the ones he killed he carved up with a butcher knife. Two of them were kids. He did all that in two weeks. If anyone deserves to go that way, it sure in the hell was him.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Avatar is amazing....

It's been 12 years since filmmaker James Cameron last had a film in theaters. A little movie called Titanic that you may have heard of. It made stars out of Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. And it set box office records that have endured up until now. Cameron took his time and waited for technology to get better so he could bring us the stunning world of Pandora in Avatar. This is an epic sci-fi tale that everyone has already stated is a familiar story of an outsider who comes into contact with natives and begins to question his actions. You've seen it before in Dances with Wolves and Pocahontas and other countless movies. But trust me, you have never seen it done on this massive of a scale with the most impressive visual effects you have ever seen in film so far.

The story is set in the year 2154 and Earth is running out of resources. So the moon called Pandora is discovered four light years away that is rich in a mineral called unobtainium. The natives that live there are called the Na'vi and are blue-skinned and stand over 11 feet tall. A project called Avatar is developed by scientist Grace Augustine (A strong performance by Sigourney Weaver) that will place human consciousness in genetically bred Na'vi clones so they can interact with the natives and eventually become friends and allies.

One candidate that enlists in the program is ex-marine Jake Sully (terrific performance by Sam Worthington, that is way and beyond better than his earlier foray into sci-fi: Terminator-Salvation) and assumes his recently deceased brother's avatar since they match up extremely well due to matching DNA). Did I mention Jake is a paraplegic. And he is not the candidate Dr. Augustine was looking for. Anyway, he assumes the avatar and through a period of adjustment gets flown out into the wilds of Pandora with Augustine's avatar and well as a linguistic expert. The pilot who flies them there is Trudy (played by Michele Rodriguez from Fast and Furious films, and who is actually likable for the first time ever in film). Anyway Jake gets cut off from everyone when a wild beast attacks and is on his own and must survive a suddenly terrifying place. At night he is surrounded by wild animals and is saved by Princess Neytiri (Zoe Saldana, who gives one of the film's best performances). There is immediate mistrust when the two meet that will eventually become attraction. Neytiri takes Jake back to the others including her tribal chieftan father and her spiritual leader mother. They take Jake in as one of their own to show him their customs and how to become a Na'vi warrior. In the meantime Jake is secretly working with Colonel Quadritch (played with relish by Stephen Lang) who doesn't trust the Na'vi not one bit. He is one hard core battle scarred marine that loves the thrill of smashing his opponents down with terrifying force.

Jake completes his training under Neytiri and tries to reason with the Na'vi before the military launches an all out attack to take the land they are living on. And once Jake realizes he has been on the wrong side, he tries to make amends. He rallies all of the different clans of the Na'vi to lead an attack against the military to defend his new home. . which sets up the last 30 minutes of the film with impressive battle scenes that up the stakes in film technology. I was completely starstruck by the visual wonders that were going on right before my eyes. Cameron has elevated film-making once again to a new level and triumphs anything you have seen in film before. And he even tops his great scene in Titanic when the ship finally goes down. Well in Avatar, there is this huge tree of life where the Na'vi dwell and the military strikes with all the firepower in the world to bring it down. It's majestic and sweeping and emotional, truly magnificent. Avatar is a new bonafide classic that will appeal to all people all over the world. As I stated before what the story make lack in originality, Cameron still knows how to create a spellbinding film. You forget about the effects and become totally caught up with the characters and start viewing them as real...as flesh and blood creatures that talk and love and fight. Just imagine the character Gollum from Lord of the rings and multiply that by 10 and you get the picture. And Gollum at the time was state of the art. Avatar blows that away with amazing effects and intriguing characters of their own. And hopefully this film will make other creators like Spielberg and Lucas to get their creative juices flowing once again. Avatar is truly an epic piece of film making.
B+

Monday, January 18, 2010

Dragon Con 2009

Me and my buddy Pat attended Dragon Con in Atlanta back in September over Labor Day weekend. Even though I live only a little over 2 hours away from Atlanta, I had never been to Dragon Con before. And it's been going on for over 25 years now. So with Pat leaving for Chicago by the end of the year, this was a golden opportunity to go and we were going to jump on it. Pat is a fellow comic book and movie enthusiast like me. And Dragon Con is the type of event you wanna go with someone who shares the same tastes in things. Well we had a blast. Dragon Con was awesome. This event is so huge it is spread out across four hotels: The Hyatt, The Hilton, Marriott, and Sheraton. We got there about 8:30 on Saturday and it was a little rainy, but that cleared up within the hour. We saw tons of people, I think they said the total number for the entire convention was over 25,000 people. There were lots of people dressed in costume. I swear we saw over 100 Ghost busters. Let me put it this way, if Atlanta became over run with ghosts that day, we would have been ok.

Saw several people dressed as super heroes ranging from Superman, Spider-Man, Batman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman,and Supergirl. We saw Imperial Stormtroopers, Klingons, Predators, Dark Sith Lords, Colonial Marines, World of Warcraft, Federation officers, and so on. There was this lady with a great costume of Ms. Marvel, and another one of Uhura. Sadly, I wasn't able to get pictures of them, but I did get several other shots. At the Hall of Fame, where the celebrities were signing autographs and taking pictures, we met a lot of actors and actresses. The big guns of William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy held a Q&A on Friday night so we missed them. And Patrick Stewart held a discussion session the day we were there but it was completely filled. Anyway we met and chatted with Alan Ruck (Cameron from Ferris Bueller's Day Off)and he was cool as shit. I shook his hand and he said "Jesus man, that's some grip you got there. I thought you were gonna break it".

We also talked with Felicia Day of Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog and The Guild. She was nice. Pat ended up getting a pic with her. I got pics with Karen Allen (Marion from Indiana Jones) and she was really nice. I also got a pic with the original Supergirl, Helen Slater. We ran into Lou Ferrigno, and it was funny because we also had the scene from I Love you Man, where Paul Rudd and Jason Segel run into Lou and Jason flips out on him. Well we didn't flip out but we were kinda vocal about how much he wanted to charge to have his pic taken. Most of the celebrities there were charging like $10 bucks, but Lou wanted $30. We were like damn Lou.

But anyway, we also saw John Schneider and Catherine Back from Dukes of Hazzard; the original Buffy - Kristy Swanson; James Marsters (Spike from the Buffy TV show); Malcolm McDowell; Traci Lords; Anthony Daniels (C-3PO); Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) and lots more. We stayed until about 6 and enjoyed every minute of it. I know everyone raves about Comic Con in San Diego because of the Hollywood presence, but I believe Dragon Con is right up there with it. If you get a chance, check it out. It happens every year in Atlanta, usually the first week of September.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

The Road Warrior: One of the best films ever made...

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In your face full throttle action flick. And what's great is, it's done with actual cars and people not none of the CG crap that is everywhere in today's movies. Mel Gibson returns as laconic ex-lawman Max who helps a small colony of survivors battle mohawked savages in the Australian outback. All for the last precious commodity in the world- fuel. Super charged action with thrilling car chases and unbelievable stunts that will leave you gasping. Definitely a must see and must have. B+

Max: "Two days ago, I saw a vehicle that would haul that tanker. You want to get out of here? You talk to me."

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Jack is back in this season's 24

Has it been 8 years already? The high octane series returns for an eighth season, this time set in New York. The initial storyline has a visiting Middle Eastern leader (Slumdog Millionaire's Anil Kapoor) being targeted for assassination. In comes Jack Bauer to find out who is behind it. I can't wait for the 2 hour premiere tonight on FOX at 9pm EST.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Eva Mendes Unofficial Calendar 2011

Booth Girls is hilarious

BOOTH GIRLS follows bright-eyed Emily during her first day of work as a booth girl at Comic Con, dressed as a comic book super hero whom she has admired since she was five. She soon finds out that it's not as fun and innocent as she expected as throughout the day Emily is faced with crazed fans, leering weirdos, power-mad staff, and a cast of colorful spokes models, all with their own unique take on working the convention floor as they portray other icons of science fiction and comic books.

Among her challenges: a Warrior Princess model who plays for keeps, a Slave Leia super fan, and a convention organizer gone mad with power.