Opposite her is Mila Kunis, who you may know as Meg Griffin from Family Guy.

Did anyone else notice that Meg seemingly only has one boob in the above picture, btw?

Anyways. So the movie definitely had a lot of humor in it. I mean, with a lovable big black guy, a middle-aged white man that seems to be lacking more than a couple brain cells, a fake sounding British guy who retorts as a comeback that "he had sex with the housekeeper", and a devoutly religious prude guy who talks about the "playground being next to the sewage system", how can it not be funny? But besides that, it wasn't too special at all. The boyfriend loved it, as did a friend of his, and I thought there were some moments, but it wasn't as great as I thought it would be.

That's probably because all of the conservation sounded incredibly stilted and forced. It was pretty difficult to believe that the conversations were conversations that could ever actually happen, and I distinctly remember being bored during more than one of them.

Rating: 3/5 stars. It was okay. Good for a few chuckles.

This movie was great. It started off slow but built up nicely to the end. I was really impressed how they used cheesy Asian cartoon graphics and make them seem cool. There were great action scenes, interesting conflicts, not to mention some good humor scenes that I wasn't expecting and they all really gave the movie a good feel. Not to mention a few twists that I didn't expect. All around a solid movie that is not only entertaining but a quality film for the entire family. Definitely worth the money and I plan to watch it again when it comes out on video. My rating for this movie is a A-.

Directed by: Wes Craven

Starring: Louis Jourdan, Adrienne Barbeau, Dick Durock

Hey, a movie based on a comic book! I really wish I could get all nerdified about this movie in relation to the original comics, but I've never even been in the same building as a Swamp Thing comic, as far as I know, so I don't have the slightest idea what the original character is like at all. I didn't even read the Wikipedia article on it beforehand to at least pretend I knew what I was talking about. Hooray for ignorance!

We open to find Dr. Alec Holland working on some sort of bio-weapon or other based off of some bacteria he's been growing on a badger. When Alice Cable (Barbeau), the newest hire in the swamp facility, shows up, they fall in vague love, which is really a bad sign this early into a movie. Of course, the facility falls under attack by the fiendish Dr. Arcane (Jourdan) and Dr. Holland accidentally spills his bright green experimental juice all over himself, catching him on fire. He runs off the pier and jumps into the swamp, obviously dead forever and there's no possible way he could come back. Cable manages to escape from Arcane with the aid of a strange green man (not the Hulk) who comes from the swamp.

Blah blah blah, people run around and fight and it turns out the immolated doctor's formula turned him into Swamp Thing. The evil guy gets his hands on the doctor's notes and recreates the formula, first trying it on his burly henchman, which turns him into a midget. Apparently, the formula brings out whatever lies within the person it's used on, turning the doctor into Swamp Thing, the henchman into a midget, and finally the evil doctor into a giant pig man with a sword. There's a final battle in the swamp between Swamp Thing and Pig Sword Guy, and Swamp Thing wins. It's really, REALLY hard to keep taking the movie seriously after a fight scene with a pig-man, so luckily it ends.

There's a lot I skimmed over, but it's all just interesting character-driven story stuff, and that doesn't leap out of the page like "Pig Sword Guy." This is an early Wes Craven film, a couple years before Nightmare on Elm Street but still after The Hills Have Eyes and Last House on the Left, and it's a pretty good representation of his work. The only real complaint I have about the directing is the lack of light for most of the film, but that could just be the crappy quality of the tape I watched.

So it's kinda goofy, but it's based on a kinda goofy premise and it's fairly entertaining. Again, I have no idea how it compares to the comics, so I don't know if they made a perfect interpretation of the original or if they forgot to put in Tom Bombadil or whatever. You'll have to find one of the two or three people who've read Swamp Thing comics and ask them about that sorta thing.

When asked to come along to a screening of Jon Favreau's new version of Iron Man, I was a little ambivalent, though the decent reviews it's been getting kept me from passing altogether. And I'm glad I went - Iron Man is a lot of fun, a superhero film with no pretensions that moves along at a decent clip, even during it's "origins" segment for the first third of the film (the development of which was perfect for guys like me who never read the comic book and were totally unfamiliar with this particular comic book universe).

A lot of what makes this movie work is the great job of casting, and for someone who is usually annoyed by Robert Downey Jr's fast-talking Mr. Cool act, I thought it worked brilliantly here since it fits the character of Tony Stark so well - a glib and superconfident weapons designing genius who has a Road To Damascus experience when he sees his weapons falling into the hands of the wrong people, but thankfully decides to build an even BETTER weapon to go blow the living crap out of them, as opposed to getting everyone together for a round of kum-ba-yah. I suppose I'll have to wait for Jimmy Carter's version of Iron Man if I want to see that. Maybe he could even be attacked by a rabbit.

Key to this movie is Downey's great on-screen chemistry with Gwynneth Paltrow, his slinky librarian fantasy of a do-it-all gal Friday, who thankfully only provides us with flirty back and forth banter as opposed to boring mushy lovey dovey crap that prevents us from seeing MORE stuff blow'd up real good. Jeff Bridges also does good work here as Downey's business associate who goes batshit crazy for no other reason than to provide us with a plotline, but who cares? If I wanted realism, I wouldn't be seeing movies about guys making flying metal battle suits powered by what looks like a glowing travel alarm in the middle of the gaping hole in their chest.

Wait, that's what powers Bea Arthur? Really? Who knew?

But I digress.

Rounding out the cast is Terence Howard as Stark's military bud who gets mostly comic moments, and stick around after the end credits for a teaser of the inevitable sequel, featuring Samuel L. Jackson with an eye patch. Now you just KNOW Samuel L. Jackson in an eye patch is going to kill LOTS of bad guys, and not with his golf clubs. Or maybe he WILL use his golf clubs. That'd be cool!

Thumbs up! It deserves the money it's making!

street fighter 4, which is scheduled to be released in arcades in july, is set somewhere between super street fighter 2 and street fighter 3. it looks like it has all 12 original characters, and at least 4 new ones. a fat guy, some chick with a pompadour, a baby-head who throws people, and a luchador.

and just to get everyone else excited... here's a gameplay preview:

scott

hahahahahahhahaha!

here's a real preview:

and an interview with one of the producers of street fighter IV

and what the fuck is Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li all about? the answer is: IT DOESN'T MATTER BECAUSE RAUL JULIA ISN'T IN IT!!

Greetings all! Welcome to another Sunday here on Planet Boxcar! This week's strip is very near and dear to my heart, as it draws inspiration from my beloved dog Brandy, who left our family a couple of years ago. Brandy was a beautiful, vibrant, loving, and energetic dog, especially in her youth. Brandy was known for getting extremely charged up and excited in her backyard, which she loved dearly. She would dash like a blur of black and brown lightning around and around in a circle until she had literally worn tracks in the backyard grass. This strip is a loving and hilarious homage to Brandy and I thank Marc dearly for drawing it so beautifully.

I don't think that rascal Diogee has ever looked funnier than he does in those first two panels. I love that ultra-hyper, starry-eyed, dizzying look on Diogee's face, and those manic speed lines do a tremendous job of showing the pure kinetic force and speed of Diogee's motion. The running around in circles around Robot was an inspired choice; his confusion is palable and seeing that blur of motion brought me right back to my Brandy. It's all finished of nicely my Ben's punchline, and we see that Diogee is high on just a bit more than life here! A great, hyperactive strip that really touches a special place in my heart. Rest well Brandy.

Chris Cooper is one of the great American actors. A classic character actor, Cooper finally received the exposure he deserved during the late 1990's, and subsequently landed a number of impressive starring and supporting roles in a multitude of films. Of these films, Lone Star is the most superb - Cooper leads a terrific ensemble through the trials and tribulations of clashing cultures in a small Texas border town.

Expertly directed by John Sayles, Lone Starbegins as a tense murder mystery, and slowly builds into a multi-cultural character study and southern drama. Cooper plays Sam Deeds, a county sheriff tasked with solving a decades-old murder of a man who may have been killed by Sam's own father. As the investigation peels back painful layers of the town's history, Deeds reunites with an old flame (Elizabeth Pena), contends with racial controversy and hatred, illegal immigration, and the upcoming election.

Lone Staris a truly great American movie, as it deftly weaves a character-driven story around relevant political and social issues. One of the most powerful scenes is comprised of Hispanic and white American teachers vying over whose "history" of the Alamo will be taught to their students. Deeds' small town is the de facto melting pot, with each race battling their own wars against persecution, apathy, and segregation.

All of these components are brought together in a shocking conclusion that rivals The Crying Game and Oldboy - Sayles knows exactly how to craft a film with the dramatic unfolding of an engaging novel, and no word or shot is wasted. In its chronicling of American imperfection, Sayle's screenplay (nominated for an Oscar) is elevated to pure classic.

Lone Star is a film about murder, love, shattered ideals, and complicated race relations that should be taken to heart as a dramatic yet accurate representation of America's own.

 

The most delightful character is a mouse that fancies himself as a "knight of Narnia".  It's rare a secondary character stands out.   This one does.  He is full of whit and quite charming. 

Fair warning:  This movie really is for the kids.  They'll love it.

Peter, Edmund, Susan and Lucy are at center stage again, returning to Narnia and discovering that several hundred years have passed since they last left (a year ago in England time). Prince Caspian is your other main character for this movie, a young man who is the rightful heir to the throne, but is attempting to be snuffed out by his uncle, who has made a power grab and tried to make the members of "old Narnia" (dwarves, talking animals, etc.) extinct.

Where the center of the last movie was the characters and the message, this one is a lot heavier on the battle scenes and the struggle for Narnia. The battle scenes are incredible. Believe me when I tell you that I'm not your garden variety male who swoons over any decent action scene (I'm actually often annoyed by how much value too many guys attribute to such scenes in lieu of a good plot), but I was absolutely enthralled by the action in this movie. In fact, I'll say that while the story doesn't touch the quality of Lord of the Rings...Peter Jackson never did battle scenes as well as Andrew Adamson did in this one.

The acting is...good enough. The actors all fit the characters well enough, and honestly these characters don't demand that the actors display a ton of depth. I actually think that Georgie Henley is the best of the main characters, playing the youngest girl Lucy...in both movies, she has been the best at making an emotional connection to the character and with me as an audience member.

To make the inevitable comparison...between the two, I think I will take Prince Caspian over The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Both are really good, but this one wins the day with incredible cinematography and overall entertainment value. I'm already looking forward to The Voyage of the Dawn Treader in 2010.

Rating: 8/10
Recommended?: I will say that I recommend watching the first movie first, because the background will help a good bit. The action scenes do stand up well on their own, though. If you liked the first one, or just like fantasy epics, I certainly do recommend this movie.

 

The sets are extravagantly pleasing. Everything is bright, everything is classy, everything is very well designed. Ditto for the clothes. I have no idea if that’s what people really wore in the 1930s, but it’s certainly making me want to wear that stuff now. The set and wardrobe people did great.

 

The cast was seriously stunning. Frances McDormand was quietly but very convincingly maternal and saddened as the titular character. Her co-star Amy Adams was a perfect choice for Delysia Lafosse, so bubbly and dizzily energetic [I could watch her flit around forever, it was great fun] and easily managed the task of making her character so lovable even though she’s selfish and expects everything to go her own way. I loved their relationship, it was very sweet. Then there was Michael, who was charming and passionate and hot.

 

I knew I had to see this movie when I heard Lee Pace was working with Amy Adams, and they were every bit as magnificent together as I had hoped. They’re both so adorable and endearing, and now they were adorable and endearing together, and it was brilliant. Seriously, it’s to the point where I wish at least one of them would get an Academy Award nom. The movie doesn’t deserve it, but they do. But they won’t, the movie isn’t big enough or serious enough, and it’s a comedy, and comedies always get the shit kicked out of them at the Oscars. Sigh. Can they get a Golden Globe instead? Please?

To wrap it up, this is a fun way to spend a couple of hours. It fortunately breaks the traditional romcom style of humour so you won’t feel like ripping your own eyes out. It’s worth seeing it just for the look of the movie and the cast. Hell, it’s worth seeing it for the cast! They were just that great.

There are bad movies that make you feel like you just lost a few hours of your life, and then there are bad movies that are thoroughly terrible yet strangely entertaining. Based on the trailer alone, you should know which category Ice Pirates falls in.

I've already seen two version of these movies. Both didn't really satisfy my good-movie pleasures, and both of them didn't really make it big. The first one came in 1989 with Dolph Lundgren as Frank Castle/The Punisher. A lot of killings, a lot of blood, a lot of bullets but still not a good movie.  Then in  2004, Thomas Jane played the part, better killings, better dialogues, but still not a good one.

Knowing the story of Frank Castle and with tag lines like: "This is not revenge. It's Punishment" or "If society won't punish the guilty. He will, this should have been a good movie. A bad-ass action packed movie even. But it never was, and I'm asking why.

Because it's brutal? No, coz "Kill Bill" and it was a good movie. No super powers? NO, coz movies like "The Transporter" also made it good. So what is left to blame? The actors? Well maybe. But if you ask me, I'd say it was the lack of coolness of the character.  Maybe if he was a a cool bad-ass person like Tony Starks is, drinking a lot and checking out the hot girls it would make it a good one.

Now it's Ray Stevensons time to play Frank Castle in "The Punisher: War  Zone" which will be in theatres this December.

Will it be better?   We'll see.

3 Critical:

1. No Tagline - the previous movies had one, and it's all what the movie is about . Now this new one got nothing in imdb, so I think it's gonna be better. Nonsense but logical.
2. Bad Actors - anonymous actors sometimes gives the movie a better view. But why do they get bad actors for this character? Sorry fans.... haha
3. More Sexy Ones - maybe more hot girls would do the the trick for this upcoming movie.

In our town, we have two other sets of lesbian couple friends who are also starting on the lesbo parenting rollercoaster at the same time as us, and one single friend who has just started to think about it. Our town is a highly competitive city, career-centred and, at its worst, a vipers’ nest of ambitious and driven people. (I think this affects the kind of lesbian community that is here also, at least among the younger, professional set). We have realised, that from one of the couples’ perspective, there’s a vicious race-to-the-top, mortified that we could steal each other’s ideas, or worse, donors. The other couple are older friends of mine from my hometown, we are very close and have happily created our own lending library of all our ttc related books, but again, there seems to be a competitive distancing that happens when we talk about our plans. We talk about it to an extent, but there’s an element of it being too close to home, and discussions of donor searches or clinic methods feel like they’re somewhat off-limits.

So this whole baby-making process can be pretty isolating. A &I have been quite open to most of our straight friends about our plans, nearly all of whom are childless, and at best they’re inspired and supportive, and at worst, surprised that we would want to intentionally seek out having children. Even though we haven’t started inseminating, the planning process has taken up a lot of our emotional energy, as well as having required countless doctor’s appointments, tests etc. However, our lovely friends have very little advice to offer on how to negotiate with donors, how to chart our fertility, which ob/gyn is most lesbian friendly etc. And so we’ve turned to the net to seek out the village we need to raise this child. After a briefly successful foray into the world of internet dating some years ago (thanks Gaydargirls), I had been a bit out of touch with the GLBT online community. I have loved discovering that there are more lesbian parenting ttcing blogs than I can read, but there’s always room for another. I love that in the GLBT parenting community, people are willing to share information, put questions out into the ether and get answers back. While trying to work our whole journey out, I have got so much inspiration from reading blogs of those who have been there ahead of us. There’s something so reassuring about seeing that it can be done, and that it is being done, all the time.

A glance at the same sex parenting section of a discussion board shows recent topics as: how to access sperm in a part of Australia with restrictive laws; how to find a GLBT appropriate baby-book; whether IUI or IVF is a better choice for a fertile couple with frozen sperm and how to come out to your child’s classmates’ parents. Compare this to the forum’s general posts: where to store the cat’s food and water bowl; cheapest laundry detergent; discounts on nursery goods. All questions that I am sure we will need to turn our mind to at some stage, but I’d rather be agonising about shopping for sperm than laundry detergent any day, and I am so glad that the internet creates a virtual space in which we can do that.

It's a possibility. Read more here

Django is a man of few words (aren't they all?) who wanders the countryside, dragging around a saddle and a coffin. A series of loosely related events and coincidences lead him into a deadly conflict with the KKK (seriously) and an army of Mexican bandits. While fighting with and for the two warring factions, he protects a humble "painted woman" and her cohorts.

The film's quick pace and memorable characters make Django a far more exciting adventure than most of the other Sergio's spaghetti westerns. The cliches are piled high (fighting prostitutes, the hooker with the heart of gold, gold-obsessed Mexican thugs, racist rednecks), but I guess they weren't really cliches in 1966.

The film spawned over 50 official and unofficial sequels from a slew of countries, creating a sort of Zatoichi/Zorro mythos behind the character. Django's random alliances and lack of concrete ideals let the rip-offs play with a variety of zany plot and character devices: throughout the next two decades, Django fights an army of gay cowboys, hooks up with a schoolteacher, befriends Indians, and wages war against a multitude of bizarre and weird villains.

Django is a watershed film in the Italo-western genre, and has influenced many films and filmmakers; the infamous ear-cutting scene from Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs was ripped right from Django's second act. Many fans claim it is a better film than the whole of Leone's Dollars trilogy, and there may be some truth to that...watch it and decide for yourself.

Meanwhile, let me recommend you rent Lars and the Real Girl, read Einstein: His Life and Universe, watch "The Coming Collapse of the Middle Class," and surf over to the fabulous planet of Fabulon.

Go see it. Could be the best comic book movie ever. (Be sure to stick around until the credits are over.)

 

                                            

 

 

 

                                                                                      

  

               HURLEY  WINS!

     

LONDON--Two photo agencies (The Big Pictures and Eliot Press Sarl) have both agreed to pay $113,000 to Hugh Grant, Liz Hurley and her husband Arun Nayar for "invasion of privacy" (that is for taking pictures while the trio were vacationing, in October, on the island of Maldives).  So what will Liz "do" with the proceeds?   She says she'll donate the entire $113,000 to "charity"....YEAH, BABY !        

                                       

VIDEO 1:

VIDEO 2:

 

Disney  will distribute Renee Baker Studios' THIRD motion picture,  in movie theatres worldwide,  which may cast (among others) Clive Owens....

RAB: www.rabtelevision.spaces.live.com

Disney will distribute Renee Baker Studios' first motion picture, in movie theatres worldwide, under an "output deal" valued at $73.5 million dollars.

special thanks: Associated Press (for Hurley story)

 But here, in these two songs, is the sum of most of our issues as a species.  We were created for something else, for a land far away. Most of us spend our lives looking to find our way back "home".  Sadly, many bet all they have on the facade of home, for a promise,  only to have that facade fade, that promise wiped away by the realities of life.   

But I think both are right, both Bono and Jon Foreman.  I still haven't found what I'm looking for; there is a dissatisfaction that I feel down to my bones, a voice in my mind that shouts "Is this all there is?".   A voice that says, "I want to do more with my life than eat, work, sleep and repeat. I want to really live.."

But then, I have found my home.  Home in a relationship with the creator of  all that is, home in the love and care of the finest woman Illinois ever produced, home when I sit and stare at the vast,  wondrous  beauty that is the  Gulf of Mexico.  That is the struggle.  That is the paradox. I haven't found it, but I know where it is.

This is home.

I am Prince Caspian and I'm a total pussy. I liked the first movie, although i really think the effects were done by some lion obsessed 12 year old with a first release G4. When your lion looks like a dude in a bad cat suit you've got problems. Okay so maybe the lion looked alright, but the bear, that was a dude in a suit. The only thing he was missing was a diaper and masturbation. Thats right folks i referenced a masturbating bear.

The sequel to chronicles features prince Caspian (see the pussy above). The way i see it is his only role in the movie is to let all the racist (or whatever you call the people who hate Narnians for no other reason than the fact that they are Narnians) go home at the end of the movie because they are so disgusted with the idea of living near the Narnians that an unpredictable future in another land- any fucking land - is better.

Overall, if you can get over how much of a fuck up the prince is, you'll like this movie. Oh Oh, and if you like magic, i loves the magic, i believe in it too. Especially if you believe that blowing in a horn can make 4 prepubescent children come to your town, then you'll really love this movie. Seriously though, you'll get your fill of fighting, guys dressed up as horses, horned beasts, and a tiger. Kinda like West Hollywood on Halloween.

The only thing i dont understand is why this movie is PG and Iron man, which has way less fighting and death, is PG 13. Please someone explain that to me.

I did Narnia, and shes a ho. You should do her too, if you get the chance.