IT BEGINS TOMORROW

Tomorrow January 1st, 2011 will mark the date for my new and better laid out plan to watch as many movies as I can in one year. It will also mark the start of my forming a real-world movie watchers club, bringing together people that love movies and a better system for blogging my reviews. Everything will fall under what I'm calling 'Project: Cinema'. The websites main page will be the same focusing on movie reviews or personal blogs, the 'Project: Cinema' tag will take you to an on going listing of the movies I have watched during my year long challenge, the 'Project: Cinema Chat' tab will remain the same offering a virtual space to talk and discuss a movie or movies in general, the 'Movie Trailers' tab will be the same focusing on different movie previews and a new tab 'Club Project: Cinema' will take shape as I work out the details and specifics for starting the real club. Until tomorrow, I'll see you at the movies.

Hiatus

     Hey moviegoers, just wanted to give you a heads up that this will be the last posting of the new year as I get the blog ready for 2011. I'm revving it up and kicking it into high gear and hopefully you all will join me in 2011 to make movie watching into a giant year-long event with Project: Cinema.

Ice Quake
     This is one of those SYFY channel movies that at the end you start asking yourself...why did I just watch that? The story takes place in Alaska, around Christmas day. Michael Webster is a geologist with the Army Corps of Engineers under the leader ship of Colonel Bill Hughes (Victor Garber), Michaels family trip to go get a Christmas Tree on a secluded govenment controlled mountain top will get intreruppted by a series of ice quakes that have been occuring across the region caused by a massive amount of methane gas trying to break through the surface. Yup, it's a stretch for a plot, it gets even better when a quake in Alaska sends a shockwave to Russia and causes a majoy ice shelf to collpase, now the consiracy theories also play into the story. 'Ice quake' is your typical SYFY setup, tragic-apopcalyptic event occurs and only one person has the knowledge and ability to stop it.

Shrek the Third
     I re-watched this one, cause the first and only time I had ever seen it was in theaters after a day of work and kept nodding off most of the movie. Missed half the movie and I figured before I watch the fourth one that just hit DVD I should re-watch the third one. Three picks up where the second movie left off, Shrek (Michael Meyers) and Fiona (Cameron Diaz) not long after their marriage and are living in the castle in Far Far Away. Unfortunately, the king is deathly ill and is on his death bed, when shrek learns he will be the next heir to the throne. Last thing Shrek wants is to become king and never get to see his beloved swamp again, turns out that one more person exist that can be the king and that is a boy named Arthur. The story manly follows Shrek, Donkey (Eddie Murphy and Puss In Boot (Antonio Banderas) as the venture out to find and bring Arthur back to be king. Shrek has other things distracting him along the way though, one of which is right before he leaves he learns Fiona is pregnant and two, his friends are trying to convience him to be king, While they are away the fairytale villians have rised up and decided to no longer be number to and have over turned Far Far Away. When Shrek returns only the new King Arthur will be able to bring a piece across the land.

The Tale of Desperaux
     I know this was a big deal when it was in theaters and contained a huge cast of voice talents. It took me almost four days to watch this movie, I could not get into it and for some reason it kept putting me to sleep. It's based on the award winning kids book of the same name by Kate Dicamillo. The tale takes place in the kingdom of Dor, which is famous for soup, it's wierd I know, it's a fairytale though I guess. Roscuro (Dustin Hoffman) is a rat that has just arrived by ship and is drawn to the famous scent of the soup, through a set of events, will be the cause of the queens death. With her passing, the king now outlaws all soup and rats from the land. Desperaux (Matthew Broderick) is a outcast mouse because of his bravery and wanting to be more of a man than a mouse. It will be up to this tiny mouse with big ears in the end and a Roscuro that feels the need to fix what he broke, to save the princess from a rat horde and bring the king out of mourning. I never read the childrens book, but, the movie was very kinda chaotic and seemed like a choppy script to me. Almost as if they tried to fit in more than they should of into the movie from the book and in turn giving it a dis-jointed feel.

Appaloosa
     I'm not a fan of westerns at all, this movie though however I did very much enjoy. This one unlike the last western I watched '3:10 to Yuma', captured that old west feel and look much better. The movie, Based on the novel of the same name by Robert B. Parker, is really a story of two men and the working relationship they share, Marshall Virgil Cole (Ed Harris) and his deputy Everett Hitch (Vigo Mortensen). The pair move around from town to town taking over and helping the town officials get rid of outlaws. They have taken control of the small town of Appaloosa that is constantly being terrorized by a rancher, Randall Bragg (Jeremy Irons) and after a witness to a murder comes forward. Together the two marshalls will need to protect the town and at the same town get their prisoner to his hanging. Except Allison French (Renee Zellweger) has just arrived in town and has caught the eye of Virgil Cole and will now cause problems as his feelings for her develop, while trying to maintain his bond with Everett. There's not a lot of action in this western, it's alot more of a drama about the characters and their relationships with one other that give depth to the movie. I think this is probably the best of these four movies hand down, i'm always up for a good storyline and well developed character over CGI and visual candy.

Well, that was those in a nutshell, Sorry they were so short in the reviews, got a lot happening with working retail in the holidays, another reason for going into a hiatus. Once the holidays are passed it will be a lot easier and will have a lot more time to dedicate to the blog.

Discovered new TV show

Recently discovered  a new TV show which is in its second season on NBC. Never knew there was a first season of it. 'The Sing Off' which is kinda like a cross between American Idol and Glee, its a reality show pitting real life acapella groups against each other. I think its really neat especially for being all acapella, which is a form I really like (a small tear for Four For A Dollar since they got kicked out of Beauty and the Beast awhile ago). Show makes me want to head to Epcot and see Voices of Liberty.

Burlesque

     Welcome to Iowa, home of waitress Ali (Christina Aguilera) and the last few minutes of her miserable life here. In a job that doesn't pay her wages on time and feeling stuck and going no where she's off to L.A. to make something of her song and dance abilities. Going from job to job she can't find something she wants until she stumbles upon a club on the Sunset Strip called Burlesque Lounge. Burlesque run by Tess (Cher) and her assistant Sean (Stanley Tucci) is a club with scantily clad dancers lip singing to famous tunes. Ali really wants to be one of those dancers, Tess is not one for taking in new people easily, Ali then settles for second best and gets hired on as drink server.
     After her hotel / apartment gets robbed, she moves in with her now bartender friend Jack (Cam Gigandet). The only problem with Burlesque...they are months behind on their mortgage and are trying to be bought out by Marcus (Eric Dane). Burlesque need something fresh and new to bring in more customers and worth higher admission fees. Ali might just be what the club needs and when a dancer gets pregnant its her entry way onto the stage. Jealousy ensues though when fellow dancer Nikki (Kristen Bell) tries to get rid of the newest girl on the team. Only her plan to embarass her back fires when Ali also lets it known she can sing, and now Tess has her a singing and dancing star to build a new show around. Unfortunately even Ali can't bring in all the seats needed to pull out of this giant debt. It will take some clever thinking and some team work to hatch a plan to save their home away from home. Facing obstacles along the way including finding her new romance Jack is engaged to having to prove herself as the new girl in dance line.
     Storyline is kinda basic, country girl moves to big city to become a star. Full package of the movie is really good though, some really good acting on everyones part. There's a few good songs to be had and the return of Cher into the movie spotlight. The movie keeps its pace pretty through and through and never really lags in any areas. You've got characters that you'll really care about what happens to them and a storyline you'll want to see how everything turns out in the end. After the last musical flop 'Nine' this is a much needed and welcome addition into the world of movie musicals. This is one of those movies you feel you really got your moneys worth at then end in plot and visually. Definitely a must see for any movie musical fan.

Burlesque (dictionary)- a humorous and provocative stage show featuring slapstick humor, comic skits, bawdy songs, striptease acts, and a scantily clad female chorus.

Good Luck Chuck (2007)

    

    Welcome to 1985 and a kids party that will forever change the life of Charlie Logan, after upsetting a girl at the party that had a crush on him, she puts a hex on him that he'll never be in love. This sets up the next scene, modern day, in which he's on a beach making out with a girl and won't say I love you back to her causing her to run off. We then see the two of them at one of his past flings weddings and she being the one to catch the bouquet (symbolizing her marriage to come). But, while at the wedding Charlie (Dane Cook) meets Cam (Jessica Alba), a klutzy penguin keeper at the local aquarium and the girl he will eventually end up chasing through the movie.

     Along with Charlie is his buddy that we also met back in 1985, Stu (Dan Fogler) who is obsessed with women and sex. Both are doctors operating out of the same building and next door to each other, Charlie is a dentist and Stu is a plastic surgeon specializing in breast augmentation. The main focus of the story is Charlie learns of a urban legend surrounding him that after he sleeps with a woman, that woman will then find true love in the next man she meets and marry them. Most of the movie we find Charlie sleeping with different women from his office secretary to random women trying to see if this curse of his actually is real. While Charlie finds it to be a curse and evil, the women are chasing after him considering him good luck because they are gonna get the man of their dreams the next day. Charlie has mean while been wooing after Cam and has fallen head over heels for her, but, knowing of his curse he's reluctant to take their relationship to the next level for the fear of losing her to another man. Stu comes up with the clever idea of finding the most unattractive girl imaginable and having Charlie sleep with her and then asking her to marry him the next day. Unfortunately... Stu lies about this girl turning down his marriage proposal and now having this information Charlie decides to sleep with Cam, once he learns he's been lied to he starts to go over the top to smother Cam and keep her from finding another man, only succeeding in scaring her off further. Ready to do anything to be with Cam, Charlie looks up and confronts the girl from the party that put the hex on him, only to learn there was nothing to it that it was a childish out burst and best advice is the old let her go and see if she comes back. Charlie decides to do the one thing he knows will make Cam happy and that's meeting the penguin expert of her dreams Howard. Stu comes in at the end as that buddy that screwed up and feels the need to make things right, and convinces Charlie to run after and catch Cam before she and Howard fly off to Antarctica to do penguin research together. Which of course he does, finds out there's nothing going on personally with Howard and they end up together.

     It's a really basic plot and there's some good laughs and fun to be had if you can get over the excessive amount of sex, nudity and foul language. The bad thing about trying to review and describe a comedy is doing it in a way without spoiling any of the jokes or situation presented in the movie. Which usually ends up in a pretty hacked up / choppy retelling.'Good Luck Chuck' is definitely not a family movie at all and will probably best be enjoyed by those younger couples looking for some laughs.

3:10 to Yuma

     A 2007 remake of the original 1957 film of the same name. I've never seen the original, but, from watching the making of it and listening to the director and designer it sounds like they've changed a lot around, as to try and add to the storyline. The main story of the movie revolves around Dan Evans (Christian Bale) having to help haul a prisoner named Ben Wade (Russell Crowe), to get money to pay off railroad from taking his land. Their destination is Contention and putting Wade on the 3:10 prison train to Yuma. Following them along their journey is Wade's second-in-command Charlie Prince (Ben Foster), which will finally catch up to them for the final showdown in Contention.
     Their journey will take them through shoot-out with Indians to people that have grudges with Wade from the past. I've never been a real fan of Westerns, but, something that I noticed about Westerns being made nowadays is that they don't have the same feel as the old ones. Just something about the old color and graininess of the old time westerns gives it that dirty west feel. I think Bale and Crowe's performances were alright, but, I think its Ben Foster and Logan Lerman (Who plays Dan Evans' son that follows them) are the ones that stand out in this film. It's a really simple story, but sometimes simpler is better as you can enjoy the film and not have to worry about being lost in the storyline.

     The movie overall was alright, but, it felt like it was more of a modern day action movie trying to hide itself as a western. That being said it is nice to see a western, as its not a genre that doesn't get a lot of attention now a days. Watching the extras was almost more interesting than the movie, watching them having to build an old west town from scratch and learning about how few places provide trains for movies and what went through to get the train to the filming location. Also watching them bring in truckloads of dirt to cover up the massive snow fall that happened before filming ended, was pretty impressive. For such a simple story and being a western it was a decent movie to watch and did its job and entertained me.

The Expendables

     It's a whos-who of action stars past and present with Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Eric Roberts, Randy Couture, Steve Austin, Terry Crews, Mickey Rourke, and Bruce Willis. Unfortunately the movie really sucked, Stallone leads a band of mercenaries that takes on jobs the actual military won't do. This mission, an ex-CIA agent has taken control of a small island off the coast of South America along with a local five star general for drug growing. When they get to the island they realize they are in to more than they signed up for. I think there was more to the plot, but, good luck trying to figure out what that is actually suppose to be. You can tell that what Sly was going for was a very old school action movie but with a modern feel, swing it and miss though.
     The bad thing about all these action guys are half of them either have foreign accents or talk so low you can't understand half the dialogue in the movie. Between poor dialogue and plot that doesn't deliver this movie just will not hold your interest beginning to end. It's a lot of shooting people, blowing things up, and hacking off limbs, that's about the only reason you'd watch this movie. Those that don't like movies, but like the explosions and blood are the ones that will enjoy this movie. Even at that some of the special effects shots do have a little hokey-ness to them. I really did want this to be a good movie with all these big name action stars, though I spent half the movie wanting to do something else other than watch it.
     Stallone needs to just give in the towel, I know he keeps looking to create a hit movie before he retires, but, I don't think that is gonna happen for him. I have to say the best thing about this movie is Arnold Schwarzenegger's cameo. Also the cinematography was so dark in this film, half the time you had to squint to try and see what is happening on screen. The movie leaves off for one and if rumors are true a sequel is already in the works, which is already gonna bed bad, unless Sylvester hands over the directing and finds a better script writer. Bottom-line is no matter how many big names you put in a movie does not mean it is going to do well.

Tangled

 Disney has done it yet again and hit a home run for their animation studio. This was the second movie, I saw today and I'm very glad I actually saw it in theaters. Disney is still leading the pack with 3-D using it as a storytelling tool to add depth to the art and the story, not using gimmicks and cheap 3-D conversions. It was a great film to be the 50th animated Disney animated film.
     The story is a twist on the Rapunzel fairytale, where as a child she was stolen from the castle because of her magical hair. Locked away in a tower, where an evil woman used her hair to keep her forever young and filling Rapunzel's head full of fearful images of the outside world. Until a crook looking for a hideout stumbles upon our princess and helps take her on a  fun filled and sometimes danger filled adventure and while roaming about discovering who she really is.
     Disney has really pushed their CGI over its borders, especially with the character facial expressions in this film. You can tell Disney took and borrowed a little bit of past animation films and added it into their bag of tricks with this one. Alan Menkin as always did a wonderful and catchy soundtrack for Disney. This is definitely going to bring Disney animation back to the foreground against its competitors and set a bar to reach for the next few years.
    
     Once again I am sorry for how short this and Potter's reviews were, but, I just had to let it out that these are both two good films that deserve some attention. Lately, the last couple movies I watched, I had to point out the flaws, but, with films such as these with the entertainment value and quality they bring, its hard to even start to look at the bad points on the first viewing.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1

     Well, today has been a long day, it was a two parter at the movies. It started off this morning with Harry Potter, and it was lengthy just over 2 1/2 hours, however it did not drag and kept its pace the whole time. So, because of the long day, out and about, these reviews will be pretty short and to the point. Lots to do tomorrow and I've got Netflix movies piling up, so I'm gonna have to make up some time trying to review two theatrical movies with short reviews. But, for both these movies long reviews aren't necessary, they are two really good films and both have had lots of media attention and I feel most will know what these two are really about story wise.
     The first part of movie eight of the Harry Potter series takes off where 'Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince' left off. Voldemort and his Death Eaters are stronger than ever and with Dumbledore out of the picture our three hero's must now flee for there lives, evading capture, and destroying the remaining horcruxes and stop the dark lord once and for all or so we hope.
     The story is definitely darker than it has ever been and we are starting to loose more and more characters as the saga is coming to a close. What's good is Harry is finally starting to come into his own and take control of situation and Ron is still reliable for the subtle humor breaking up the intensity of some of the scenes. It's also amazing how far the CGI and locations have advanced since the original movie, however, you can pick out a couple of the scenes that were added in for the 3-D conversion that never happened. Which I'm glad it wasn't 3-D, the last seven movies did just fine with out why did we need it now. Basically, if you haven't been hiding under a rock and have been following Harry and his friends for the past decade, why stop now, when the story is reaching its climax and pulling you ever deeper into this fantasy world J.K. Rowling has created. The only down fall to this movie is having to wait till next year for part 2 to come out.

Splice

Quick summary:
Two scientists create a genetic creature based on human DNA, let the experiment go farther than planned and must find away to keep it a secret, while debating the questions of right and wrong of genetic experimentation.

Full Summary (Warning: May contain spoilers):
     From the beginning of the title sequence, to seeing the cast names as veins, sets up that this movie is about experimentation and medical science. We're being born into the world at the beginning of the movie into the arms of our two characters of the movie, Clive (Adrien Brody) and Elsa (Sarah Polley). Only we are not human, we are a genetically spliced together creature, actually the second of two. Once pulled away from the point-of-view of the character, we are introduced to Fred and Ginger, two new life forms grown and designed to harvest proteins to later be used to fight disease in livestock. They are part of a larger on going genetic experiment with the goal of one day being able to splice it with human DNA and be able to solve human based diseases. The board of pharmaceutical representatives the duo report to, of course will not greenlight a human trial till more can be found out about the current critters.
     Going behind the backs of their colleagues and against guidelines, they implant and generate an embryo based on Human DNA. What's unexpected is how fast the fetus will develop putting them in the position of questioning their choice of doing the experiment. The re-occurring questions of the movie right and wrong, moral and ethical are now being asked. Elsa cannot find it in herself to kill this creature, where Clive is hands on the button to gas it from the moment he sees it. Hidden away in the research lab they work in, Elsa has started to raise the creature (now given the name Dren) as if she was a child. Not able to keep her a secret any longer after Clive's brother Galvin comes upon their secret, they must move Dren down to a basement lab farther away from others. During the move Dren has developed a fever and Clive now sees his chance at an attempt to kill the experiment, only to find its gonna be a lot harder to kill Dren then he thinks.
     Now, the objects of a huge presentation about genetics and the possibilities of their existence, Fred and Ginger make their first public appearance. Except Fred and Ginger instead of playing nice decide to annihilate each other. Discovering the reason for this sudden sign of aggression as a result of Ginger changing sex into a male, creates even more questions of what Dren may one day become. With this new result and aftermath of presentation, Dren is hidden away at an abandoned barn. All the time, Dren has been developing and becoming more and more aware of herself and her surroundings. She's tired of being locked away from the world and is shifting her feelings from Elsa as a mother figure to Clive as a love interest. Clive is not stupid, seeing the advances of Dren, knows that there is more to Dren than just generic DNA. Elsa has used herself as part of the experiment. Dren is getting slowly more and more violent in her behavior, especially towards Elsa as she finds her as competition for Clive. After attempting an attack on Elsa's life, Dren now finds herself strapped down and Elsa cutting out her defense mechanisms. Coming home to find a scared and defenseless Dren, Clive gives in to his urges, decides to have sex with Dren, only to have Elsa walk in on the two mid session. Chasing Elsa down after see runs off after catching them (I mean can you blame her, if you walked in on your boyfriend/girlfriend having sex with your science experiment), the argument of right and wrong once again is played out.
     All their worries and concerns are about to be over though as Dren has developed another bad bout of a similar fever she had before. Only this time it ends with the two burying their experiment behind the barn and laying to rest the experiment gone too far. Until suddenly Dren is back, male and a lot more aggressive. The showdown will pit makers versus creature, resulting in the death of one of our leads and the final end of the experiment. Well...the end until we are set up for the premise for another movie.

Review:
     If you saw the trailer for 'Splice', you probably like me, expected a science based horror film. You get that, but, only in the last five minutes of the movie. The rest of the movie is less about horror and creatures and more about a moral and ethical debate on the use of human DNA in science experimentation. Most of the movie is more focused on the two main characters and each of them debating the moral and ethical repercussions of their experiment. Leaving most of the movie feeling lackluster until the final showdown, where we finally get some creature feature horror. Having such a great creature, with such a broad range of abilities, its unfortunate the movie does not take advantage of it full horror potential. While it was not a horribly bad movie, I do feel like it was a waste of a great plot and good actors. With producers Guillermo Del Toro and Joel Silver on board you can't help wonder how it wandered off its horror path. Guillermo Del Toro's involvement does show through with its creature design bearing similarities with creatures from his 'Pan's Labyrinth' film. The end also should of been reserved for a Syfy Channel movie as its predictable and seen coming as a setup for a sequel (I'm betting a direct to DVD release). If this movie sounds and bears resemblance to 'Species' your not the only one thinking it. It's a shame this movie did not reach its full potential instead of getting side tracked on the morality of it all, it could of been a really good horror film.

The Other Man

    

Quick Summary: A man suspects his wife is cheating on him and sets out to confront the other man.    

Full Summary (Warning: Spoilers)    
     We start at a fashion show where we meet the family we'll be following for 88 minutes of this film. Peter(Liam Neeson) a software engineer, Lisa (Laura Linney) a shoe designer, and Abigail (Romola Garai) the daughter. After the show Abigail wanders off with her boyfriend George (Craig Parkinson) while Peter and Lisa head off to dinner. The conversation at the table this husband and wife of 25 years have,will set in motion the events to come. Lisa brings up the open ended and hypothetical question to her husband on what would be his thoughts and comments, if one of them had slept with someone else.
     That night in bed and the next morning, she keeps hinting at him that she has something she needs to say, but, just walks out the door like a normal day. We won't see her again, now we are taken along as Peter starts clearing out all his wife's belongings, including her cell phone. Seeing a voicemail on her phone he can't help listen to it and finds another man leaving a love message for his wife. Now, curiosity has the better of him and has started digging through her laptop files, stumbling upon a passworded file labeled Love. Hitting the roadblock with the password he can't decipher and moving onto the email folder where a message is discovered from a Ralph confessing his love for Lisa and about them being together. Peter is now dead set on finding and confronting this man she's had an affair with.
     Great thing about working at a software company, he has a security person that can trace the email address to it's IP address. While he waits for the address, an endless night of typing in passwords finally meets success as the folder is now unlocked. What's found will take the rage boiling inside to a new level, risque pictures of Lisa and Ralph at a lake in Spain. Only one thing to do now and that's for him to hop to the next flight to the address of the emailer...Milan, Italy. Milan a place Lisa is no stranger to due to her work in the fashion world. We now get to watch as Peter, having found Ralph, plays a daily game of chess at a local cafe with him, learning about the history of the two of them and how Ralph and Lisa met 12 years ago. Abigail has also come to Italy in search of her dad who has also gone missing and left clues to where he has wandered off to, she won't stay long seeing how much rage and hate her dad is carrying for this man. Eventually Peter needs to confront Ralph and does so by setting up a meeting in a hotel Ralph and his wife used to frequent.
     When Ralph gets to the hotel it's not Lisa waiting for him, but, Peter and he has now realized who this man he has been playing chess with actually is. We also are made aware how this whole time Lisa has actually been dead, having died of cancer, explaining why he cleared out her belongings and we never saw her again.  The two then exchange their views on Lisa and won't talk to each other again till the end of the movie when they meet at a party in London, thrown by Ralph in Lisa's honor, which will mark the closure that Peter needs.

My thoughts:   
      If this movie sounds dull, your wrong, it's a snooze fest. A very slow moving drama that goes nowhere really fast. With characters you really never get to know and could careless as to what happens to them in the end. Much of the dialogue is so uninteresting it will just help to loosen your eyes from the screen and attempting a plot twist that doesn't work, just to bring up more questions and head scratching. It's a movie about the length one man will go to find out the truth he already knows. At the end of the movie you'll just be left wondering why you sat through this drab movie and what was the director (Richard Eyre) trying to achieve.

Legion

         Welcome to Paradise Falls, no... it's not the mystical land from 'Up'. It is the name of the rundown gas station / diner in the middle of the Nevada desert where the film plays out. Paradise Falls has been hit with Route 66 syndrome and has fallen off the map and is now a spot for those lost travelers that missed the turn for the interstate.

     The diner is owned by Bob Hanson (Dennis Quaid) who works with his son who's the mechanic, Jeep Hanson (Lucas Black). We are first led to the diner by Kyle Williams (Tyrese Gibson) who is lost on the desert road, we are also introduced to the Anderson's who are stranded because of a broken down BMW that is too technical for the antiquated shop to fix. Also joining into this quaint diner gang is Charlie (Adrianne Palicki) a girl 8-months pregnant and Percy Walker (Charles S. Dutton) the short order cook. Everything is as you would expect in this middle-of-nowhere hideaway, until Gladys Foster, a small old lady with her walker will mark the beginning of a long night for these desert castaways. For this little old lady goes from sweet to crazy and biting people in an instant, leading way for more crazies to come down the old road.

      Along comes Michael, who arms and helps fortify the diner against these crazy people, who are out for blood. It appears that outside of the desert an apocalypse of biblical proportions is taking place, Michael informs us that god has lost all faith with man and is set to exterminate them. These people coming to the diner are possessed by angels sent by god, whose mission is to kill the baby Charlie is carrying. Michael of course is the arch-angel who defies gods order and has vowed to help save the baby's life, the Messiah and stop the apocalypse. Not only do they have to battle zombie-like humans, but swarms of insects and ultimately a showdown with Gabriel the angel who is sent to do the deed that Michael was suppose to do.

     As for my point of view it was an OK supernatural thriller. What I liked was these possessed people still could walk and talk and think, unlike most zombies you usually find. Unfortunately, there isn't much else that really makes this film stand out, the acting wasn't outstanding, besides maybe a couple cool creature effects this movie doesn't have much going for it. The bad about it is... surprise, it's at a gas station in the middle of nowhere and it went a little to biblical for me. Also about half way through it really slowed down as the characters start bickering with each other and confessing the bad in their lives. Also not that original of a plot and nothing to really make this movie stand out in the genre. I can't help comparing certain parts of dialog at the beginning and end to Sarah Connor in the Terminator movies (Which also featured an apocalyptic event). I'm sorry its a short posting but there's only so much you can go on about with 90% of the movie taking place in the confines of a small diner (Flashback to 'Maximum Overdrive').

The Rocketeer

     Based on the graphic novel by Dave Stephens. Setting 1930's, pilot and air racer, Cliff Secord (Bill Campbell) has just accidentally stumbled upon an object of value to the federal government and the Nazi's. A rocket-pack, designed by Howard Hughes (Terry O'Quinn) and sought after as a game changer in the war. Cliff doesn't know exactly what has fallen into his hands until a Nazi spy disguised as a Hollywood actor (Timothy Dalton) kidnaps Cliff's girl Jenny (Jennifer Connolley). To save the day and the country, Cliff must learn to harness the use of the rocket with his mechanic friend Peevy (Alan Arkin) and become to many, a superhero... The Rocketeer.
     I have always loved this film, it has a great story and a really good production design. Director Joe Johnston and Cinematographer Hiro Narita, are able to capture the feel of a comic book movie while keeping the 1930's alive and bringing some aerial filming that was state of the art in 1991. Unfortunately, the nail in the coffin for this movie was another movie released the same weekend 'Terminator 2' which clobbered 'The Rocketeer' in the box office. Disney's plans for a sequel and theme park ride were now lost to a machine. For being almost two decades old it can still hold up today, and is great seeing many now A-list actors back in their beginnings.

A rocket pack and helmet can be found at Disney's Hollywood Studios at Peevy's Polar Pipeline

Movie Count: 6

Clash of the Titans (2010)

      It's been a while since I've fully watched the original movie, therefore I will keep my comments strictly to the new movie and not compare it to the original film it is based on.
      What a piece of CGI waste is all I can say, I know I'll probably catch flak for that comment, to me this was another one of those lets see how many fancy CGI battles we can do on screen and in-between toss in some story and dialogue. To sum up the story and all its mythological background is a little easier said than done, Perseus (Sam Worthington) must go on a journey to save the fabled city of Argos from the underworld. See, way back three brothers fought out against their parents the Titans and afterwords each was given a region to rule: Zeus (Lian Neeson) the heavens, Poseidon (Danny Huston) the seas, and Hades (Ralph Fiennes) the underworld. Zeus and Poseidon create man and with their mortal prayers are able to maintain their power as gods, Hades sees another way of power and that's making the mortals fear the gods. Thus starting an epic war between mortals and the gods.

Unfortunately what could of been a great epic story, is lost, when much of the mythology and story gets over powered with the CGI monsters and creatures. All I can say is I'm glad I didn't rush out to see it in 3-D like I wanted to, because I didn't see anything where the fast 2-D to 3-D conversion would of helped it. I can't not totally hate it though, as I am a huge fan of the Greek mythology stories. This is one of those movies that is a great example of how when directing, there needs to be a balance of action and story. I think much of it is with Louis Leterrier having not had a ton of directing under his belt, mainly the first 'Transporter' films and the reboot of 'The Incredible Hulk'. I think taking on a film of this size was a little over his head, after being handed the reins from Stephen Norrington (Who stepped down after not seeing the original and feeling he couldn't make a faithful remake without watching the first extensively). I have a feeling though that this is one of those that in a few years time will probably be remade once again. There is a great story there, its just it needs the right person in modern Hollywood to tell it. If your a fan of CGI and big action sequences you'll enjoy it, everyone else will probably go back to watching the original.

Unstoppable

  

     The movie is inspired by the true events that took place on March 15, 2001 in Toledo, Ohio. In which a locomotive left a railyard without an engineer and ran through three counties and sixty-six miles before it was stopped. 'Unstoppable' takes place in modern day Pennsylvania, where one morning during what should have been a routine track switch in a railyard. A bumbling and lazy mechanic decides to leave the cab and manually switch a track that wasn't thrown, before he can get back in to the cab, the train accidentally drops into drive and is unable to catch up to the train on foot. Now with a runaway train on her hands dispatcher Connie (Rosario Dawson) must find someway to get runway train 777 stopped before a major incident. Way down on the opposite end of the main-line, Frank Barnes (Denzel Washington) and Will Colson (Chris Pine) have started the day with picking up their load of cars. What they are unaware of, is that in the end after all other measures have failed, it will be up to these two (the old railroader of 28 years and the newbie hotshot) to bring their knowledge together and put their lives and their locomotive on the line to stop the runaway 777, before it reaches an elevated 'S' turn and derails into a heavily populated town.
     This is why I still go to the movies, to see this kind of action movie on the big screen. The best thing, it was a train movie not involving a terrorist plot and the cargo not a full train of nuclear chemicals, but, a few cars of a highly combustable materal used in glue production. So, it was a believable bomb on rails at least.  It also was not in 3D! It kept paced and never really dragged at any point. Of course there are some diviations from the original true story, such as placing fuel holding tanks under the elevated 'S' curve and changing the chemical to a more hazardous one. However the unmanned train, the efforts to stop it and the final use of a train in reverse to hunt down another train remain true to the original true story. Here's a piece on the actual event (http://kohlin.com/CSX8888/z-final-report.htm). So of course it was made more dramatic and climatic for the movie, but, if it was all real it would be a documentary not an action movie. Movies aren't there to educate or re-tell history but to provide a couple hours entertainment and if they want to use a real story as a basis for a film, rather than re-make another or use a tired plot thats fine by me. Since it's still in theaters and not many may of heard of it, I figured I'd throw the trailer on t the end of this posting. As usual Tony Scott does some really nice directing and choice of shots in creating a different feel on chase scenes. Instead of using choppy editing and blurring the frames to give the sense of speed, he utlizes the camera in different angles to give that sense of speed.

Old Dogs

     I just finished up watching Disney's 'Old Dogs', one of their family films from last year. The movie follows Disney's family comedy format of such movies like 'Wild Hogs' and 'College Road Trip'.  'Old Dogs' follows two sports marketing executives, Charlie (John Travolta) and Dan (Robin Williams) through a series of events occurring during one of their biggest business events in their company. Through back stories, we learn these two have a long thirty year history together and watching each others back.

     The main story point in this movie centers around Dan finding out that due to a crazy weekend in South Beach a few years ago, he has two kids that have suddenly entered into his life. Dan has a past history of being a klutz and with letting people walk all over him. Charlie is the complete opposite, he's very outspoken and very take charge. Thus allowing one to balance out the other, or at least try to, when they are given a situation. When Dan is asked to watch the kids, who just came into his life for two weeks, they will change his world forever. Constantly interfering with his work and causing chaos around the house, Dan and Charlie, are at wits end on how to deal with the children and make this business deal at the same time. Ultimately, it comes down to the big question, what matters more in life, work or family?
     Review wise, the movie is your cookie cutter Disney family comedy. Unfortunately, it does not deliver as their other ones have recently. Most of the movie feels as though they are trying to hard to make the jokes and story work. There was great potential for something really good and truly funny, but, I think this was a swing it and miss. When I dug into this movies past, it seems there is a reason for this. Originally, Touchstone was to release this movie with a 'R' rating. Due to poor test screenings, the decision was made to drastically alter the film, which required re-editing and cutting it down from 107 min. to its 88min. With the new edit came a 'PG' rating and a change in distributor to 'Walt Disney Pictures' with the aim at a kid-friendly audience. Also coming with this movie was some more bad news for it, three delays, which created a nearly year long delay in releasing. Bernie Mac, who has a small part in this movie had passed away. Then Jett Travolta, son of John Travolta and Kelly Preston (who also has a role in this movie) also had passed away. Then there was one other delay, when Robin Williams, encountered a medical problem requiring surgery.
     Unfortunately, I think Disney has realized, not everything works being made kid-friendly. But, just cause an adult may find this movie a little unfunny or forced funny. Kids will surely be amused by the physical comedy (oh yes, the glorious golf ball to the crotch moment) and the zaniness of Travolta and Williams. This was just a movie that seemed plagued with problems from beginning to end and it shows, but, don't let it stop you if your a fan of Disney family films or of the stars.

Armored

     Just finished watching 'Armored', which is a by-the-numbers heist movie. A group of armored car carriers, set to make a big cash delivery, decide to stage a hold up and make off with the money. From the start it is almost a textbook heist movie from the setup to the execution. A group consisting of Matt Dillion, Laurence Fishburne, Jean Reno and  few others, are teams aboard two armored cars that are to make a Federal Reserve shipment of 24 million each. The goal stash the money and fake a robbery. The plan seems to be going according as planned until the typical issue a rises where a witness, sees them unloading the money, next thing they have a dead witness and the plan starts going down the drain little by little. The next thing they know one of their buddies (Columbus Short) turns on them and is willing to wait it out inside one of the transports and give them hell until the calvary shows up. Like I said a standard heist movie, inside men try to steal the goods and plans get fouled up. Can't say too bad about it though kept me up at 1 in the morning without putting me to sleep.

Super Mario Bros.

The movie that was a first of its kind and an original idea, a movie based on a video game franchise. It was considered a bomb and forgotten by many and watched by even fewer now-a-days. Except for a select few and a cult following of video game enthusiasts.
The movie centers around two main characters like in the game series, Mario (Bob Hoskins) and Luigi) John Leguizamo, a pair of plumbers from New York. Our story here is focused around Princess Daisy (Samantha Mathis) who is a paleontologist that was born in a parallel dimension, created when a meteor hit the earth millions of years ago. In this dimension dinosaurs have evolved into human based life forms, led by the dictating ruler Koopa (Dennis Hopper). Koopa has sent two goons into New York to kidnap and return the Princess to the other dimension through the dig site she just happens to be working at. What he does not count on is two unlikely plumbers following her through the portal. Ultimate goal of King Koopa, to merge the two dimensions together and take over the human side, which is far cleaner and better than the one he is stuck in. All of which will go according to plan unless two plumbers can save the day.
     What's great about this movie, over some of the other recent video game movies, are how many nods there are to the actual game. They may not be out right and obvious, but, when you go back and listen to the dialog and watch background objects you'll start seeing more. For those from the 90's it even feature the SNES Super Scope as Koopa's ultimate weapon. It may not be the best convert from a game into a movie, but, they had to make a movie that would appeal to movie goers and game players. They also had to do it with out the use of the heavy laden CGI that video game movies, today, rely on so much. At the end the ultimate point I want to make, its not designed to be an Oscar winner and be a famous classic, its there as pure fun and geared towards those that grew up around the original Mario games.

Back to the movies

When this blog originally started it was geared around me doing a movie watching challenge. Believe it or not I've had a couple readers disappointed that, that purpose had been given up and lost. So...Starting 1-1-11 I'll be implementing and starting a new version of that challenge with a more achievable goal and guidelines. It will also give me something to write about again, being that I don't really do much else to write about except once in a blue moon when I go somewhere new. The new challenge will center around counting and seeing how many movies I can see in one years time January 1st, 2011 - January 1st, 2012. Instead of a fixed number goal, the simple goal will be to see just how many I can do and maybe in 2012 strive to reach and pass that goal again. With a baby on the way and work it will take many early mornings and late nights to squeeze those movies in. But, for those of you that know me there's nothing I enjoy more than watching movies.

Cowboys and Aliens

I've never heard of the comics or the story...but...this movie is now on my must see in theaters list. Harrison Ford back in the action/sci-fi genre again where he belongs.

Day at the Zoo

     Myself, Julie and my parents on Saturday, October 16th, decided to spend sometime going to a place none of us has visited. That place was the Central Florida Zoo, it wasn't a major zoo or theme park, but it was a nice quiet and peaceful place to visit for a couple hours. The downfall with going to a zoo is that documenting the trip means coming back with hundreds and hundreds of photos to sort through, because of the amount of photos taken there was too many to be able to include in a normal blog posts on this site or to add to Flickr. So, in order to make all the photos accessible to everyone to be able to view I had to bring up and get working a site I haven't used in some time http://wolfmanphotography.shutterfly.com/ .The photos can be found there under an album created called "Central Florida Zoo".
     The zoo aesthetically not as appealing as other zoo's, I have been too, was more low-key and had a more smaller feel too it. It did serve its purpose and that was too showcase the animals that it had in its collection to the public. The downfall going to a zoo like this, is after visiting places like Zoo Atlanta and Disney's Animal Kingdom, you start to feel a little more for the animals as they do look like cages and not full-on habitats that larger places offer the animals for a home. The other thing is outside of your average everyday sign stating what and where the animal you are looking at, there wasn't much more in the way of education or learning opportunities.
     When it comes down to it, if you can't afford to take the family to a theme park or a more high-end zoo, it's a nice inexpensive place to go spend a few hours and get to see and marvel at animals that you don't get to see everyday. We did not however eat there, so, I cannot remark on the quality and prices that you get if you eat in park. There is however not far away the Seminole Towne Center which has almost one of everything around it. So, the option is there to run out for a bite to eat and go back for a little bit if you choose too. It did also feature a little water feature area for kids to play in, which looked like a nice area for being at the zoo. You can really tell this park is designed and maintained for a local crowd, very little in the way of souvenirs and photo ops outside of the animal exhibits.
     http://wolfmanphotography.shutterfly.com/

HHN Photos

Here are photos I took from HHN 10-10-10

Been awhile

Well, it's been awhile since I said anything about a movie. This morning I watched one and after knowing nothing about it and only seeing it for the stars. It's called 'After.Life', it's stars Liam Neeson as a funeral home director, Eliot Deacon,  that prides himself on saying he has a gift of helping the living transition to the afterlife. Christina Ricci is Ann Taylor who's recently had a fatal car accident after having an argument with her boyfriend (Justin Long). But... was it fatal or is there something Eliot Deacon is hiding about his gift. Like I said I knew nothing about it and was pleasantly surprised how I couldn't stop watching it wondering where it was going to end up in the end. I won't even try to pronounce the director's name, Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo, she did do a wonderful job on telling the story. If you watch it, I would also after the movie watch the making up featurette with the director as it really pulls together what the movie was portraying.

Long time no blog

I know its been an absurdily long time since I wrote on the blog. Between work, getting ready to move, and starting into a new career path it hasn't left much time to do other stuff to write about. Got my eyes set on auto maintence and currently just finished module 1 of 4 on ASE's Maintanance and Inspection Program, hopefully once I am done with this program it will give me a little extra leverage to get my foot in the door somewhere. So long retail :).

My Day at AMC Pleasure Island (Follow-Up)

     Just a few days ago on Tuesday (August 24th, 2010), I set out on a mission to see the movie 'Piranha 3D'. As you may remember that mission did not go through as planned and resulted in an unpleasant experience. I followed through with my word to send them an official complaint through their corporate website. Thursday afternoon I got an email from AMC as a result of that email and here is there response just as it was sent to me.

    Alexander, 

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts. Your comments concerning the service you received from our crew have been reviewed by our management team and will help us improve our service.

For the inconvenience you experience, I’m sending you via mail 2 passes that you can use at any AMC locations. If you can send your complete mailing address , the sooner we can mail you the tickets to you.

If you have any questions or concerns feel free to contact me.

Thank you for your patronage and being a valued MovieWatcher member.

     Yesterday (Friday) I received my two movie passes in the mail. Just one day after he said they'd be mailed.

Just a mere three days after the incident and my contacting them, they contacted me and resolved the issue. To me that is really great customer service and as a result of this quick and expedient resolution, is why I will definitely give them a second chance. Like I told the gentleman the responded back to my complaint, with his resolution, this is why I choose to drive the extra distance to go to an AMC (30 minutes away) versus the Epic theater which is two minutes from my home. While there are many places that lately seem to be letting their customer service slip, AMC has obviously realized the importance and need to take care of their customers. Especially with the price of movie tickets where they are, knowing there is a company giving this level of service makes you feel a little more comfortable paying them the price, I don't mind paying knowing I am getting good service and feeling appreciated as a customer.

Lotus Blossom Cafe

      The year, 1985, the place, Lotus Blossom Cafe at the China pavillion in Epcot (at the time EPCOT Center). Lotus Blossom Cafe did not open with the pavillion, but rather three years after China opened, as did its sister full service restaurant Nine Dragons. It is a quick service location with covered open-air outdoor seating, nestled between Nine Dragons and The Yong Feng Shangdian gift shop. The restaurant was refurbished in 2009 taking it from a traditional Chinese look to a more modern design. The menu has changed several times over the years, one thing has remained consistant however, and that is the quality of the food that is presented. Among its good food and with views looking out at the 'Temple of Heaven' and its surrounding ponds, is the speed the meals are prepared at and the always friendly staff.
     When me and my wife decided to spend a late afternoon at Epcot it was a hard decision on where to sit down for our meal. While Epcot probably has the best selection of places to eat, with that comes the problem of selecting just one of the many to eat at. However, recently the wife was exposed to the Lotus Blossom Cafe on another recent trip to the parks, for the first time and since cannot get enough of their noodle bowls. That is how we found ourselves dining there once again today.
     Arriving at the Lotus Blossom Cafe, I found myself with the predicament of what to order. Wanting to try something different than my usual Orange Chicken, it came down to me ordering the Seasame Chicken Salad. Wife of course had her usual beef noodle bowl and was quite pleased with it. My salad on the other hand wasn't bad at the same time it wasn't great however. The seasame sweet-and-sour chicken on it was nice, once the chicken is gone your left with greens that aren't all that thrilling. It does come with a nice asian-peanut dressing. The salad consists of the chicken, spinch, edamame, red cabbage and lettuce. The beef noodle bowl is basically what it sounds like: a bowl of flat noodles, beef, and a nice broth. Unfortunately, always wanting to sample the ice cream flavors here (red bean ice cream and caramel ginger ice cream) was just too full to order any. It still is a wonderful place to eat and the service as usual was very friendly and fast, i'm sure there at many more trips to Lotus Blossom Cafe to come.

Beef noodle bowl

Sesame sweet-and-sour chicken salad

My day at AMC Pleasure Island

     When I first heard about Piranha 3D I knew I would have to go see it in theaters. Anyone that knows me will tell you I love watching B-movie sci-fi films. Having enjoyed and been a fan of the original Piranha franchise, I was all too happy to give into marketing and see the latest entry into the series. I wanted to see an early A.M.Cinema at West Oaks Mall a cheap showing, unfortunatly I ended up sleeping in too late and missed out on the showtime. Being my day off and being a must see, I chose to go to Plan B and see an afternoon showing at Pleasure Island. The catch, is they are only showing it in their new ETX theater. I missed out on the cheap ticket by sleeping in and in consequence now had to pay the standard 3D upcharge plus an ETX upcharge. Basically for what I paid for this one show, I could of saw two non 3D movies easily. The question is was it worth the price? Guess you'll have to read on to find out. Well, with that backstory taken care of let me get on with the reviews a double-header this week, one for the movie and one about my first experience with ETX.

ETX Review
     Enhanced Theatre eXperience is what AMC's new ETX stands for. It is in the former theater number 2 for those familiar with AMC Pleasure Island. Their website states that ETX comprise of 20% larger floor-to-ceiling screen, breathtaking sound and digital projection that is higher resolution than HD. I'll give my critique on each basis of these movie enhancements.

20% larger screen - This I didin't find entirely great for the upcharge. If you've been to AMC Pleasure Island inside theaters 1 and 2 you'll know that these theaters have always been larger than the other theaters. So, the extra larger screen doesn't seem to count as it's always been the current size. Maybe in other parts of the country with ETX where they didn't have these large theaters from day one it maybe new to them, not around here though.

Breathtaking sound - This i'm torn on, as it is a more richer sound. AMC says its 12 channels of audio with a 50,000 watt system. You can hear alot more of the finer usually unnoticed background noises which adds some ambiance when watching the film. But, I don't love how when things go boom or the bass kicks in every light fixture in the auditorium rattles.Which takes away from the movie when your sitting there hearing the theater shake apart.

Digital Projection - AMC says its digital projection system produces images comprised of 2 million pixels, which delivers a higher resolution than HD. My mom has a famous saying everytime I tweak the tv or by something new to enhance home theater which is "It looks the same, I don't see any difference" well, for once I have to agree with here. Compared to all the other now digital theaters I don't see a difference. Two years ago before the digitalization of the theaters you could tell it from a film projector, there's just not a great leap between digital theater and ETX.

     When all is said and done with ETX. I have to say no its not worth the upcharge, I don't think there is enough to really push it leaps and bounds ahead of seeing the same film in the theater next door. I guess the  only good thing would be you are guaranteed to see it in the larger theater. If you want to see a movie upcharged and get the band for the buck. I think IMAX or IMAX Experience (like at Citywalk) is a better setup, a bigger screen that Pleasure Island and worth the extra money. I'll have to go see another film at Citywalk and do a really in-depth comparision of the two.

Piranha Review
     I'll call it Piranha, because, that is its actual name before they tacked on the 3D of it. I have to say what a wonderful throw back to old style B-Horror movies. It has its little comedic moments, a great cast and if you want it enough blood/guts/and boobs to make your heart sing. The story is very basic, not alot too it. In a nutshell: big spring break lake location, has earthquake, fissure opens at bottom of lake to a subterranean lake, fish come out, fish kill lots of people, people blow lots of fish up, and at the end people realize there's still more to come. Ok...you want more details...opening scene is the earthquake scene where we discover a fisherman in his little boat on the lake when the quake hits. The quake opens up a rift in the lake floor and with that causes a whirlpool which brings our fisherman into the water for first blood. The movie is set in Lake Victoria, if you've seen 'Girls Gone Wild' you'll know what Lake Havasu is where they filmed this and what the area looks like on spring break, lots of boat parties and girls in wet t-shirt contests. Jerry O'Connell plays Derrick Jones who is here to film a new video for his 'Wild Wild Girls' website and bumps into Jake played by Steven R. McQueen, who is ready to ditch babysitting his younger brother and sister for a day showing Derrick around the lake and hanging out with two of his always topless (sometimes both top and bottom less) models. So USGS (United States Geological Survey) comes out to survey the quake damage in the lake along with their escort the sheriff of Lake Victoria, Julie, played by Elizabeth Shue.
     After losing some of his USGS divers to the fish (Novak played by Adam Scott) manages to catch one alive, they go to see Mr. Goodman the local know-it-all fish man, played excellently by Christopher Lloyd with his crazy scientist persona. Once they learn from Mr. Goodman that they are ancient two million-year-old Piranha they rush out to the big party on the lake to warn all the spring break kids. Of course none of them listen to the warning until its too late a giant blood bath ensues. While Julie and Novak round of what they can of attack survivors. Across in two other parts of the lake two other things are happening. One is Jake's brother and sister have decided to go fishing on a little island in the lake only to lose their canoe and be stranded. The other Jake is on the boat basically watching soft porn being filmed. As Jake is showing them different filming locations in the lake, they pass the island where the kids are and attempt a rescue only to ground their boat on a rock and with a sinking ship coming closer and closer to the Piranha only one thing is left.
    Sheriff Julie to the rescue...after getting a distress call from her son, Jake, on her cell phone, its up to her and Novak to come save the day. But, not before Jake has a chance to blow the sinking boat to kingdom come and kill all the Piranha or so they think. Because, last thing you find out from Mr. Goodman are these attack are the babies...where's mommy?...you find out right before the credits roll leaving off for the sequel. Now, there is alot more to it than that, but, I can't give away everything.
   The 3D in this movie was really good, there was maybe one or two of those little gimmicks thrown in but most of it seemed very natural to watch. It also gave a great depth to the underwater footage really giving the lake a feeling of being dark and endless. There was a couple times though that so much is happening on screen the 3D does end up blurring some. It was definitly worth seeing and now I have to go back and re-watch the original.

The next part of this entry is a little lengthy story of bad experience at AMC Pleasure Island:
     I do not hold this over the theater staff heads or AMC as a company, but I directly blame theater management. Here's how this goes, bare with me its lengthy, I get to the theater about 12:10pm as on-line it said show time is at 12:30pm. Get to the box office window and it says first showtime is at 1:52pm, so, lying internet I assume. But...wait....what's this...next show time is at 3:00pm. Ding ding ding, alarm goes off, if they only have one ETX theater how can they show a 1:52pm movie and turn it around after an hour and a half film for a 3:00pm show? I had my reservations about the 1:52pm time in the first place being such a random and uneven start time. I ask the box office cashier if they times are correct and she shares my point of view with the time frame and decided to radio a manager to double check. Manager confirms that first show time is correct and I figure they'll just cross the 3:00pm path when they come to it. I'm really early now having expected a 12:30pm show and decide to head out and get some McDonald's for lunch.
     It's just about 1:30pm when I arrive back at the theater, ticket stub gets torn, get my 3D glasses and (Boom) get to the theater sign says 'Now Showing 12:30'. I go back to the ticket take and she says there was a problem with the time and they (management I assume) didn't realize it until people started showing up for the 1:52pm and walking into the movie already playing. Now I'm righteously T'd off, not only did they have the original showtime I wanted, ticket taker let me walk to the theater to find out instead of telling me, and the next show isn't till 3:00pm. I go over to Guest Services as I was directed to and given basically a free ticket for any movie, any time. I said all I wanted to do today was see this movie and I traded it in right there for a 3:00pm showing. Had I not wanted to see this film so bad  I would of been out the door and flying home to write a nasty gram (Which I decided to write during my wait for the next show and will be filing online after I post this). Needless to say first experience with ETX in general was not that great. I did however have a big feeling of pride, knowing I was right and they were wrong. As I said I don't blame the theater or staff, at fault here I feel is the manager that when questioned about the overlapping showtimes didn't immediatly see it and stop it right there, instead of just saying ok without looking into it as I feel he did. I of course expect a reply back from AMC about this and would to share that response on here when I get it. Atleast I saw the movie I set out to see, even if it did take most of my day off to do it.

BlockBUSTer

If you follow any of the news about media mediums. You know Blockbuster hasn't been doing so hot lately. They have been closing stores all over because of on-demand rentals and falling behind Netflix and Redbox. Do you want to know why? Well, I don't have all the answers to that question but I do have one. Netflix has a good system and it works. Ok...here's what happened. If you didn't know Blockbuster has decided to now go up against Gamefly for mail rentals of games. So, I figured why not try them as they are offering a cheaper price plan than Gamefly. First, I learned half the games out they don't carry or aren't available til a month later. So, I go ahead and find one I want to play that way I don't feel like a total loss of money since the main game I signed up for isn't available. Second, game comes in the mail took two days from Orlando to get here where Netflix takes only one day in transit. Third, I put in my que for "Aliens Vs Predator", I get the mail all excited to be able to play a new game, something I haven't had in quite awhile. Open the envelope, yep, mail envelope says "Aliens Vs Predator". Pull out the sleeve inside...ITS SONIC THE HEDGEHOG...it don't stop there...ITS NOT EVEN FOR THE XBOX360....ITS FOR PLAYSTATION 3. Not only did they send the wrong game, they sent the wrong game for the wrong system. I called their customer service department to complain. All I got was a we'll send out the correct game to you first thing tomorrow. So, no apology, no i'm sorry your first experience with us was bad, but, now I have to wait three more days to play, holding up my monthly service. Way back I tried Blockbuster, as I was always a Netflix fan, and left them for slow mail turnaround and inaccuracy with the movie titles. Here it is like 3 years later almost and its still the same stuff. I can't tell you I had a wrong title shipped from Netflix, now, I have had a cracked disc or two, but, I blame the post office machinery for those. Netflix always, when you submit and issue online get that replacement right out to you no waiting. Needless to say I will not be renewing my Blockbuster Online account next month.