07/31/2013

I've fallen behind on my updating, it seems, but I shall just pick up from where I last left off and see what I decide to write tonight.

Elizabeth and I spent this last weekend in Baltimore, celebrating our 4 year anniversary.  She planned the whole trip, leaving it a surprise to me.  We had a great time up there, and we're already planning a second visit.  We went to Medieval Times for dinner on Friday night, and Saturday spent all day at Inner Harbor, which is where our hotel was.  We walked everywhere, which included the cemetery where Poe is buried, the Ripley's museum, a pop culture museum (which was super cool), and Camden Yard.  I got to knock seeing a professional baseball game off my 40 before 40 list! (The Orioles lost to the Red Sox, 7-3. Highlight of the game: David Ortiz being ejected from the game.)

Movie wise, it's been a slow month.  Since Pacific Rim, I've been to the movies twice and have watched one Blu-Ray.

112) Red 2 - This was lots of fun, and almost as good as the first one!  The action was great, and has a good ensemble cast.

113) The Goonies - Easily one of my top 10 favorite films, and I had to opportunity to see in on the big screen at the Movie Tavern's RetroCinema.  Such a great film.  It was one of the films on the list I made for Elizabeth, and Dave joined us as well.

114) The Burning - Finally got around to watching my Scream Factory BR release of this flick, and it is great.  The film is a solid '80s slasher film, with some great kills in it.  And even though it takes place at a summer camp and it gets compared to the Friday the 13th franchise, a main difference is you care about the kids in this film.  When I'm watching a F13 movie, I'm rooting for Jason.  The special features are pretty good, with a few interviews with a couple actors (including Cropsy!) and the editor, and the best feature being an interview with make-up artist Tom Savini.  I've yet to be disappointed by a Scream Factory release, and they have some good stuff I look forward to adding to my collection being released in the near future.

With that, I headed out.  Hopefully I will stay on top of this thing.  LoL.  Who knows, maybe I will get some traffic one day.

07/12/2013

I'm back from vacation.  It was a well needed time away with friends, and got a nice recharge on my batteries.

Now, with further adiu: the summer movie I've been waiting for:

111) Pacific Rim

Kaiju vs Jaegers.  Giant Monsters vs Robots built to defeat them.  And Guillermo del Toro at the helm.  You could tell he has a love for this genre, and he has made a pretty amazing movie.  And for the few complaints I do have (I found the ending to be a bit predictable), the fight scenes make up for it ten-fold.

Seriously.  do yourself a favor.  Go see this is theaters.  You will not be disappointed. 

07/02/2013

Taking some time to catch up.

Comics for the most part last week were great.  I'm loving the City Fall arc in TMNT, and the new Godzilla book that started on Wednesday got off to a great start.  I mean, Japanese Godzilla VS. 1998 Americanized Godzilla?  I can't wait!

DC has me interested in the upcoming Trinity War.  And I'm interested in all of the Lantern books with their new teams, but found Red Lanterns to be the one I'm most interested in after the first issue.  I'm really looking forward to Villains Month in September, and to see what ramifications come out of it.

I've started using Twitter again.  So, if you are on there and want to find me: Jrwells82.

On the movie side of things, I've decided I need to start watching movies I've recently purchased or got from DVD Swap.  Since I have added 24 movies to my collection since joining their site last year.

106) The Town That Dreaded Sundown - This is one of the Scream Factory releases I purchased last month, and I finally decided it was time to give it a chance.  Is a pretty decent movie, and the fact that it is (loosely) based on a true event down in Texarkana is what makes it so frightening.  I really enjoyed this film, and Scream Factory did a stellar job, not just with the transfer for Blu-Ray, but also the supplemental features.  On the DVD, there is a bonus film of The Evictors, which I will attempt to make time for this month.

107) Mad Max - I finally acquired a DVD of The Road Warrior through DVD Swap, so it's time to watch another franchise of films I love.  Mad Max is a pretty solid film, with some great car chases & crashes, and an excellent performance from Mel Gibson.  Of course, The Road Warrior amps everything up a notch, but Mad Max still holds up.

Netflix Double Feature!  Because I love not knowing what they will send me next.

108) Showdown in Little Tokyo - Not the best, nor worst, film I've seen.  I actually live-tweeted while watching the film last night.  Dolph Lundgren and Brandon Lee are good together, but this film was just lacking something.  It was a decent action/buddy-cop film, but the humor was missing.

109) Soylent Green - I really enjoyed this, even though I knew the ending going in (it's hard not to know when "Soylent Green is people!" is a part of pop culture.)  I really liked the character interaction between Sol  and Thorn, especially since Sol had experienced the world before the overpopulation, and knew of things like strawberries and beef.  Edward G. Robinson does a fantastic job as Sol, especially after finding out this was his last film and he was dying of cancer while filming.

Going to Retro Cinema at Movie Tavern with Dave & Elizabeth tonight.  Jaws is playing!  Can't wait to experience it on the big screen (BONUS: Eliz has never seen it, and it is on my "40 films before 40" list)