Kraznor (Level 26)

Hey guys, used to frequent here during the golden days when Rorie and Navarro ran things. Since then, started podcasting and covering media stuff with a friend of mine over at Pixel Response and thought I'd point people in that direction if they are looking for a podcast about movies, games and (very rarely) music, as well as incidental nonsense that happens in our lives. Real emphasis on films and games though, so if you are fans of those things, I especially recommend it.

@Hawkeye: I'd say the moral lessons in the show and how they tackle that subject matter (racism, ageism, religious faith vs skepticism, etc.) with humor and bright colors makes it extremely appealing to members of any religious, educational or philosophical background. That's a key factor for me, anyway. Encountered atheists, Christians, Catholics, Wiccans, Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons who are all way into the show.

Hey hey, not sure anyone is keeping an eye on this but you can count me in as well. Just finished season 1 today and currently acquiring season 2. Bronycon at the end of June, a club at school I'm itching to join, DJ Pon-3 shirts...this has very rapidly changed my life.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution ended up coming at a bad time for me. Still going to play it but yeah, likely not going to be able to until next year. Same with the new Driver and Dark Souls.

It is overblown, half-baked opinions like this that make me kind of resent this movie. To praise the film so highly because it is so restrained and quiet and it understands the value of "less is more" is overlooking the simple reality this is a brain-dead simple revenge thriller with a really REALLY glossy coat of paint on it. The characters are quiet, but they are also completely one-note cliches, the situations are all borrowed from similar films and I honestly don't see the "brilliant acting" everyone keeps raving about (with the exception being Albert Brooks, who is excellent, despite the archetype of a character he is saddled with). If one were to read the film as being kind of an anti-action film, showcasing how trite and cliched most films in the genre tend to be I'd listen to you but considering everyone is praising it as being a fresh and original crime film, I'm going to guess that satirical possibility was not intentional. There were laughs in my theater at some of the interactions between Mulligan and Gosling because they were simply too awkward to be remotely believable, to the point of parody. I have seen Refn's Valhalla Rising and Bronson in addition to this and I am confident in saying the man either isn't interested in or isn't capable of crafting well-rounded, interesting characters. All of them have a metric ton of style, are bristling with confidence and have several praiseworthy elements (mostly due to the actors, barring some of them in Drive) but I do not consider them much more than average films overall.

Just saw it, really good. Cliff Martinez's score is probably my favorite single element. Listening to it right now.

I stopped drinking milk nine months ago and am in the best shape of my life. When I did, 1%, though working at a grocery store, 2% is the milk of choice in Calgary, Alberta.

Its a very subjective thing, but so is film criticism so yes, valid. For example, I loved The Way Back whereas Screened.com's own Eric Pope thought it was boring. I get why he felt that way but I found the slow, weary pacing interesting and appropriate where he just thought it sucked the adventure out of a compelling story. Opinions, etc.

Conan the Barbarian (2011), 1/5. Just incredibly bad all around, my biggest beef being how incompetently shot the action scenes were.

Regardless of his religious beliefs, when that man is on a movie screen he is entertaining the vast majority of the time. He does his job well so not sure why some wild behavior on "Oprah" undoes that for a lot of people. Just watched Collateral again and Tom Cruise is awesome and bad-ass in that, not to mention Magnolia and the Mission Impossible films. What he does at home may be kind of weird or eccentric in the public's eyes, but as long as I'm not being bombarded with it in all of his films, I'm fine with it.

@StormtrooprDave said:

I'm much more interested in this since reading the review but it's still unclear how the apes will actually take over. The numbers game is against them no matter how smart they are.

They actually account for that brilliantly, I'm assuming Rorie just didn't want to spoil the film. I can tell you if you want but its a major spoiler.

None of the other apes are actually discussed in the original series, I'm guessing they are supposed to be seen as the ancestors of the apes in the other films, or perhaps they plan to track that lineage in the sequels. But yes, Koba was his name and he was indeed awesome. No Maurice the Orangutang, but yeah, pretty good.

Your list is broken, "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" isn't on it. Get with the times man!

@Delta_Assault said:

Wall-E. Pixar did something that blew me away... instead of an ordinary scifi story, they made a genuinely great love story about robots.

I am not reading a five page article, but comparing someone who watches porn more than twice a year (which includes more or less everyone I know) to someone who pays for the services of a prostitute (no one I know) seems kind of silly.

I'd expect a handful of nominations in technical categories and hopefully a win for Visual Effects but that's about it. Rickman was barely in it so a supporting actor nom seems unlikely (and well he was good, he wasn't extraordinary in this one by any standard). The core cast were fine but nothing above and beyond and for those saying Voldemort is a more menacing villain than Ian McDiarmid's Emperor, I wholeheartedly disagree.

Personally, I found the trailer kind of insufferable. Its trying to be charming and whimsical, but it doesn't seem to have a firm grasp on how to do that effectively. What I saw reminded me of "102 Dalmatians" and that is most certainly not a good thing.

Why isn't this a poll? The answer is The Rock in any case, just wanted some hard data to back that up.

There Will Be Blood in My Pants