Critiqulous

A Special I Want Wednesdays

This one is a special I Want Wednesdays post, specifically because of this photo, courtesy of the White House Photostream on Flickr.

What Are They Talking About
The man to the left is Seattle Mariners right fielder Ichiro Suzuki. He was one of Seattle's representatives in St. Louis for the 2009 MLB All Star Game that happened last night. The American League won once again and established home field advantage in the World Series this fall. For the most part though, the All Star Game is an irrelevant event and while they try to make it matter by having home field advantage on the line, it really doesn't matter. Besides, Mariners fans are pretty much in a buzz about the fact that Ichiro met President Barack Obama and boy to be a fly on the wall during that conversation. In the White House Flickr page, there are a couple other pictures of Obama meeting with MLB players, including some from the Boston Red Sox, but who gives a hoot about the Boston Red Sox.

BlackBerry Tour...Hang On A Minute
Remember that pesky BlackBerry that I had been writing about for weeks on end? Well this past Sunday, I finally got one for myself, and with it, comes the end of talking about it. If you are reading this, you're probably thinking, "Finally..."

Thought you saw the last of Stewart versus Cramer? Think again. || The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

And here is Olivia Munn's screen test before she became the eventual star of "Attack Of The Show." || Olivia Munn

Did you always suspect that the voting process for the Emmy awards was flawed? Well you were right and Kurt Sutter will tell you why it is flawed. || Sutter Ink

Movie Review: "Push"

One of the coolest superpowers ever introduced in comic books has to be psychic abilities. Sure brute strength is fun because you get to smash and destroy things, but really amongst all of the superpowers that we've come to know and love in comic books, I'd say psychic abilities are the way to go.

The damage one's mind can do to another is flat out scary.

In the movie "Push," the premise is that ever since the second world war, people have been researching countless hours into people who have various types of psychic abilities and trying to utilize them to full potential. These abilities include moving objects, seeing the future, to influencing a person's mind into believing whatever they want to believe. However, the continuous research into these people often results in the subjects dying when they are injected with a drug that is designed to accelerate the subject's ability to full potential. A steroid if you will. It all changes when one of the subjects is able to overcome the side effect of death, but also escape from the hands of researchers and creates an uncertain future in which any and every action could have dire consequences.

Okay, now that the synopsis is out of the way, it's time for my review.

Overall, I have to say I bought into the premise of the movie. In fact, of all the concepts that science fiction, comic books and the like that have touched with the idea of people out there with superhuman capabilities, I totally believe that governments around the world would want to use these people as simply put weapons. You'd have to be really naive to think that powers that be would love to have a soldier that has a 100% mission success rate, but never ever has to fire a gun. So "Push" has a good premise. "Push" even has good visuals when it comes to displaying people who can use their mind to move objects aka telekenises. I like the fact that those who are able to see the future don't just generically stand somewhere and spit out a bunch of banter, but rather they draw it out in a sketchbook which reminded me of the television series, "Heroes," just without the annoying over-acting. Speaking of acting, the cast is a decent grouping. You have every other pretty-boy Chris Evans, Dakota Fanning, who I have to say it's just crazy she's grown up, and "Mr. I Can Play Just About Anything" Djimon Honsu. Hell there's even Maggie Siff of "Sons Of Anarchy" fame. So it's not the kind of cast that would blow up Hollywood, but it's decent enough. So "Push" seems to have a lot going for it. Good premise, good visuals, decent cast...however...

...that is about where it starts and stops for "Push." The fact of the matter is, the movie felt like there wasn't enough of a story to it other than just what was needed to move it along the rail. It would've been nice if there was a bit more backstory than just what was explained in the opening sequence, which honestly is pretty predictable if you think about it. Perhaps the core of the story is meant to spread over into a second part of what has been the norm in Hollywood, a trilogy, which I don't know, I wouldn't be exactly offended, but wouldn't exactly get me giddy over it. Apparently there is a comic book mini-series that served as a prequel, though we know that most people will not even bother with it. I think that if this was approached as a television mini-series/full series and it retained the cast and the production values, it would be a worthy show to follow, though how many times have we all wished this or that movie was turned into a television show and vice-versa.

"Push" isn't a flat-out terrible movie, but if there was more fleshing out of the story to where it had a bit more depth, it would've made the premise work better, the cast look better and the visuals have more entertainment value.

The Weekend That Was

Bruno Is #1 In The Box Office - I haven't seen it yet. Readers of Critiqulous, how was it?

Sounders FC Beat First Place Houston - On one of the coolest goals ever, the bicycle kick goal. Courtesy of Patrick Ianni. You can see the goal by clicking the link at the start of this paragraph.

In other news, the Mariners go into the All-Star Break strong by taking the weekend series from the Texas Rangers. The Ultimate Fighting Championship celebrated a milestone by having it's 100th event and it crowned a brand new undisputed heavyweight champion in Brock Lesnar, despite from what I've read, everyone who attended the fight, hating Lesnar. Welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre (he's French-Canadian, btw) remained champion in what overall looked to be a very special night for the UFC.

Discovering Urban Soule

Every year around this time, my neighborhood West Seattle throws a street fair. It's your pretty typical street fair with food on a stick, a bunch of small businesses getting some extra exposure and doing special deals that you could only find with said street fair, as well as lots of live music. For the longest time, the big attraction for me about the West Seattle Street Fair was this local music store, Easy Street Records, having the mother of all sales.

Try $2 for a CD or 3 for $5.
Or $1 for vinyl or 12 for $10.

Now those prices reflect boxes upon boxes of old albums, but still for those prices, you'd be stupid to say no. With a little investment in the day and searching through said boxes, I've been able to find some classics as well as discover some music that I never would've heard of had it not been for the street fair. To list what I have found over the years of taking advantage of this sale would be a single post all by itself that will be way too long and really, I wouldn't remember half of what I bought over the years. However, some albums that stand out that I found through this sale are, "Straight Outta Compton" by the infamous N.W.A, "Paul's Botique" by the Beastie Boys, "Whoa, Nelly!" and "Folklore" by Nelly Furtado before she thought pairing up with Timbaland was a good idea, an advance copy of Ozomatli's "Street Signs," and discovering a band in the form of The Weather, "Calling Up My Bad Side," which to me sounds like Coldplay minus the annoying huge ego.

But the point of this post isn't to talk about an insanely great sale of music and what one can find with a little elbow grease and luck, no, this year, the first day of the West Seattle Street Fair yielded something more and something better than really cheap music. You might be wondering what could possibly be better than music that cheap?

How about quite possibly two of the coolest pieces of modern pop culture art.

That is correct, on the left is Brad Pitt as the character Tyler Durden from the movie "Fight Club," maybe you've heard of that movie. And on the right is John Turturro as The Jesus Quintana from the movie "The Big Lebowski." The contrast between the two is just striking. In the Tyler Durden piece, you have all of this stuff in the back happening, like a wealth of information, fitting given that the Tyler Durden character was the pinnacle of what any man wanted to be. Then you look at the Jesus Quintana one and the intensity is right there in front of you. Don't think bowlers can be some determined and focused individuals, let Jesus Quintana show you otherwise.

Now, who is responsible for creating such amazing artwork?

Try Urban Soule (pronounced like the word "soul").

She is a local artist and had a booth set up showcasing a lot of stencil art as well as some photography and other works. When I saw the Tyler Durden and The Jesus, I knew I just had to have them, and sure enough, they are mine. I had a small conversation with the artist and was told about her website where the rest of her works are on display. Much like I've said when I wrote about the shows by The Artifakt, I know what I like and I will make it a point to talk about it.

The work by Urban Soule, I like and I encourage anyone who like either or both of the works in the picture to check out her website. And if you happen to be in the Seattle area and can make it to West Seattle, go check out her booth and support your local artist.

Urban Soule (official website)
Urban Soule @ Etsy (official store)

This week has been an eventful one. Not the good kind of eventful one. It's never fun having to see a family member in the hospital, but hey it's life. Now that the week is over (thankfully), I can resume the normal activities here.

The Weekend That Was

Farewell Steve McNair - Really, this was shocking to hear over the 4th of July weekend.

"Ice Age: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs" Is #1 In The Box Office - Hang on, didn't the Ice Age happen after the dinosaurs were eradicated? Hm.

Roger Federer Wins An Unprecidented 15th Major Championship - As much as I rooting for Andy Roddick, this match was a straight up classic and battle of endurance. Congratulations Roger, well deserved.

The Seattle Mariners survived one of the toughest road trips in recent memory, going to Los Angeles, New York and then Boston and guess what, they came out with a winning record. For a team that was given very low expectations, they appear to be making noise. I approach it with cautious optimism but at the same time, this could be a very interesting season.

Game Review: "Eat Lead: The Return Of Matt Hazard"

The greatest action game hero makes his triumphant return to the consoles. Matt Hazard.

Wait, who?

In a complete and enjoyable parody to action games and videogames in general, "Eat Lead: The Return Of Matt Hazard," is about the return of one of the greatest action stars of all time. Of course, his return doesn't go as smoothly as he expected because someone is out to get him and will stop at nothing.

The game itself, in regards of gameplay and mechanics, is as straightforward as they get. It's an action game that doesn't try to innovate and really is just an average shooter. What makes "Eat Lead: The Return Of Matt Hazard" entertaining is the fact that it pokes fun at the things you'd expect in an action game, if not, videogames in general. For those familiar with gaming, a lot of times today when you start a new game, the opening parts have a tutorial for you to get the hang of. In "Eat Lead: The Return Of Matt Hazard," you get the same old tutorial, but Matt, wisecracks his way by saying, "I've been in this business for 20 years, you'd think I know how to fire a gun." Later in the game, there is a boss that is an ode/parody to Japanese RPG (role playing game) bosses and Matt complains about the fact that this partciular boss communicates by use of text boxes. It's this not taking itself seriously/fourth wall banter that made the game entertaining.

I do however have a couple complaints with the game. I think most shooters should have a lock-on feature along with manual aiming. In a lot of instances with shooters, firefights get really hectic and in this case, it would've been a nice feature to have. The other problem I had with the game was that some places were way too dark to see anything. You can imagine the problem this creates if you end up in a firefight, and struggle to see where all the threats are coming from. An argument could be made that there's nothing innovative about the game as it's just another shooter. I think that was the point being that the game was a parody of the shooter genre. Think of it like an action movie where you know the story is as predictable as they come, but you end up watching it because the action sequences and cheesy dialogue provides quick and easy entertainment for a few hours.

That is what "Eat Lead: The Return Of Matt Hazard" is. I would say this game is worthy a rental. You can wrap it up pretty quickly in a few hours and within those few hours, you get some decent fun. I would like it if Matt Hazard makes another "return" to continue the parody/fourth wall banter because that's something you don't see much in videogames.

Steve McNair: 1973 - 2009

Usually Fourth of July incident involve fireworks going awry and setting places on fire.
Then again, that can happen any day of the week, as can people dying.

Shocking news comes today in the world of the NFL as former Titans and Ravens quarterback Steve McNair was found dead today.

Reports are still coming in, but the word is that McNair suffered a gunshot wound to the head.

All I have to say is, wow.

McNair went to three NFL Pro Bowls, which is their all-star game. He shared the 1999 NFL MVP with Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning. And lastly, McNair took the Titans to a Super Bowl that unfortunately ended with the Titans falling short of attaining Super Bowl glory. For the longest time, McNair was the face of the franchise for the Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans.

Rest in peace Steve McNair.

Happy Canadian Wednesdays

Is it really July already? Wow.

BlackBerry Tour
The release date is now July 12. Just two weeks to go!

Seattle Sounders FC To Crush Portland
In about some 25 minutes, the Seattle Sounders FC will be playing in a third round game of the U.S. Open Cup against the Portland Timbers. It has no implication against the Sounders FC and their MLS record, however it is a rivalry game to a degree and in 2011, Portland will get a MLS team and with it comes a Seattle/Portland rivalry. Some are saying this is a preview of what the eventual Pacific Northwest rivalry will come to the MLS.

To the boys in rave green, crush, kill and destroy those chumps down south in Portland.

Do We Really Need This: "The Bodyguard" Remake?

For the sake of trying to come up with some new things to write about, here's another one. "Do We Really Need This" will for all intents and purposes be a short, soapbox-esque article where we chime in on possible projects going on in the world of entertainment. Namely, bad ideas for movie remakes. So here we go.

Apparently, Hugh Jackman and Miley Cyrus are getting ready to team up for a
new movie based loosely on "The Bodyguard." Tentatively titled "Personal
Security," Jackman will play a New York police detective hired to bodyguard a
spoiled teen heiress (Cyrus) after she receives a kidnap threat. - WorstPreviews

My initial reaction was that gee, you'd think Jackman for his next movie, would want to be something to wash away the stinker that was "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," but I guess not. My other reaction was that I'm sure a bunch of women who grew up in the 90s thinking the Kevin Costner/Whitney Houston movie was a classic are probably crying in agony...or into a pint of ice cream. Either way, I bet they were intrigued at first word of Jackman being involved, but all hopes and dreams went to hell when "Hannah Montana" was going to be in it too.

So it brings me to this. Do we really need a "loose" remake of "The Bodyguard?" No, because "The Bodyguard" itself wasn't a gem of cinema by any stretch of the imagination. However, if they were going to go with a full remake of "The Bodyguard," really Hollywood, you could do a whole lot better than Miley Cyrus. At least get someone that has shown some acting and singing ability.

Like Mandy Moore.

Here is the music video for that criminally catchy song "Good Girls Go Bad" by Cobra Starship and featuring "Gossip Girl," Leighton Meester. || Just Jared

09/08/2009. That is the premier of the second season of "Sons Of Anarchy." You best watch it or else Kurt Sutter will come rob you. || Sutter Ink

Jennifer posted creepy art. Great, I'll be sleeping with a nite lite tonight. || Awakened Aesthetic

The Weekend That Was

Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen Is Numero Uno In The Box Office - What, you were surprised?

The man in the picture to the left is Nate Jaqua. He plays for the Seattle Sounders FC and yesterday, he had a day on him. Jaqua scored two goals as the Sounders FC put the rout on Colorado Rapids to a tune of 3 to nil.

I have some interest in seeing "Public Enemies." How about you?

Quick Impressions: Billy Mays, Soccer & Microsoft Zune

Okay, just what in the blue hell is going on as of late? It seems like if you're a television personality of any form, your mortal life is not safe. Seriously, TV pitchman Billy Mays today?

The United States national team in soccer almost pulled off the mother of upsets by beating Brazil in the Confederations Cup. I say almost because while it looked to be nothing but the United States in the first half, Brazil reminded the world who they are and stormed back to beat the US by a score of 3 to 2. I have to wonder though, just imagine if the US won, what would happen? I bet you Brazil would've demanded that we return to them the Victoria's Secret Angels.

Now I don't have the Microsoft Zune. However it doesn't stop one from using the Microsoft Zune software, which I have to say is what Windows Media Player should've been years ago. Clean, streamlined and I think one of the neatest things I've seen in a long time is rather than just staring at your music library in the form of a list or some hypnotic visualization, the program can make a screen-filling collage of all of the album covers you have in your libary. Now that is pretty cool. See the screenshot below for yourself.

Whoever came up with that feature deserves a well-cooked steak. I still haven't gotten around to seeing what else the program can do, but I can see this feature alone being worth it for others.

Michael Jackson: 1958 - 2009

They say it comes in threes, but holy moses.

Michael Jackson suffered a heart attack this afternoon and died from it.

He was 50.

The self-proclaimed "King Of Pop," well what can one say that hasn't been said about Michael Jackson.

Pretty much born into the spotlight, no one can ever take away the fact that Jackson sold tickets and put on a show. It almost seemed like he would always have the world eating out of his hands. Then there was the entire child molestation thing and the subsequent bizarre behavior and combined with his star power, you could say that Michael Jackson had a mystique about him.

The video below is his song, "Rock With You." I always liked this song.

Michael Jackson |MTV Music

Farewell Michael.

Farrah Fawcett: 1947 - 2009

After a long and very public battle with cancer, Farrah Fawcett passed away this morning.

She was 62.

Most known for her apperance on the first season of "Charlie's Angels," Fawcett became a pop culture icon as well as a sex symbol because of this iconic poster.

Rest in peace Farrah.

Movie Review: "Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen"

Well here it is, if there was one summer blockbuster that had a beast of a hype machine parallel to J.J. Abrams' reboot of "Star Trek," it's probably this one.

This is the review of "Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen," and considering how much hype/venom there has been in the Michael Bay-directed film series, I think it calls for a special type of review.

So as an ode to the goofy comedy machine that is FOX News, my review will be done in the style of talking points.

Here we go.

MICHAEL BAY IS RAPING MY CHILDHOOD WITH THIS MOVIE! WHY OH WHY IS IT HIM!?!
That is one statement that has been said plenty of times on pretty much any and all message board, blog, etc. that mentions any single bit about the Bay-directed Transformers movies. Here's my problem with this overused and irrelevant phrase. Really, did Michael Bay, personally back in the days of your childhood do something that scarring? Did he come to your house and personally say that Santa Claus doesn't exist? Smashed all of your toys? The fact of the matter is, Hollywood does not hate Michael Bay. If he did, would he still be getting work? Of course Bay is not perfect, but if you lived through the 90s, you know that his movies are about big, over the top action sequences, a straight line of a story and mood lighting. Like it or not, Bay was the choice for this type of movie. What exactly type of movie is a Transformers movie? More on that later. But really, I believe all the bitching towards Michael Bay is straight up jealousy. Don't get me wrong, I too would be envious of a guy who has made it a career of creating movies where he gets to legally blow up things, work with attractive people and gets paid handsomely to do it. Were people thinking they were going to get a "serious" director like Michael Mann or Darren Arronofsky? Look at it this way, they could have given it to Uwe Bol.

THIS MOVIE IS TOTALLY INACCURATE! AND...THERE'S NO PLOT! AND...RAGE!
Okay, quick history lesson people. The "Transformers" franchise first started out as toys. As action figures. The makers, Hasbro decided that in order to make these toys fly off the shelves, they decided to create a cartoon show. Then subsequently a comic book series. So, let's recap: 1st- toys. 2nd- cartoon show. 3rd- comic books. That is how the "Transformers" franchise started out. Now as for the whole premise of them, it is simply this: giant robots from another planet that can transform into everyday vehicles and have had a feud for the longest of times and constantly beat the snot out of each other. That is all there is to the storyline and no amount of fan fiction/soapboxing will ever make them into an expose into the subconsciousness about how man is killing the planet and some other baloney like that. No people, it's giant robots beating the crap out of each other. Really we should be lucky that they even tied human beings into the movies, but then again, robots don't feel emotion, so without the humans, why else should we care, right? We all remember the cartoons, some way more than is suited for normal health and it's annoying that those that "remember it vividly" take such great offense to another person's retelling of a work of fiction. It's as if they were personally involved with Hasbro when the toys were introduced, which I have a fairly good hunch that maybe is true for oh about... 1% of people in the world. They even tell you in the credits with the phrase, "Based on the toys..." TOYS! people. If you are crying inaccuracy because that is not how you remembered playing with Transformers toys, well then you are just simply asking for way too much and I'm sure if Bay and executive producer Steven Speilberg wanted to consult you during the production process, they would have.

YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO HATE THIS MOVIE BECAUSE WE SAID IT'S BAD, SO THERE
The bottom line is, I, myself, I enjoyed "Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen." It is not going to be some epic drama. Never was meant to be. Consider the source material and if somehow, you managed to "Citizen Kane" out of it, well then, your imagination is way more active/vivid than mine. The second movie did it's purpose in that it continued along the story and uped the volume on the action sequences and property damage. In fact, just from the action sequences which were entertaining as hell, the visuals make it a pretty damn good movie. Is it going to win awards for "Best Picture?" Of course now, but from a technical standpoint, those were some pretty good special effects and those artists deserve credit, praise and the paychecks they got; just look at the scene when one of the most iconic Decepticons of all time, Devastator is constructed. "Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen" is the very definition of a summer blockbuster popcorn movie and the characteristics that come with it and being that it's a sequel, it lives up to what you'd expect in a sequel. If you're not familiar with the role of a sequel, it's supposed to continue the story and in the case of a sci-fi/action movie, improve upon the scenes from it's predecesor. That other trait of sequels surpassing the first movie, really is more of a status that a very, very small number of films have actually done without fail. This is not one of those movies and you shouldn't expect it. What you should expect from watching "Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen," is to be entertained for a solid couple of hours with a lot of colors and things going PEW! PEW! and don't forget the BOOM!

That is what "Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen" is and frankly and honestly, if you didn't like it because this and that was wrong or because Shia LeBouf is goofy or because Michael Bay smells bad or something along those lines, then perhaps movie watching is not an activity you should continue to do.

Wednesdays Are Transforming Days

Yes, I meant for the headline to be lame.

BlackBerry Tour
July 13th still remains to be the supposed release date. It's getting closer. Sure it may sound silly for me to get all this worked up/giddy over a phone, but hey, I'm a guy. We like things that are shiny and go BEEP-BEEP-BOOP. Heh, "boop."

A Tip Of The Hat To The US National Team
Let's face it. By all counts and measures, the USA had no business being in the Confederations Cup semi-final. But somehow they were there and even more baffling was that they beat #1 seed Spain. 2 to nil. That is not supposed to happen, but hey it did.

Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen To Entertain Me
Now this is going to be fun. I will be watching the follow-up to 2007's summer blockbuster tonight. According to movie critics and every holier than thou dork on a message board, I am supposed to hate this movie with the power of a thousand suns. My review of this movie will come later tonight, so we shall see.

Here's a misleading headline if there ever was one. || Just Jared

David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin have joined forces to make the next great epic, a movie about Facebook. I don't know yet if Brad Pitt and Martin Sheen have agreed to play as apps that are fun for the first ten minutes and then end up just clogging up space and you go, "Meh." || Entertainment Weekly

Doubt: The Videogame. No word what inputting the "Konami Code" does. || YouTube

Ed McMahon: 1923 - 2009

Long time right-hand man to Johnny Carson, Ed McMahon passed away last night at the age of 86.

Surely anyone who has watched TV at some point in their life has seen Ed McMahon. From being with Johnny Carosn for so long to becoming the spokesman of Publisher's Clearing House, Ed was an iconic television personality.

The video below is from an episode of "The Tonight Show," in which Carson questions and pokes fun at McMahon's drinking problem.

Rest in peace Ed.

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)