Thursday, July 31, 2008

Gathering Geeks - Episode 11

Gathering Geeks - Episode 11 - Cesare 2.0

http://onegeekandamicrophone.com/

Download here - http://media.libsyn.com/media/og/gg0011a.mp3

In this episode we discuss:

Sirius and XM merge

Microsoft's Mojave "Experiment"

an accidental peak into the iPhone factory

Steve's health....is it a public issue?

Scrabulous gets pulled

The OpenID coalition

More focus on the Wii

Another Bill Gates retrospective

Caesar Gets Better....Soon

Ted Stevens indicted, anyone need a dump truck?


Links to these stories and more on our Del.icio.us page

This Week’s Movie Picks-
"The Rocketeer", "Fast Times at Ridgemont High", "The Breakfast Club" and "Sixteen Candles"

Rent these movies and many more, and take half off your first month of service when you visit onegeekandamicrophone.com/blockbuster

Check out Patrick every week, Live Sundays at 7 PM EST on talkshoe.com. Also, check out Film reviews and other geeky stuff at filmgeeksshow.blogspot.com

Check out CK’s Sound Check, Live Thursday’s at 9:30 EST, for more info visit check12check12.com

We are taking a week off, we'll see you Aug. 15!

Special thanks to Derek K. Miller, who provided our theme song "Hotcake Syrup".

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Film Geeks - Episode 24 Is Up

EPISODE24 - Creature Feature Geeksure
Episode Notes: The geeks discuss the new X-Files movie, review an older Hellboy 2, and come up with their top 10 creatures from the cinemas they've seen. You're invited on a whimsical, splendiferious, gore fest, and creep factor ride that will make you soil yourself...but only by a little.

***We apologize for the quality of sound. Talkshoe had been slapping us around for weeks now and I believe we are going to record the show on Skype (if you want to join, download Skype and add username "agentx216" and we'll post the show up at Talkshoe still. This is redicious that Talkshoe has gotten this bad and we want to give you a better quality show because we feel we can add a lot of good content to your movie going experience. Too bad some of that is hampered by Talkshoe's ineffecutleness to provide a decent service to its users.***

Direct link - http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-14391/TS-134994.mp3

Link to this episode and others - http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/14391

Movie News

http://movies.yahoo.com/mv/news/va/20080727/121719073700.html
Batman news - still not even close to Titanic. Come on guys, take vengence on the girls from middle school and high school who dragged you to see that movie 7 times in a row.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080727/ap_on_en_mo/comic_con_terminator_salvation

Arnold might have an appearance in Terminator 4 and other T4 news

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20213067_20213068_20214910,00.html

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog info

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Comic-Con-Sam-Raimi-Planning-Evil-Dead-4-9644.html

Evil Dead 4 - hopefully it'll be done classic Campbell/Raimi style and not current Raimi style

http://geeksofdoom.com/2008/07/19/boondock-saints-2-plot-details-production-diary/
Boondock Saints 2 - News

X-Files - I Want To Believe
- Go into it with the expectation of watching a longer version of the TV show, not a blockbuster movie
- Fox sabatoged this film with no press
- It's not an alien ladened conspiracy film but a decent thriller with a hint of creepy and paranormal thrown in
- Muder and Scully are what you expect after 5ish years of being gone
- No Dogget or Reis - good, Skinner shows up - also good
- The major flaw is that it focuses too much Mulder and Scully and is just a tad too light on the story
- Billy Connolly has a great part in the film
- How did Xzibit get in this
- The great soundtrack X-Files is known for was non-existent
- Grade - B-

Hell Boy II - The Golden Army
- Better than the first
- The visuals are stunning and it's great to see that not every little thing is animated
- Troll market is the highlight of visuals
- Ron Perlman has gotten into his role even better
- Doug Jones shows his limberness even more in this and does the voice of Abe instead of David Hyde Peirce, kind of weird at first. They also tap him to play The Chamberlain and The Angel of Death
- Seth MacFarlane is the voice of Johann Krauss
- A lot of things in this movie are very mechanical and yet still fluid
- The cheesey singing part was awesome
- Gives Abe and Liz more action sequences, Selma Blair looking hot
- Luke Goss who plays the Prince is a good action star
- Would like to see a third movie
- Grade - B+

Top 10 - Creatures (Not Human)

10) Giant Ants - Them!



















9) Klowns - Killer Klowns From Outer Space












8) Gollum - Lord Of The Rings















7) Godzilla - Godzilla movies















6) The Thing - John Carpetner's The Thing













5) The Shark - Jaws movies














4) Medusa, the Kraken, or just about anything Ray Harryhousen does


























3) Predator - Predator















2) Zombies and Deadites - George Romero series and Evil Dead series

























1) Alien - Alien series













*Briney added
- T-Rex - Jurassic Park











- Gremlins - Gremlins series












- Jabba, the Rankcor, and other Star Wars creatures






















Top 5 Worst
5) Chucky - Child's Play Series












4) The Leprechaun - Leprechaun series













3) Mole People - The Mole People













2) Gamera "he's a friend to children" - Gamera series

















1) Shrews - The Killer Shrews













*Briney added
- The Scorpion King - Mummy 2

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Chaos Theory - Review

Chaos Theory

Yes, I am a fan of Ryan Reynolds. He usually plays a swave and slick young chap who has a heart of gold for everyone he meets. His character's lives are usually lackadaisical but filled with excitement that makes you want that kind of life. To take an old adage, women love him and men want to be him. I am one of those guys. His characters are wrought with what I think cool is. He's not a jerk to anyone and he's got some of the best lines around.

I say "usually" because the character he plays in this movie antithesis of the characters he usually plays.

Frank Allen (Ryan Reynolds) plans his life using a series of lists. Everything he ever does is structured and plotted before it's done. His wife (Emily Mortimer) and daughter (Matreya Fedor) are the love of his life, but his wife makes his structured life hard one day by accidentally setting the clock ten minutes back making him late for his ferry. This little moment upsets Frank's life as he knows it. What Frank goes through after this small hiccup in his routine causes him to question not only how he is running his life but also the love he has for his wife, his friends, and even the daughter he's been raising.

Grade - C+

This really isn't the kind of role I usually see Reynolds in, and while I'm not one to say that a person should stick to one type of character, this one seems drastically different than the ones he tends to play. No one is really bad in this movie, but the writing could have been a bit tighter. The message of the story is that sometimes, you've just got to go where life takes you and hold on to your friends and family for support. Yet, coming away from this movie does not make me feel as if I need to reexamine my life to see what changes I could make. Also, the story is kind of slow paced and not told as well as it could have been.

For example, one of Frank's friends, Buddy (Stuart Townsend) is suppose to be there to show Frank what a wonderful life he does have, even though he hasn't planned all the things that has happened to him out. Yet, the character gets tossed back and forth from the jerk to the friend haphazardly that you can miss the point of who he is and what he's trying to do.

Overall, this isn't a bad picture and I'd even sit through it again. However, I'll look forward to Reynold's playing the slick guy with the great lines again.

Friday, July 25, 2008

Two For One Friday At Gathering Geeks

Gathering Geeks : Episode 10 - Huck it, or Chuck it?

Direct link here - http://media.libsyn.com/media/og/gg0010.mp3

Or go to One Geek Network here - http://onegeekandamicrophone.com/

In this episode we discuss:

"Man on the Street 101"

Talking about the ol' Shoe

MobileMe's issues

CK's new gear

This Week’s Movie Picks-
"They Live," "The Muppet Christmas Carol", "Spaceballs", "The Muppet Christmas Carol" and "Office Space"

Rent these movie and many more, and take half off your first month of service when you visit onegeekandamicrophone.com/blockbuster

Check out Patrick every week, Live Sundays at 7 PM EST on talkshoe.com. Also, check out Film reviews and other geeky stuff at filmgeeksshow.blogspot.com

Check out CK’s Sound Check, Live Thursday’s at 9:30 EST, for more info visit check12check12.com

Special thanks to Derek K. Miller, who provided our theme song "Hotcake Syrup".

Thursday, July 24, 2008

New Episode Of Gathering Geeks - Number 9

From - http://onegeekandamicrophone.com/

Gathering Geeks : Episode 9 - Drinkin' The Kool-Aid

Download the show here

Show news links

Eric joins us to talk about his new iPhone 3G-Hit or miss?

A few news stories from this week

This Week’s Movie Pick- Right at Your Door

Rent this movie and many more, and take half off your first month of service when you visit onegeekandamicrophone.com/blockbuster

Special thanks to Eric for stopping by the show this week. You can find him Sundays at 9:30pm ET, on Cutting Through: Final Cut Studio LIVE

Check out Patrick every week, Live Sundays at 7 PM EST on talkshoe.com. Also, check out Film reviews and other geeky stuff at filmgeeksshow.blogspot.com

Check out CK’s Sound Check, Live Thursday’s at 9:30 EST, for more info visit check12check12.com

Special thanks to Derek K. Miller, who provided our theme song "Hotcake Syrup".

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Film Geeks - Batman Show Notes

CAUTION: CONTAINS SPOILERS!

Title: EPISODE23 - I Am Batman! Geek Translation - My Mom Made Me This CostumeTime:

Episode Notes: We discuss the Dark Knight. Does it live up to the hype? Is this a Batman movie or a Joker movie? Is Batman even a Superhero?

All our shows can be downloaded here - http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/14391

This is the actual Episode 23 - http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-14391/TS-132572.mp3


Show Notes:


Batman – The Dark Knight

http://movies.yahoo.com/mv/news/ap/20080720/121658682000.html

Earning $155.34 million in a weekend, beating out Spider-Man 3. It made close to $65 million on opening day.

Before the movie

  • Mostly saw and heard this was “the Joker’s movie”
  • Possible Oscar nod for Heath Ledger

Trailers

Plot

  • Batman and Detective Gordon try and take down the mob. They must learn whether or not they can trust new DA Harvey Dent. Meanwhile, a character calling himself The Joker, with clown make up and a few facial scars that makes him appear to have a big smile, throws a wrench into everyone’s plans.
  • A multidimensional plot
  • A bit of storyline for everyone
  • The Joker is a big character but he doesn’t dominate it all
  • Batman did seem pretty light in the movie

Actors

  • Christian Bale brings his greatness and it’s refreshing to see an actor ok with having about equal time being behind a mask as he is as his alter ego, unlike other superhero movies
  • Michael Cane is great as always. I don’t know how to feel about this Alfred. This one appears to cross the line of butler more often and seems more boss-like than servant/helper-like.
  • Gary Oldman is fun to once again see him not play a homicidal maniac. He plays a great Jim Gordon.
  • Aaron Eckheart is a good Harvey Dent. Not sure about the courtroom punch scene. His Two-Face turn seems a little rushed (even considering this is a 2.5 hour movie). It’s nice to see a Two-Face that looks more real but there really wasn’t that split personality that Two-Face is known for. I still think they can bring him back. They could have him not really die but have him locked up in Arkum or whatever.
  • Maggie Gyllenhall is lovely as always. If she was in “Brokeback Mountain” I would have thought about seeing it. It’s nice to see her take the role for herself rather than playing it with the lackluster that Katie Holmes did.
  • Morgan Freeman has a bigger part this time and is more charming than what he was in “Wanted”.
  • Heath Ledger – what can I say? He’s great and he steals the show. The best Joker ever. All the mannerisms and just everything is perfect for what I envision the Joker to be. Just a little sad that Harley Quinn wasn’t in it, even as a cameo.
  • WTF?! – Detective Ramirez was bad? Where was Bullock? Anthony Michael Hall has a weird cameo. The Scarecrow is in one scene.

Visuals And Action

  • Practical effects should be used all the time. Do audiences respond more to real things and are put into the movie more rather than saying, “Wow, that almost looks real.” Or “Wow, look at those effects!”?
  • The Bat-cycle looks like it could break if Batman even thought about shifting his weight. When it climbs the wall and turns over, my audience was very impressed.
  • This movie seemed a bit light on Batman hitting people.
  • The mood was done well in every scene. The movie was not afraid to hide things in the dark or use darkness as part of the mood.

Grade - A from both geeks. Maybe an A+ with another viewing.

Saturday, July 19, 2008

A New Movie Review

My friends, if one day your children are sitting on your lap and they stare up at you with eyes of wonder and amazement and ask in the way only a child could ask, "Did internet movie critic Patrick really look out for his fans?" You can look down at your young offspring, pat the little one on the head with your hands that make the child's head look like an orange in size. After wiping away the single tear that forms and pools in the corner of your eye, you can clear your throat and with just a hint of hoarseness to it reply, "My child, make no mistake about it. Patrick was flawed. He sometimes had bad taste. He even liked some movies no one in their right mind should. However, you asked if he looked out of us? Son/Daughter, let me tell you, that internet movie critic did not only look out for us...he did more than that. He stood on the precipice of destruction for us. He looked into the bowels of Hell, and even though he was scared, he fought the worst of us to save the best of us. He saw what vile and loathsome acts we carried out on each other. He endured what few could. He was the beacon of hope, all alone in the dark. Yes, my child, internet movie critic Patrick found a way to endure the worst...and lived to tell us about it."


Glitter

It's really sad to say that I have watched this movie. So it stands to reason that it's even sadder to admit to actually owning this movie. Sometimes being a fan of bad movies makes you realize how far down you will go in order to be what you need to be.

I really did think about stealing this movie. However, images conjured up in my head about having to explain the reasoning behind my incarceration to friends, family, potential employers, and "Dale" the 350 pound Aryan Brotherhood convict who just got arrested for hacking up his entire family and then sitting down and finishing his salisbury steak. He would either laugh at me and tell me it was "Spoonin' time" or he'd say, "GUARD, GET ME OUT OF HERE! THIS GUY'S CRAZY!"

It's sad I'm going to have to go through the entire rigmarole of explaining the plot and actors in here. Luckily, for me, there isn't much of either to make it too long winded.

Mariah Carey plays a talented singer who comes up from nothing and is lavished in the music world after her talents are discovered. Unfortunately, she is too hot to NOT be taken advantaged of based off her looks more than her singing talent. Believe it or not, this is not a bio-pic. Ya, and Apocalypse Now was sooooo far off of what some soldiers went through in Vietnam. Anywho, Billie Frank, that's Careys character's name, must choose what she wants out of her career. The hard choice she has to make? Her explotive boyfriend manager who treats her like crap and exploits her and her body or her singing career where she has the talent to make a bajillion dollars. Because Billie is such an idiot, she actually has to take up a good deal of the movie thinking this through. I use the term "thinking" loosely.

Alright, that's all I'm going to cover with the plot since I've probably soiled your mind enough already. There are other actors in this who supposedly advance the plot like an always douchebag, Terrance Howard, and Da Brat who, I think, her friends call her "Da".

Also to add to your hate list is director Vondie Curtis-Hall who I am awefully ashamed to say, directed one episode of Firefly. Well I guess, it's the nature of the "biz" - you first have to direct a few pornos before you direct "Godfather". Also, this movie took two writers to make it suck, Cheryl L. West and Kate Lanier, who did the screenplay.

Grade - F

Please tell me you weren't surprised at that. I could surprise you and say there is one good thing about the whole movie...and I will tell you what that is...later.

Let's first talk about the *hard swallow* acting. Mariah Carey has a lovely singing voice. When she's not out of her head psycho (e.g., talking and not singing) she has a lovely voice. She needs to stick with her one good strength and just stay there...forever. Sometimes you hear critics call lackluster actors "two dimentional" which means that seem flat and have no life in their characters. I think Carey someone portrays "one dimentional" acting. She is a single dot on the Cartesian plain of acting ability. If this movie was a musical she could have had a chance to work her way up to a "two dimentional" actress. I really wonder if she really even read the script. Let us assume, and this is ONLY an assumption, that she picked to do this movie because it was her bio-pic. The movie's plot involves being real to yourself, following your dream, and not let you and your body be exploited for corporate gain........MS. CAREY, DO WE NOT NOTICE THE INACCURANCIES HERE?! For the gorgeous singer who has been known to wear bandanas as shirts and be "Ms. Diva" you'd think she would reexamine her lifestyle. It is my contention that Mariah Carey is, in fact, a robot. A robot controled by aliens to see how much power they can get from a really hot, talented singer. Stupid aliens, yes, but I can't rightfully say what happens if I met Ms. Carey and she was wearing a bandana for a shirt.

Carey acts flakey and with no energy whatsoever. She reads her lines like a senior with one day left of classes in high school sounds like when he's picked on to read "Wuthering Heights" in front of the class. I would hate to see what would happen if she ended up smoking weed. Her lethargic demeanor might create a black hole of dispair and the Goth community might have something to come together and worship other than at the alter of Tim Burton.

Da Brat and Tia Texada seemed to be picked to play Billie's friends because they are Mariah Carey's friends. Are we sure this isn't a bio-pic? Terrance Howard has that same effeminate quality about him that tells me I'd see more action come from him hangling at the potery barn than I would seeing him throw down as a sleezeball manager. Max Beesley, Mariah's love interest co-star, is someone I don't know whether the movie wants me to like, to hate, or to not care if my dog lifts his leg on him.

It should salso be noted as a point of trivia that this movie came out shortly after the events of September 11, 2001. Showing that bad things usually happen in 3's. 9/11 being one, the release of "Glitter" being another, and this movie making $4.3 million. I might have to blame $4 million of that on people being in utter shock after 9/11 and just needed something, ANYTHING, to escape real life even for a little while. The other 0.3 million I'm going to have to go with Mariah's friends and family, a few gay people, and the seedy over 50 sex offender crowd. I'll still leave room for people who I have no clue why the went.

Now let me tell you the one good thing about this movie. Not since "Wild Things" has their been a movie worthy of the title of "Masterbetorium Theater". A supposed message in this film is about Billie's explotiation using her looks and body. Yet, before and after learning her lesson, Mariah Carey doesn't try to dress down or classier. If I was 12 when I saw this movie I would have learned quickly about those "funny feelings" I had a lot quicker. With movies, there's always suppose to be some big message we, the audience, are suppose to relate to our own lives and take away from the movie. So it's funny when this movie's "independent woman" character "learns her lesson" about sexplotation of her talent that it just throws out that lesson right after it's learned. I'm serious, watch the scene where she's filing her photoshoot/music video and how she doesn't want to dress like a slut and not five minutes later she has on an outfit with a plunging neckline that has its own plunging neckline and tight enough that you could teach biology off her. The sad thing is, she'd probably get a lot more kids to pay attention, especially the young males.

Could this movie have been better? I don't think so. I don't think Mariah Carey's life is that important or motivating enough to warrent her own picture. Sure, she's got a great voice, but he hypocracy alone throws your head in a spin. If you are going to watch this movie, and I suggest you not eat for 6-12 hours before viewing, go over to Rifftrax.com and for $2.99 you can keep your sanity with the Rifftrax version of Glitter - http://rifftrax.com/rifftrax/glitter . It's the safest way I can guarentee your safety.

Someday, I wish to test my will again and view this movie for a second time, but that time won't be for a while. There are a few things I would rather do than watch this movie.

1) I would rather jump naked into a pool filled with razor blade and broken glass and find that blasted needle that was in the haystack.
2) I would rather test the theory that sharks are repelled by a swimmer swimming in a lot of blood.
3) I would rather clean the soars of leporacy and ebola patients until there is a cure for both.
4) I would rather watch Carrot Top work out in all but a thong and bronzer.
5) I would rather watch "Spice World"

...well okay...maybe not number 5.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Show Notes For Film Geeks Episode 22

Episode 22 - The Geeks Show Their Nerdy Side - http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/14391

http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-14391/TS-131454.mp3

http://defamer.com/398417/where-the-wild-things-are-gets-new-release-date-never
Where The Wild Things Are - more money...more time

http://chud.com/articles/articles/15511/1/IT039S-ALWAYS-DARKEST-BEFORE-THE-RED-DAWN/Page1.html
Red Dawn remake

http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_popmachine/2008/07/the-high-tech-r.html
WarGames re-release and sequal

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JboQmDIdKWs&eurl=http://www.ctrlaltdel-online.com/index.php
- Max Payne Trailer

Movie Geeks

Good
- Hackers - Jonny Lee Miller - Dade Murphy / 'Crash Override' / 'Zero Cool'
Angelina Jolie - Kate Libby / 'Acid Burn'
Matthew Lillard - Emmanuel Goldstein / 'Cereal Killer'
Laurence Mason - Paul Cook / 'Lord Nikon'
Others
- UHF - Weird Al Yankovic - George Newman
- Revenge Of The Nerds - Robert Carradine - Louis Skolnick
Anthony Edwards - Gilbert Lowell
Others
- High Fidelity - John Cusack - Rob Gordon
- Charlie Bartlett - Anton Yelchin - Charlie Bartlett
- War Games - Matthew Broderick - David Lightman
- Back To The Future - Christopher Lloyd - Dr. Emmett Brown
- Clerks - Brian O'Halloran - Dante Hicks
Jeff Anderson - Randal Graves
- Donnie Darko - Jake Gyllenhaal - Donnie Darko
- Office Space - Ron Livingston - Peter Gibbons
David Herman - Michael Bolton
Ajay Naidu - Samir Nagheenanajar
- Pi - Sean Gullette - Maximillian Cohen
- Searching For Bobby Fisher - Max Pomeranc - Josh Waitzkin
- The 40 Year Old Virgin - Steve Carell - Andy Stitzer
- Takedown/Freedom Downtime - Kevin Mitnick
- Galaxy Quest - The "not Star Trek" nerds
- Ghostbusters 1 + 2 - The Ghostbusters
- Grandma's Boy - Everyone
- Juno - Ellen Page - Juno MacGuff
- The Mask - Jim Carrey - Stanley Ipkiss
- Me, Myself, And Irene -
Anthony Anderson - Jamaal Baileygates
Mongo Brownlee - Lee Harvey Baileygates
Jerod Mixon - Shonte Jr. Baileygates
- Rocket Science - Reece Thompson - Hal Hefner
- Sneakers - Everyone
- Stargate - James Spader - Dr. Daniel Jackson
- Stranger Than Fiction - Will Ferrell - Harold Crick
- Weird Science - Anthony Michael Hall - Gary Wallace
Ilan Mitchell-Smith - Wyatt Donnelly

Bad
- Antitrust - Ryan Phillippe - Milo Hoffman
- Toxic Avenger - Mark Torgl - Melvin Junko
- The Core - DJ Qualls - Theodore Donald 'Rat' Finch
- Fantastic Four - Ioan Gruffudd - Reed Richards
- Film Geek - Melik Malkasian - Scotty Pelk
- Napoleon Dynamite - Everyone in the movie
- Swordfish - Hugh Jackman - Stanley Jobson
- The New Guy - DJ Qualls - Dizzy Harrison
- Italian Job (2003) - Seth Green - Lyle
- Rushmore - Jason Schwartzman - Max Fischer
- She's All That - Rachael Leigh Cook - Laney Boggs
- The Conversation - Gene Hackman - Harry Caul
- Real Genius - Everyone
- Superman III - Richard Pryor - Gus Gorman
- The Net - Sandra Bullock - Angela Bennett

Fillers Characters
- Die Hard 4 - Kevin Smith - Warlock
- Mission Impossible 3 - Simon Pegg - Benji
- Enemy Of The State - Jack Black - Fiedler
- Goldeneye - Alan Cumming - Boris Grishenko

Got anymore to add? Leave us your list under the comments section on this post!

Friday, July 11, 2008

Episode 8 Of Gathering Geeks

Gathering Geeks : Episode 8 - The EnPhyscopedia's

http://media.libsyn.com/media/og/gg0008.mp3

In this episode we discuss:

The long-awaited iPhone 3G

Chaz's AppleTV issues

Why Rogers Sucks

This Week’s Movie Pick- Pirates Of Silicon Valley

Check out Chaz's page, One Geek and a Microphone, for a bunch of other cool podcasts and information. -

Check out CK’s Sound Check, Live Thursday’s at 9:30 EST, for more info visit check12check12.com

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Show Notes For Film Geeks Episode 21

Other episodes of Film Geeks can be found here - http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/14391

Title: EPISODE21 - Animated, Action Geeks
Episode Notes: We take off a week and then start again this week covering Pixar's new flick Wall-E, Hancock, and Wanted. It's a triple feature! Tune In, Tune On, Geek Out.

http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-14391/TS-130326.mp3


Wall-E

- Animation had some good and bad parts
- Good - great use of film "flaws" (shaky cam and unfocus); Earth look is great and carries outt the "dirty feel" well and space has a real crisp look to it.
- Bad - not all of it looked animated and it appeared to change animation styles at time.
- Use of live action scene was a nice added touch
- Over-consumerism and extreme environmentalism was ALMOST over pushed (not as bad as "Happy Feet" though)
- It's definitely a cute movie with cute characters
- Appealed to a wide range of people who viewed the movie - a real knock out for Hollywood demographers
- Briney says the dust was well animated
- How did these blobous people have kids? What kind of robots were used to do that?! (only Film Geeks asks the hard question!)
- Patrick believes that Toy Story is still the best Pixar.

Grade - A-

Wanted

- Timur Bekmambetov is an excellent director and I am really excited to see what else he will do in the States. He will definitely give Michael Bay a run for his money!
- Lots of great humor - especially involving the main character quitting his job...and a keyboard
- Some really awesome gun play - almost rivals that of "Equilibrium"...almost
- James McAvoy was good and I'm excited to see what else he will do. He's almost the anti-hero version of Shia LaBeou.
- Morgan Freeman seems like he's out of place in this role. He doesn't seem to pull it off well.
- Angelina Jolie brings in some of her Laura Croft and definately the sexiness but nothing new; might appeal to strong female fans.
- The "loom of fate" was stupid and different from the comics
- Nice use of narration - just enough to add to the storyline (kind of Fight Club-like)
- A few nice twists - some are cheesy, others are good
- A real fun movie - a typical action/gun play movie but that's not always a bad thing and it's great counter programing to "Wall-E". "Tired of cute robots? Want to see a lot of bullets and blood?! Check out "WANTED"!!!"

Grade - B-

Hancock

- Definately not as bad as some of the critics have made it out to be.
- Good visuals and they don't use them a whole lot and in every scene
- Jason Bateman steals the show for me.
- Charlize Theron's character is not explained at all, seems random and appears to have been just thrown in there in a re-write. Could have been better without her or with her just being suspicious of Hancock possibly letting down her husband.
- Really wanted to see a few more crime fighting scenes - either with Hancock still screwed up or trying to redeam himself. Also wanted to see more funny scenes in the jail.
- I don't really understand why Hancock trusted Bateman's character so quickly.
- Smith doesn't knock this one out of the park like he wanted to. Maybe he's more known for doing dramatic roles instead of these action packed roles now?
- Too much was shown in the third movie trailer released and some scenes in the trailer were even taken out (Hancock dragging the prisoners in the chain gang)

Grade - C+

Friday, July 4, 2008

New Episode Of Gathering Geeks

My apologies to all the fans who haven't seen any updates in the past week. We've taken a break this past week from Film Geeks, but not to worry! Our new episode will feature a triple feature of movies including "Wall-E", "Wanted", and "Handcock". So join us at 7pm EST at Talkshoe.

Also, because of massive computer trouble on my end, I haven't been able to get online to do more movie reviews. That will change soon as well, so bookmark the site, subscribe via RSS, or tell 50 friends to remind you to check out the site each day. Remember...only you can prevent forest fires.

I have been able to get a hold of the new Gathering Geeks episode featuring myself (Patrick), CK from Sound Check, and Chaz from One Geek And A Microphone. Enjoy this episode...I also hear the lost episode is going to be released soon....shhhhh.

Gathering Geeks : Episode 7 - Her Name was R.I.A.A.

In this episode we discuss:

Bill Gates retires

Why is Microsoft Hated?

Will Yahoo Survive?

The R.I.A.A. and it’s methods

Commercial Radio

DRM Hell

What is “Fair Use”?

The iPhone a “conspiracy”?

This Week’s Movie Pick- Charlie Bartlet