You.. he said… she… STRESS! *blink* British humor about a small IT department that lives in the basement? Really? “Hello, IT, have you tried turning it off and on? You have? Is it plugged in? *pause* Yeah, you’re welcome.” *click* Did I mention the melodramatic goth that’s behind the red door? No? Wow. :) Cradle of Filth, indeed. Five stars!
Second season! Yes! When did the furniture in the office start changing every episode? Death of the big boss, taken over by his even crazier son. I think I’ve worked for some of these people. :) Is Reynholm Industries hiring? I’ll jump across the pond to join this IT team. Five stars!
Tag Archives: Reviews
The Prophecy: Uprising and The Prophecy 5: Forsaken
Without the fifth movie, the fourth simply isn’t worth the time to watch it. At the end, I wanted my 88 minutes back. 90% setup, 10% depressing conclusion. There wasn’t even a climax in this movie. It’s like I turned on the vacuum while I was watching the movie… sucking was happening all the way through. The only thing that earned this movie its second star was the acting. There’s only so much you can do when you’re handed a bucket of poop labeled “Script”, and these guys did it.
This one is a sequel to the fourth movie. Neither of them really belong in the Prophecy franchise. Blessedly, this one was only 75 minutes of suckage. The dark angel Stark, played by the same dude that shows up in every horror movie EVAR, was easily defeated by paper. I was reminded of the aliens that were burned by water in Signs… just ridiculous. Once again, two stars due to mostly good acting. All in all, do yourself a favor and avoid these movies.
ORLY?
Cannot partition a hard drive, in Linux, that’s mounted. Duhr. On a completely unrelated note:
Aradia: Or Gospel of the Witches by Charles Godfrey Leland
My review
rating: 1 of 5 stars
There’s a problem with 19th century religious studies texts is the blatant “my research is better, and oh by the way, read this other work I’ve written.” Not only that, he admits that he’s rewritten a lot of the translated texts, to keep with his “feeling” of what the “intent” of the Italian was. His bias is basically shoveled into the work.
I have to admit that there’s some useful stuff in there, but I can’t really recommend it.
GoodReads – Goblin War
My review
rating: 4 of 5 stars
Jim Hines closes off the trilogy with another winner. The tone is changed in this one, of necessity. When it comes to getting in trouble, Jig has nowhere to go but up. Oh, and he does.
I kept imagining a God slap-fest every time Jig’s deity started explaining how the pantheons worked. I found myself chuckling and laughing throughout the entire thing, which earned me plenty of quizzical glances from my wife.
If you like the funny, read these books!
Last Temptation
Last Temptation by Neil Gaiman
My review
rating: 4 of 5 stars
I had been familiar with the idea of concept albums, but I’d never read a graphic novel based off of one. I’m a ridiculous Neil Gaiman fan, and was impressed to see that he helped Alice Cooper with the concept of the album. This graphic novel is just the icing on the cake. He pulls off the dark theatre/dark carnival story very well, keeps the preaching to a minimum, and worked with a great artist. I would definitely recommend this one.
Goodreads review
Dark Tower: The Long Road Home by Stephen King
My review
rating: 4 of 5 stars
This continues the fantastic first few issues. The artwork is amazingly detailed, and the story is well adapted. Each place they come upon makes me want to know all of the details and history behind them… the Citgo fields, the psychic enhancer, Maerlyn’s orbs… I can’t wait to read the next installment!
Time Bandits, The Prophecy 2, Ghost Rider, The Prophecy 3, and The Animatrix
Take the Princess Bride, put it in a blender with Monty Python’s Quest for the Holy Grail, drop in a couple of doses of your favorite hallucinogen, and you’ve got this movie. There’s quite a few cameos by Monty Python players, as well as (I think) some famous British actors from the 80’s. It was in
If you’re going to start the movie by having a nurse hit somebody with a car, and then follow up with an angel sex scene, do it up right. No, seriously. Neither the accident nor the scrumping are gratuitous. They’re integral to the plot, and that made me happy. The sequel keeps the same fast pace that the first had, complete with kicking angels out of hell, and discovering that humanity has paved over Eden (in California, of course) and turned it into an oil refinery. Mr. Walken gives another amazing performance as Gabriel. Creepy with class. Four stars.
“This is how legends are born.” Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it’s that time. It’s time for one of Aidan’s favorite movies! Nearly every morning, when he’s gotten up, when he’s done with his cereal, I hear him say, “Daddy, I watch Ghost Rider.” or “Daddy, Ghost Rider now please.” Though, to be accurate, it sounds more like “gho riyer”. I think that the mispronunciation might be an integral part of his cute beam design. Ah, but I digress. We’re talking about a comic book movie.
I generally like comic book movies. It should also be noted that I’ve never read the Ghost Rider comic, and never really had much inclination to. Dude with flaming head on a motorcycle. And? Anyway, every review I’d ever heard or read about this said that it was full of suck. I’d have to agree, when it comes to the villain named Blackheart. There is one scene in the entire movie in which the actor does not do his best to embody suck. Through and through. For those that have seen the movie, it’s the scene where Johnny Blaze has just fully become flaming skull head guy. He actually emotes and gestures and convinces me that he -is- the character in that one scene. He fails at every single other scene. And then there’s Nicholas Cage, who very nearly graduated from the Kevin Costner school of acting. Two stars.
I don’t usually expect the main character to get shot to death at the beginning of a movie. By a blind man. Who is carrying a bible. And yet, it worked perfectly for this movie. Christopher Walken, playing a now-human Gabriel, plays a more humble and learning angel than in the past. Hell couldn’t temper him, but humanity somehow has. The ending left a LOT to be desired. There was such a build up about the angel, whose name meant light, that stayed on Earth after the first war in heaven. The climax was weak, and the resolution seemed too easy. However, the epilogue scenes were amazing. Three stars.
I’d always thought that this compilation of animations had been released between the first Matrix movie and Reloaded. It turns out, according to IMDB, that it was released between Reloaded and Revolutions. That’s three releases in a single year, which was four years after the first movie. It’s safe to say that I now know where all of the good animation went that was missing in Reloaded. All of the skillful CGI was sucked out like a Ross Perot description of the economy, and shunted into the Animatrix.
I think again, like I did when I’d seen this for the first time, that this should have been essential viewing material when it comes to the Matrix storyline, not optional “add-on” animation. For all those that complained about a lack of depth in the second and third movies, these animations may have filled in the gaps. Like the chapter introductions in a fantasy novel, these shorts would have divided the second two movies up nicely. I rated this one five stars when I joined Netflix, and I’m going to have to continue that rating.
Ice Age, Cars, and The Prophecy
When a two year old loves a movie, it gets watched. A lot. Over and over. As a consequence, I can quote a great deal of Ice Age. I have to say that my opinion has risen, as well. The Tae Kwon Dodos crack me up every time. Zeke the sabertoothed tiger steals the show from the other sabers, and the non-speaking humans (Neanderthals?) show an amazing amount of heart. “Hey, Lord of the Flame, your tail’s on fire.” Four stars out of five.
Another of Aidan’s favorites. I had mostly dismissed these CGI movies out of hand, like most kids’ movies. This one had character development, plot progression, and I actually cared about what was going on. Of course, I’ve seen this one about a trillion and one times, as well. “This might be a bad time, but you owe me thirty-four thousand dollars in legal fees. Uh-huh.” Heh. Four stars out of five.
This one has nothing to do with Aidan. No, really. I think I saw this one for the first time back when I was seventeen and working for Blockbuster. My memory of it was hazy, but I had a favorable impression of it. So, I added -all- of the Prophecy movies to my queue. Overkill? Perhaps. But that’s how I do things. :) Anyway, this one was as good as I remembered it, if not better. Christopher Walken as Gabriel, constantly referring to humans as “talking monkeys”, and needing them for “talking monkey things”. It was dated, sure, and setup was sacrificed for pace, but that didn’t seem to detract from my ability to suspend disbelief. Five stars out of five.