Review: Resident Evil Afterlife

Writing about this movie is going to be tough for me, mostly because I don't want to ruin the movie for anyone, so what this will be is a very vague review of the movie and I'll revisit the review in a week.

Alice continues in her efforts to take down the Umbrella Corporation with a little help from her friends.

Review: "Salt"

A CIA agent gets accused of being a Russian spy and is thrown into a load of trouble as she tries to clear her name without getting killed.

Review: "The Expendables"

A team of Mercenaries, headed up by Sylvester Stallone, are hired by a mysterious man to handle a problem on the fictional island of Valenia, in the Gulf of Mexico.

Review: "The Aristocrats"

"A father, a mother, and their two children walk into a talent agents office and say 'Have we got an act for you'..."

"The Aristocrats" is one of the oldest, and potentially one of the most vulgar jokes known to man, and in this documentary, named after the joke, you get the opportunity to hear a litany of vulgarities from many comedians, both famous and not quite famous, as well as being able to learn the history of the joke and hear many of it's variations. The way that the documentary is composed is through the weaving together of about 100 interviews, conducted by Penn Jillette and Paul Provenza over a period of years, resulting in 89 fantastic "fuck-filled" minutes.

Previously I said that the joke, and subsequently the film, is vulgar, and I mean that wholly and completely (not that it's something that matters to me, but it may matter to you). The documentary is composed of 75% cursing, 20% intelligible speech, and the rest is all gibberish. As vulgar as it is though I do love the joke, and I love being able to hear the different variations by some favorite comedians of mine as well as being able to hear other similar jokes as well. My favorite variations/interviews are those of Kevin Pollak, Sarah Silverman, Drew Carey, Gilbert Gottfried,  Billy the Mime, George Carlin, Billy Conolly, Andy Dick, Eric Mead and a few others.

If you like cursing, and comedic history then you will love this film, though I will say, for the last time, that this film is not for the faint of heart.

-JollyOldDro

Review: "Quigley Down Under"

At first glance "Quigley Down Under" is just a fun western, a fun western with a little killing and a basic love story. When actually examined though, "Quigley Down Under" is a social commentary on race relations in 1870's Australia between the aboriginal peoples and the none aboriginal ones. That, in my opinion, coupled with the western elements makes this a great film.

In the film Matthew Quigley (Tom Selleck), the world's most exceptional long distance shooter, travels from to the Australian outback in order to keep dingos of the property of a British land owner named Elliot Marsten (Alan Rickman). After he arrives, and dines with Marsten though, he discovers that the seemingly sane Marsten wants Quigley to kill all the aboriginal people who try to come onto his land. When Quigley hears this he proceeds to defenestrate Marsten, subsequently leading to Marsten's flunkies beating him unconscious. A woman named Cora, who we later find out is a little "off", is also beaten unconscious for trying to defend Quigley and the he two are taken deep into the Outback where they are to be left to the elements. From that moment on Quigley takes it upon himself to "take care" of Marsten so that the innocent Aboriginal peoples in the area will no longer need to fear him.

In the film there are various scenes depicting Marsten's men driving aboriginal people off of cliffs, as if they are all animals, and while these scenes are a bit gruesome, I feel they are completely necessary to the film. The strength of these scenes, as well as different peoples' reaction to the acts depicted, strengthens the morally "off" aspect of the film. I say this because, what is being shown is how things really were in that time period, and though the film does not cover every aspect of the relationship between aboriginal and non-aboriginal Australians, it does show you how they weren't considered human beings beings on par with non-aboriginal Australians, being seen more objects to be kept on thrown away at one's leisure.

Long story short, I believe that this is a great film, when looked at as more than just a western, and that anyone that wants to watch a mostly serious film about the Australian outback should check this out. A similar film, that was a bit more on the lighter side, is Australia starring Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman.

-JollyOldDro

KONG

Needless to say, many people did not enjoy the most recent adaptation of King Kong, starring Jack Black and Adrien Brody. Personally I found the visual effects striking, but that's beside the point, this is not a review, this is however a post to express my excitement about the new King Kong 3D ride. Until recently I had not planned to go and partake in the ride's 3D goodness, until I saw this, a commercial for the ride:



After watching this video, and subsequently jizzing, very hardly, in my pants, a feeling of complete excitement slowly fell over me. The fact that the video for this ride evoked that emotion in me is pretty rare, mostly because I am not a fan of waiting in lines, or people, so I usually never bother with amusement parks, but now I feel I may have to.

-JollyOldDro

Tycho's Top Five

I would like to introduce a new recurring segment to our blog, Tycho's Top Five. No restrictions, just 5 new things I find interesting or entertaining, and I hope you will too. Let me know if you like it!

Apple just opened an impressive new retail store in Paris, France. Not surprisingly, the design is gorgeous. But why can't they make them this nice in America? Check out more pictures here.

Some bad news for all my fellow James-Bond-in-the-form-of-Daniel-Craig fans. Earlier this week, MGM announced that they have indefinitely suspended development of James Bond 23, which was originally supposed to be release this year. Let's hope another studio decides to pick it up! Thanks to Celebuzz for the heads up.

If you haven't seen the "iPhone 4 vs. EVO 4G" animated videos yet, you've been missing out. No matter if you're an Apple fan or hater, they are simply hilarious (watch here). As it turned out, they were created by a 25-year-old Best Buy employee, who has been under investigation by his employer for "...openly disparaging our employees, our customers and our vendor partners." Looks like they have cleared him of any wrongdoing and invited him back to work this week, but should he go back? What would you do?

Meet the World's New Fastest Car: the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport. Not only is it unmatched on the track, but it's smooth aesthetics are some of the best on the market. You can take a detailed tour of the car on the Bugatti website.

Fantastic Fotoshoot of the Day: "The Last Colony" by Andrew McConnel. As a photographer, you know you're doing something right when your pictures can evoke people's emotions. This set does just that. The combination of such beautiful modeling, environment, and outstanding lighting really set these pictures on another level. View the rest of the set at The Photography Post.

-Tycho

The Twilight Movies are so bad they are now killing people...

Police are treating the death of a 23-year-old man at a Wellington cinema last night as unexplained but not suspicious.

The body of the man was found in a movie theatre at the Reading complex on Courtenay Place by a staff member shortly before 8.30pm last night, said police. The theatre had been screening The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.

[Continue Reading]

-JollyOldDro

Review: "Les Vacances de M. Hulot"

While reading about one of my favorite directors, Wes Anderson, I saw an article that said that he had been influenced by the cinematic style of Jacques Tati, specifically the films in which he portrays the blundering, pipe-toting “Monsieur Hulot”. Naturally, seeing that one of my cinematic heroes was influenced by the “M. Hulot” movies, I had to watch them, starting with the first one made, “Le Vacances de M. Hulot” (Mr. Hulot’s Holiday).

“Les Vacances de M. Hulot”, which is shot entirely in black and white, contains almost no spoken dialogue, most of the actual speaking that is heard is pretty much all in the background which adds an extra challenge because the film has to rely entirely on the acting to explain what is happening. The film starts out with various scenes in which many of the film’s characters are all taking various modes of transportation to reach the French town where they will all be spending their autumn vacation. The titular character, M. Hulot (Tati), is also seen in these initial scenes, driving through the French countryside in his jalopy and being driven off the road by people in faster, and newer cars, as well as experiencing car trouble. From the second I saw the initial “Hulot” scenes, before even meeting the character, or even seeing him, I got a feeling of how the entire movie would play out, and I got excited, because these scenes revealed to me that the film would be quite a playful one, and it was.

Through the entire film we get a front seat to watch all the happenings at L’Hôtel de Plage and the surrounding areas of the beach side town of Saint-Marc-sur-Mer, witnessing the hilarious interactions M. Hulot has with the people, in the town, as well as witnessing the interesting interactions the have with themselves.

Apart from M. Hulot, who was played fantastically by Jacques Tati, another one of my favorite characters in this film is the wandering man, played by René Lacourt. I loved the character of the wandering man because he, unlike every other character in the film, witnesses almost everything that happens or is caused by M. Hulot, as opposed to just seeing the aftermath, which is all that the other characters were exposed to. Being the older and quiet man he is, the wandering man, as opposed to revealing to the other characters what is going on, says nothing and just finds entertainment in watching the situations that M. Hulot gets himself into.

As can be deduced from my previous statements I liked this film, it would even be safe to say that I loved it. It is a fantastic and whimsical tale of a funny man, in a more classic sense, and his daily life. Any person who is a fan of Mr. Bean would absolutely love this this film, because the Mr. Bean films were inspired by those of M. Hulot. Anyone that is a fan of a more classic and physical type of comedy reminiscent of the styles of Laurel&Hardy, The Three Stooges, or even Abbot&Costello would also love this movie.

-JollyOldDro