NMR: Whiteout

What could have been a cool mystery thriller turned out to be one moronic movie. Based on a graphic novel, the film stars Kate Beckinsale as a marshal in Antarctica who has to deal with the first murder ever on the continent. You would think that the artic setting would provide a cool backdrop for the film, but here it's merely used to create cinematic shortcuts. In the film's climatic battle between Beckinsale and the killer, it's impossible to see who's doing what because there's snow blowing everywhere and the two individuals are completely bundled up in winter clothes. While you can't see the action, you certainly can see the plot twists coming a mile away. I was calling them out loud way before they occured as I watched this film. I've never read the source material for this movie, but I have to believe it's way better than what was served up here. Then again, maybe I'm so sick of snow in real life I had a bias against this film from the start (Somehow I don't think that is the case though). Grade: C-

Italians in space

News hit this week that Nintendo is moving forward with a sequel to their hugely popular Super Mario Galaxy game, titled appropriately enough, Super Mario Galaxy 2. Below you can check out the first trailer for the game. It looks like a whole lot more of the same (only with Yoshi this time), but that's not necessarily a bad thing in this case, considering how good the first game was. I can't help but be a little dismayed that they've chosen to do this instead of a new Mario Party game, but I guess I'll just have to remain patient for that title.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 Nintendo Wii Trailer - Nintendo Summit 2010: Trailer

NMR: Four Christmases

I won't waste too much time on a review for this one because it was pretty dreadful. The idea of a couple having to endure four seperate Christmases with various relatives could have worked, but the film had such a negative tone that it was a complete put-off. I didn't buy into Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon as a couple who detested spending time with relatives. I also thought it was a stretch for us to believe that there were all of these secrets about the two protagonists that they didn't know about each other until they encountered their relatives. The mean streak of the film, the lack of decent jokes and the absence of anything truly Christmas-y about it (they could have just called it Four Thanksgivings) made this one a dud all around. A definite recommend to skip here. Rating: **

Adios crapola

I'm a little late on sharing this with all of you, but I still wanted to tell everyone my great news: Last Saturday, I finally got a new car!! After dealing with that piece of shit Toyota Corolla for the past nine years (the thing never ran well despite me only putting 69,000 miles on it), I finally had enough and decided to get something new. I was fortunate to find a great deal on a 2010 Honda Accord. It may not be ultra high-end car, but to me I'm not driving in the life of luxury. An image of my new wheels is below.

Delusions of grandeur

Every year it always seems like there is two films which seem exactly alike (Volcano/Dante's Peak, Deep Impact/Armageddon, etc.). Well this year it appear the theme is people playing superheroes without any powers. Below are the trailers Kick-Ass and Defendor, respectively. Both play with elements that interest me, but if I had to choose, I think Defendor's trailer has me more interested in seeing it than Kick-Ass. What's your take?

NMR: Drawing power

Here's a pair of recent animated films I've been able to catch:

Family Guy presents: Something, Something, Something Dark Side: After Family Guy's success at lampooning Star Wars with Blue Harvest, they decided to go another round, this time taking on The Empire Strikes Back. Your appreciation of this will depend solely on whether or not you enjoy the series in general. For fans of Family Guy, there's once again plenty here to laugh at. The fact that this was put on DVD instead of TV also gave them the freedom to be even more crass, but they don't go overboard. It was fun seeing who they chose to play the film's characters (Some were inspired like the Giant Chicken playing Boba Fett, but some fell flat like the rarely seen Carl playing Yoda). Most of the jokes work and some are downright brilliant (like Brian/Chewbacca's commentary on Mort/Lando wearing Han's clothes at the end of the film). A definite must for FG fans and a complete pass for everyone else. Rating: *****

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs: Based on a 30 page children's book, this computer animated film ends up biting off more than it can chew. While the basic premise is a lot of fun, the film ends up focusing too much on spectacle and not enough on character development. Perhaps I'm being a bit too harsh on a film that's aimed at kids, but I would have preferred had they spent more time allowing us to get to know the characters and less on an elaborate rescue mission once the machine that's causing food to rain from the sky goes haywire. What works in this film is the voice acting which includes a nice mix of comedic talent (Bill Hader and Anna Faris play the leads) along with some veteran actors (like James Caan) to give the film some credibility. I found myself laughing quite a bit (for some reason I really enjoyed the Baby Brent character, voiced by Andy Samberg). In the end, however, this is another film which shows why Pixar's films are head and shoulders above everyone else in this genre. Kids will no doubt love this film. For everyone else, you can probably give it a pass. Grade: C+

Manager and Salesman deleted scenes

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Who will survive? Apparently not the Survivor Series

Here's a quote from Vince McMahon yesterday regarding the Survivor Series, one of the original big four PPVs created back in 1987.

We think that Survivor Series is obsolete, as far as that title is concerned. It was something that worked many, many years ago, in terms of a creative standpoint, various teams competing. That really is not advantageous as the consumer now looks as what actually they are buying. And it's such a broad ... Survivor Series yes, many years ago, was one of the original four pay-per-views, but it's outlasted its usage and it is one of the things in terms of rebranding, this year and going forward, that will be rebranded. No longer will we have that title, Survivor Series.

This comes after PPV buyrates for the fourth quarter were revealed showing that the Survivor Series had less buys this year in comparison to the previous year, while all the other off month shows that had changed to those gimmick PPVs (Bragging Rights, Hell in a Cell, etc.) had gone up.

This is depressing for several reasons. First, I hate to see the end of one of the big four, especially that show since I loved the original concept for the show. While it hasn't been booked very well in recent years, I still believe the concept could work. Second, that buyrate data is not only disappointing, but I believe misleading. A show featuring multiple Hell in a Cell matches sounds appealing, but was terrible in its execution. Plus there was two PPVs in October, people could have been tapped out financially, resulting in many people not buying the Survivor Series in November. This is just a bad business move all around and indicates the WWE is heading in the absolute wrong direction with how to present PPV shows.

Play together, break alone

Here's the latest trailer for Pixar's highly anticipated sequel, Toy Story 3.

NMR: The Hurt Locker

I typically don't go for the war films, but considering this is the movie that everyone seems to think has the best chance of beating Avatar at this year's Oscars, I figured I would see what all the hubbub was about.

The film centers primarily around a group of U.S. soldiers in Iraq who are responsible for finding bombs and disarming them. Naturally, this provides the film with several tense moments. And a lot of credit goes to Kathryn Bigelow for creating a wonderful sense of anxiety in these moments. She gives each scene a sense of realism without overdoing it on the melodrama. I would have absolutely no problem with her winning for Best Director (which would be unique because a) a woman has never won that award before and b) her ex-husband is James Cameron).

Another refreshing aspect of this film is that it takes a very apolitical stance. This isn't some conservative propaganda film nor is it filled with a bunch of liberal sermonizing. It's an honest look at the tremendous dangers that our soldiers still face while fighting overseas. For that reason, I enjoyed this film a lot better than some of the other recent movies that have dealt with this subject.

However, I cannot completely endorse this film for the simple fact that the environment that this film takes place in is so foreign and unengaging to me. I cannot understand why anyone would put themselves at risk like that, nor can I fathom why anyone would prefer living like that than at home with a family, which we see in the lead character, William James (played by Jeremy Renner). I felt uncomfortable and sad throughout most of the film.

I applaud the craftsmanship of the film, but I can safely say that I'll never watch it again. If you're enjoy checking out each year's Best Picture contenders, then I would certainly suggest you seek this one out. However, if you typically don't care for films about the Iraq War, then I doubt you'll want to see this one either. Grade: B

Tech wars

I don't know if this will be for everyone, but I found it interesting and wanted to share it. It's a student made video that attempts to parody The Office while commenting on how instructors use (or don't use) technology in their classroom. I think the video only moderately succeeds at being a parody and social commentary, but it does provoke some good debate on the topic; a topic that I'm thoroughly interested in. Feel free to share your own thoughts on it as well.

NMR: When good comics go bad

Here's a pair of films featuring a couple of funny guys trying to do some serious business.

Big Fan: This film stars Patton Oswalt (The King of Queens) as a huge New York Giants fan, who has a chance encounter with his favorite player and ends up getting assaulted by him. Being the huge Giants fan that he is, he refuses to press charges in fear of hurting the team. This is billed as a dark comedy, but I failed to really see the humor in any of it. This is a bleak, albeit fairly realistic examination into the level of fanaticism displayed by certain people. I thought the acting was solid here, but the story was fairly empty. I would have preferred an exploration of this issue beyond the protagonists' perspective, but we never get it. It tries so hard to give a tragically ironic finish, yet it lands more with a dull thud than with any reverberance. Grade: C

Taking Woodstock: Here we have Demitri Martin (who you should definitely see in his weekly show on Comedy Central) playing a dramatic role in Ang Lee's drama about the organization of Woodstock. I didn't think it was possible, but somehow a film about Woodstock was made without featuring one performance. Instead, we get a lot of broad, unfunny characters running in and out of the film without any true insight as to why they're being included here. The only one that receives any depth is Martin's character, but I found him to be completely unengaging. Eugene Levy brightens things up but he disappears far too quickly from the film. This felt like I was on one bad trip and I was just waiting for the buzz to wear off. Definite recommendation to avoid. Grade: D+

My two ads

Without a horse in the race for this year's Super Bowl (as is usually the case, thank you very much Cleveland Browns), I didn't really care too much about the game. That left me with the Super Bowl ads, which this year I thought were fairly disappointing. Not a lot jumped out at me as being particularly memorable. However there were a couple of bright spots...

Chevy Chase seems to be everywhere these days, but it was nice to see him reprising one of his classic roles, Clark Griswold in this ad for homeaway.com

There's actually an extended version of the commercial, a mini-movie of sorts, which you can also check out here.

However, my favorite spot came early in the night with this Snickers ad featuring Betty White. Even at her advanced age, she can still go and be just as hilarious as any of today's funny ladies.

By the way, if you're interested, there's currently a petition floating around Facebook trying to get Betty White to be a host on SNL. I think this is a fantastic idea, so add your name to the list and let's hope it comes to fruition!

NMR: Surrogates

Hopefully the movies reviews are going to keep coming in at a regular pace. If you're unfamiliar with this movie, it was a sci-fi flick starring Bruce Willis that came out last fall. Based on the trailers it appeared to be a mix of The Matrix and I, Robot. While that was true from a plot perspective, this movie fails to reach any of the intellectual highs that those films had.

The story centers around most people using robots to do their daily functions while everyone controls them from the comforts of their own home. When a cop (played by Bruce Willis wearing a variety of laughable wigs) discovers that someone can be killed as a result of their surrogate robot being destroyed, he investigates who's behind it before the entire population is put in danger.

The film initiates a lot of interesting questions, both technological and philosophical, but never really explores them. At under 90 minutes, the film barely has enough time to get any action in, let alone delve into the significance of the world it has created. The film does provide some comic relief, however it appears to be more of the unintentional kind. Most of it comes from Ving Rhames playing a radical leader who's trying to end the usage of surrogates. Despite wearing dreadlocked hair and a bushy beard, it's still clear it is Rhames, which makes it difficult to take anything the character says seriously.

Surrogates is a fun diversion, but nothing more. It wouldn't have been worth a recommendation in theaters, but is harmless enough to be enjoyed on the small screen. If you enjoy Willis or the sci-fi genre, this is probably worht a rental. Grade: C+

Speaking of Bruce Willis...

Here's a new trailer for his upcoming film Cop Out, co-starring Tracy Morgan. This one is a red band trailer and whole hell of lot funnier than the original one that was released. Check it out for yourself:

NMR: Zombieland

I have so many other movie review yet to do, but I just saw this one and figured I would do a quick write-up for it instead since it's still fresh in my head. As most probably now, the zombie genre is not one that I'm particularly fond of. Yet, for whatever reason, the trailer for this film really captured my attention, so I thought I would give it a try. Turns out my instincts were right as this is a very fun film.

The premise is simple enough, Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg are two of the few remaining humans left on a planet inhabited by zombies. On their way to seeking sanctuary from the flesh craving monsters, they come across a pair of sisters (played by Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin) and team up as they head to an amusement park that they believe is zombie-free.

While the main characters are engaging and funny, the real delight of this film comes from a cameo by a well-known actor. The surprise is too good to reveal here, so I'll keep mum. Just trust me that this person's appearance is worth the price of admission alone.

Oddly enough, my largest complaint about the film is that it had a few too many dead spots, which certainly isn't good when the film is only an hour and half long. I was expecting a more consistent level of thrills and scares. Instead, the film moseys along and takes time to ponder the meaning of life in between blowing off the heads of the living dead. Even with the lulls, the films has enough to easily make me recommend it for a rental. I'm also hopeful that a sequel will be in the works that will up the ante from this one. Grade: B

The island is not done with us yet

So Lost finally made it's big return this past week and, not surprisingly, I'm just as confused as ever, but in a good way. The two hour premiere packed a whole lot in it that will probably take a couple more viewings for me to figure it all out. We certainly got a fair share of answers (What happened to Cindy and the kids, the Man in Black is also Smokey, what was in the guitar case), but also a new slew of questions(What did Juliet mean by 'it worked', how did Sayid survive, what the hell is going on with these 'flash sideways'). It was also cool to see so many past characters return (Leslie Arzt, Boone, the marshal, Frogurt!)

I could spend days discussing everything, but I did want to give a special shout out to Terry O'Quinn, who is doing some of his best acting work recently. Portraying the menacing Man in Black, while also displaying the kind, vulnerable Locke in these flash sideways has been quite impressive.

Lastly, check out this video showing the opening scene from season 1 side by side with the way the season opened this year. There are some key differences between the two that I'm sure everyone will be deciphering from now until the series ends in a couple of months.