NYC Bomb Scare.

As most of you know, there was a potentially lethal bomb scare Saturday in times square. There are a few things that I find interesting about this but this will be a short post. Just trying to show some insight on my side and some possible leads.

1. I was in NYC this Saturday cruising around the Tribeca Film Festival with some friends (NO I did not see any films as I'm sure Adrian will point out down bellow in comments). I left at around 5:30 and this scare happened about an hour later. If I had been there an hour later I would have been stuck because Grand Central Station is right buy there. So that's interesting.

2. The "bomb" was right near the Viacom building. What's interesting about this is that there were recent death threats towards Viacom because they own South Park. The death threats came in from Muslim Extremists for South Park depicted Muhammad in a comical way which, as everyone knows, is a big no-no. Whether this is any relation is only speculatory but it IS fascinating (to me anyway).

3. I do not think the bomb was by any sort of terrorist group only because of how amateurish the bomb was. This kind of proves point 2.

Anyway, that's all. Be safe. Kisses.

Martin.

Geekdom: Avengers director!!! (hopefully?)

Being a huge fan of things like Firefly, Serenity, and Dr. Horrible's Singalong Blog, it is no mystery that I am a huge fan of everything Joss Whedon. It was mentioned a while back that he may be directing the new Avengers movie. I didn't really hope on this because Whedon doesn't really have the recognized talent he deserves among Hollywood. But thank God, because he is in final negotiations to direct the new superhero team up, The Avengers!

Joyous day! Watch Firefly (there are only about nine episodes) then watch its film Serenity and you can see that he is a very capable director of film/tv shows specializing in an ensemble cast, action, and heart. He is the perfect choice for a film I now have high hopes for.

But who knows, because of the unreliability of Hollywood, this may change tomorrow. Let's hope it doesn't

Martin.

PS: You can watch Firefly and Dr. Horrible on Hulu.com. Go. Now.

Movie Review: How to Train Your Dragon

Now...this sentence may shock you...but I absolutely LOVED this film.

Everything just works here: the voice acting, the amazing animation, the right use of 3d, the good story, and the endearing message. Believe me, it surprises me too for Dreamworks has never been Pixar good, dribbling out films like the Shrek sequels, Sinbad, the Cat in the Hat, Shark Tale, and Madagascar. Recently however, they have shown promise in 2008's Kung Fu Panda, which I thought was awesome. I'm glad to see that they're putting effort and love into their films now and that they're finally a contender with the Pixar giant (not that I have anything against Pixar).

One of the deciding factors for an animated film is the voice acting and here, it is of the highest order. Our lead character (adorably named Hiccup) is voiced by the awkward comedic actor Jay Baruchel who works well in his role. His friends are voiced by America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Christopher "Mclovin" Mintz Plasse, and Kristen Wiig. The only other main characters are Hiccup's father played by Gerard Butler and the dragon slaying coach voiced by talk show host Craig Ferguson. They both surprised me in how good they were in their characters. Butler surprised me because normally I can't stand the man. Ferguson because he is not an actor, but he was lively and great. They all play Scottish vikings so you'd think that the young Americans would detract from the viewing but it is not the case only because the plot is so engaging.

You would also think that you would be able to predict what would happen but you don't really think about it because you care so much about the characters and the plot. Hiccup is a scrawny, useless, teenager in a town of large, fearless vikings. He really wants to be who is father is and to please him but it's just not who it is. He wants to be someone he's not which is sad but rewarding when he finds himself at the end of the film. The relationships with his father and his "friends" are sad but engaging throughout the film and the confrontations he has with his father are real. But it is not all sad sub context the film is also funny and full of heart especially in the relationship between Hiccup and the dragon he befriends who he names Toothless.

I didn't review Avatar because it took a long time for me to see it in the Imax and I thought I should only review it if I saw it in its meant to be seen form. The 3d looked good yes but I preferred the 3d in Dragon more because a. it wasn't distracting b. you could tell what was going on and c. Dragon has better things going on, on the screen. The animation really is terrific from the texture of the dragons/landscape to the detail on the characters. I found myself saying out loud, "That looks SO good!" Aloud in the theater.


I can't recomend this enough, in 3d of course, and I look forward to what DreamWorks will put out in the future.

Martin.

Giggles: Dogs are fucking hilarious!...right...

Owen Wilson is a likable guy. I've enjoyed his stuff with Wes Anderson, some of his comedies, and he just seems like an all around good dude. After his unfortunate suicide attempt a few summers ago, I was ready to see him back on the screen. Only, he chooses to spend his efforts on fucking dog movies, such as Marley and Me.

First of all, shouldn't be Marley and I? Just a thought. Anyway, this summer he will be voicing the Great Dane Marmaduke, from the popular comic.
You can check out that trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXXzwy7lDtI

I'll wait...Done? Did you see the hilarious Hispanic stereotype dog voiced by the unfunny George Lopez? Did you see the female stereotype voiced by Fergie? Did you see the cringing dance sequence? The bad acting by William H. Macy/live action cast? The fucking surfing scene?!
It's not like dogs have been a strict land animal for hundreds of years and making them surf is pretty inhumane, someone call the ASPCA.

Dog movies suck.
Dogs, rule.

Martin.

Movie Review: Alice in Wonderland isn't Alice in Wonderland.

I had faith in Mr. Burton (being Tim), and his creativity. Even though I told myself that his "reimaginings"/remakes are always shit (Planet of the Apes, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), I still had faith that maybe, just maybe, this would be good. After all, Alice in Wonderland was the movie he was made to make. And yet, he wasted this opportunity, and turned it into a complete waste. Alice is a waste of talent, time, money, and the chance to recreate the classic tale with the actors and technology we have today.

The fact of the matter (hatter) is that it's not Alice in Wonderland, despite being called and advertised as such. This story involves Alice returning to Wonderland. Oh wait, sorry, UNDERLAND. Yeah. In this fucking movie they call it UNDERLAND. WHY.
Apparently, Alice, took a journey there when she was younger and went through the classic story as told by the fantastic animated Disney film. I don't know, because she's stupid I guess, she thought it was called Wonderland. It's not. It's called Underland. Stupid.

Anyway, there's convoluted junk about destiny and such and blah blah which is fine, because they already screwed up the story. The major thing I have issues about is how it slanders the story and characters. The biggest crime here being Johnny Depp's interpretation of the Mad Hatter. It wasn't the Mad Hatter. It wasn't. It was some weird, Jack Sparrow, Scottish, creepy, sword-wielding, asshole. NONE of those things have ANYTHING to do with the character. The point of the character is this: he is a hat maker who has serious mental illness and is so wrapped up in what his only world and what he's saying that he's incapable of relating and dealing with people. The stuff he says makes sense to him and he's just simply mad. In this, he is an inconsistent mess that's weird in all the wrong ways and not Mad enough. The Mad Hatter SHOULD NEVER fight Crispin Glover with a huge sword in a battle. He should stick to drinking half cups of tea and making hats.

The only performances I enjoyed were those of Alice (Mia Wasikowska), the Cheshire Cat (Stephen Fry), the Caterpillar (Alan Rickman), and the Red Queen (Helen Bonham Carter). Others like Anne Hathaway's White Queen (who can put in a good performance) and Crispin Glover were strange and boring.

The one thing I think about when it comes to Alice is color and a sense of awe. We don't get either. Alice goes to Wonder-sorry-Underland and just shrugs it off and thinks it's a dream. This isn't the actresses fault, as I stated I enjoyed her, it's the script that needed work. We also don't get color. Because of the story, the Red Queen has taken over and everything's barren and such. Which makes sense. But it never once looks like Wonderland, everything has a gray shade to it. Yes, occasionally it's nice to look at, but you're so confused (not in a good way) and bewildered about the choices the actors and the director are making that it detracts from the visuals.

Alright, these next points are nitpicking (I guess) but they severely took away from my experience. The first, is after the ridiculous battle, the Mad Hatter does something so out of character, out of the setting and time frame (being based in the 1800s), and just...fucking ridiculous. Basically, the Mad Hatter breakdances.
...

...

...Oh, no I'm not kidding. The Mad Hatter breakdances. That sentence makes me cringe.

The second point is that of the Jabberwocky. It's supposed to be a terrifying creature, and yet looks like a Chinese dragon shown on the New Year and it shoots purple lighting out of it's mouth. I'm serious. Another complaint is that they got Christopher Lee to voice it. This would be amazing. If the Jabberwocky had more than one line. They spent money and Mr. Lee's time for him to say one line. You have one of the greatest sounding voices at your disposal, and you give him one fucking line? Bullshit.

That's all I have to say.
That was bullshit.
Underland.
Fuckerland.
-Martin.

Haiti.

Sorry for the lack of posts but this is important.

If you like this silly Blog or if you don't (that's fine too), please make this the most important/relevant post you read because in the grand scheme of things, movie reviews and Geeky culture aren't important. Lives are.

As I'm sure you know, Haiti, has been struck by a 7.0 earthquake. An earthquake of a 7.0 impact is the most catastrophic earthquake event that could happen. And the worst possible earthquake has happened in the worst possible place a 7.0 earthquake could occur: the poorest nation on the western hemisphere, Haiti.

Now I'm sure you care and I'm sure you've been hit over the head with donation pleas but you must realize the importance of you, an individual, and your impact to a country holding thousands of individuals who are homeless, poor, hungry, and dying.

Please, donate as much as you can to any organization. Anything helps.

xo
Martin.

Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody. R.I.P

*I'm aware he died days before this post, I started it and never finished it*
The title of this post is the last two lines of the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, a book that changed the way I read books and the way I look at the people in my life. Required for my freshmen English class, Catcher, profoundly moved me. I read it at a strange time in my life. A time where I had just entered High School and started to feel the woes of adolescence. A character who I identified with and cared for was Holden Caulfield, the "protagonist" of Catcher. The book quickly became one of my favorites and pushed me even further into wanting to pursue my own written endeavors.

The author of one of my favorite books, J.D. Salinger, has passed on.

Rest in peace Mr. Salinger.

silence.