I recently went on a quick trip to Vegas for work – in on Wednesday out on the “red-eye” on Friday evening. The show was great and I managed to get in a little bit of time at the tables which was nice as well. In preparation for my trip, I loaded up the iPod with quite a few flicks to make sure that I’d have plenty to keep me busy on the trip and associated layovers. I do have a couple of WrestleMania shows for The WrestleMania Project but I typically tend to take a lot of notes during those shows so I was looking for more of a “kick back and enjoy” experience. So… without further adieu.
NOTE: THIS WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS. YOU’VE BEEN WARNED.
G.I. Joe: The Movie (1987)
Special thanks to my buddy Shawn Prior for hooking me up with this one. As I said on my twitter feed, “The first 4 minutes of GI Joe the animated movie are some of the best in movie history.” I hadn’t actually planned on watching this whole flick, but when you’ve got a 2 hour flight, followed by a 2 hour layover and then a 4 hour flight, shit happens. This flick follows our favorite characters and introduces us to quite a few new ones. Like most cartoon franchises in the 80’s, G.I. Joe was all about moving product off the shelves and this was a great way to introduce these new characters. I won’t go into a plot review here other than to say that Cobra finds itself a new Allie in the form of the organic Cobra La. There are quite a few purists out there that absolutely hate this movie, but I’ve always really enjoyed it. My one big complaint is how they killed Cobra Commander. He’s always been one of my favorite characters and for him to go out like that kind of pissed me off. But then again look what happened to Fett. If you’re a fan of the franchise I’m sure you’ve already seen this one, but if not you definitely need to.
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009)
I’ve already reviewed this movie previously so I won’t go into a whole lot of detail here. After watching the 87/animated version I figured I’d stay in the Joe frame of mind and watch the updated version. I can say that I agree with my thoughts from my original review. This is a very entertaining action movie that’s not NEARLY as bad as some of the haters out there would lead you to believe.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
Being such a bit Potter fan I’m shocked that it’s taken me this long to get to this one (especially since it’s one of my favorite books in the series). That said, this one is decidedly “so so”. My fears that there were too much going on in the book to translate onto screen were realized as I found myself time and time again going “huh?” As with any novel turned flick, it’s difficult sometimes to give the movie audience enough background so they can follow the action. There were quite a few times here where if I hadn’t read the book I’d have NO IDEA what was going on. And while the movie house probably assumes that viewers have read the books there are at least a few out there that haven’t… and they’d be lost. I was very happy with the treatment of Dumbledore’s death but would have liked to have seen his funeral and the battle that ensued as shown in the book. I can only assume those events will be shown in the forthcoming movies. As with the books, the story is getting better and better as the movies go on and the movies are LOOKING better and better as we move forward. I can certainly see why this one made nearly a billion dollars and simply cannot wait for the next Potter flick.
Fanboys (2009)
Seeing as I’m a bit of a fanboy myself this one has been on my radar for quite a while. This is essentially a road trip movie set to Star Wars. 5 friends decide to trek cross country to break into Skywalker Ranch to get a sneak peak at Episode I: The Phantom Menace. The movie that ensues is full of Star Wars references, dialog and cameos (Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, Ray Park, Kevin Smith, etc.) Even though this was a colossal flop in the theaters (it cost 8 million to make and grossed less than 1) I can tell you that I completely enjoyed it. If you’re not a Star Wars fan I’d urge you to stay away because A: you’re not going to get 3/4 of the movie and B: you’re not going to get the other 1/4 of the movie. The non-Star Wars portion of the plot (one of the characters has cancer which is why they’re on this journey before he dies) simply isn’t strong enough to carry you if you’re not down with the Star Wars stuff. However… if you’re a Star Wars fan and have been staying away based on the negative reviews and poor box office performance I’d say give it a shot. May the Force be with you.
