1.4.2010 and 1.5.2010

Two days in a row with nothing to show for it. Last night, I was transported back to 1998 with an evening chock full of pro wrestling. I've been a wrestling fan since I was 8. There have been good times and bad times for the product. The late 90s were a great time. There were two big companies, the WWF and WCW. Both aired live programs on Monday nights. There was typically a lot of excitement, as anything could happen. My roommate at the time, John, was a WCW fan and I was a WWF guy. We'd usually just compromise by flipping channels during both shows so we could have the best of both worlds. That ended in March of 2001 when WCW was essentially put out of business and then purchased by WWF. Since that day, there has only been one big Monday night show. Until last night. TNA, a new-ish promotion based out of Orlando, Florida signed wrestling legend Hulk Hogan and decided to host a live 3 hour special. When I first heard about it, I was giddy with excitement. The days passed and rumors were spreading about what was going to happen, who was going to be making surprise appearances, etc. Well, last night was the night. I spent the hours from 8pm-11pm on the couch with the tv remote in my hand flipping back and forth as though the very fabric of my being depended on it. Instead of having John in the folding chair next to my dilapidated recliner, I had the wife on the couch next to me. She's not a wrestling fan at all but last night she temporarily became one to humor me.

As for tonight's goose egg, I've got nothing. I tried to start one but I wound up falling asleep. I guess we can chalk it up to an insanely long 8 day stretch of work finally catching up to me. It's killed me mentally and now it's knocked my dick in the dirt physically. As it stands right now, I'm more than likely going to post this blog and head straight to bed. I should be back to the movie watching tomorrow.

1.3.2010

5. Most Wanted

6. Missing in Action


Day 3 of the new year is another random pick night. I'm a bit disappointed in myself for only getting in two. I got out of work at 10am so by my normal standards, I should have squeezed in a couple more. Serves me right for a)falling asleep on the couch and b)getting restless enough to constantly keep checking the internet. Anyway, let's get on with it.

Most Wanted is a late 90's action flick starring Keenen Ivory Wayans. This was around the time that he was seemingly trying to become an action hero. This was the last attempt at it and pretty much his last leading role. It's too bad because I think he pulls it off pretty well. The plot in this one is nothing new. It had been seen prior to this and has been seen countless times since. A convict gets a second chance only to be double crossed and set up by shady folks.
*yawn*
The cast is engaging enough to make it work though. Alongside Wayans, you've got Jill Hennessy and Simon Baker in some pretty early roles, Jon Voight, Robert Culp, Paul Sorvino and Eric Roberts. Not all big names but certainly recognizable enough. There is a fairly cool scene here where Wayans is on the run with a huge bounty on his head. He's walking down the street, attempting to keep a low profile when suddenly he's spotted by someone. This turns into a big foot chase scene with dozens of folks chasing after him in an attempt to get some of that reward money. This actually leads to a large action set piece with crashing cars and people being struck by vehicles. Actually a pretty good scene.

Missing in Action is one of Chuck Norris' (seemingly)18,000 1980s action flicks. It's a solid one, as were most of them. It's tough to go wrong with the bearded one in an ass-kicking role. Here he plays Colonel James Braddock, a retired Army vet and a former prisoner of war. He knows that Vietnam is still holding Americans prisoner years after the war and decides to go in and set them free. Basically, he kills people with grenades, knives, guns and his hands. It's pretty much one of the quintessential action movies of the 80s and a concrete evidence of Norris' star power back during this time frame.

1.2.2010

3. Birthday Girl

4. Spring Breakdown


Tonight was completely random movie night. I've got literally a ton of dvds in binders that have no rhyme or reason to them whatsoever. I always say that I'm going to alphabetize them and catalog them but then apathy catches on and the idea falls by the wayside. Occasionally, I'll sort through them and choose stuff to watch but typically, I have movies in mind before watching. Not tonight. Basically, I just popped a binder open and grabbed the first title that caught my eye. I suspect that random movie nights will happen fairly often during the course of this event. Those binders are kind of the main inspiration for this whole thing actually but I digress...

Birthday Girl is a 2001 film starring Ben Chaplin and Nicole Kidman. Chaplin is a lonely British bank teller who decides to order himself up a Russian mail order bride. Enter Kidman. Of course, not all is as it seems. If it were, the movie would have lasted about 10 minutes and we'd have been done with it. But, noooooo. Eventually, a couple of Kidman's male friends from Russia show up at their doorstep and that's when things take an interesting turn. This is kind of a tough flick to categorize. IMDB lists it as "crime/romance/thriller". It's actually kind of a bit on the dark comedy side, I'd say. There are a few scenes that made me chuckle that others might not have gotten amusement from. My biggest complaint about this one is the ending. It really just doesn't make a ton of sense in the grand scheme of things. Biggest highlight is Kidman. I'm not really a fan but she looks damn good here. Not sure what it is but playing a skeezy Russian chick suits her quite well. Chaplin is also pretty solid in his role as a banker who might have a little something going on under the surface. I remember that he was supposedly the "next big thing" back in the mid to late 90s. Not really sure what happened in the years following but he's a decent enough actor.

Spring Breakdown. This was a direct-to-video flick from Warner Premiere. It's about 3 older gals who head down to South Padre Island to spend spring break keeping a watchful eye on the daughter of a senator. This one had a really solid cast with lots of familiar faces. Parker Posey, Rachel Dratch, Amy Poehler, Sophie Monk, Amber Tamblyn, Jane Lynch and even Kristin Cavallari from MTV's The Hills all appear. Also, Poehler's real-life husband Will Arnett turns up for a cameo. All in all, you've got a good cast but with everything else landing on the poor side. The story is pretty silly and the laughs are practically non-existent. Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from this one and somehow, it managed to give me even less than I was expecting it to. Odd. Oh well...can't win them all.

1.1.2010

1. The Marine 2

2. WWE: No Mercy 2007



Seemed like a wrestling theme would be a decent start for the new year. The Marine 2 is WWE Films' latest attempt to turn one of their superstars into a movie star. Initially, the film was going to star Randy Orton but when time to film came around, he was out with an injury. Rather than delay filming, they went with young Ted DiBiase. It was something of a weird choice since he's still fairly new to the company and is currently not one of the more popular grapplers on the scene. At any rate, he turned in a decent enough performance given the type of flick this was. It's definitely a throwback to the action flicks of the 80s with tons of violence, explosions and gunplay. You can turn your brain off at the door for this one as not much thought is going to be required on your part.

WWE: No Mercy 2007 was my next choice. WWE champion John Cena had just suffered a pretty serious injury and was slated to be out for 6-12 months. The title was vacated so this event was something of a reset for that particular part of the company. So, out of this, we got a title match to ultimately determine the new champion. We also had some tag team action, a women's match and the dreaded Punjabi Prison match. Ooooh,scary stuff. All in all, it wasn't a bad event nor was it anything really memorable. It's pretty standard fare for one of the non-Big 4 WWE pay-per-views.

2010: A Year in DVD

I'm not much of a new year's resolution kinda guy but I suppose you could refer to this as one. I've been a dvd owner since October of 2002. As those 7 years have gone on, I've amassed one hell of a collection. Being a movie geek like I am, it was virtually impossible not to. I've got more movies than an average person could watch in a lifetime. Seriously. Even if a geek like myself were to watch a single dvd every single day, it would take decades to watch everything I own. That doesn't mean I'm not going to try. Thus, 2010 is going to be devoted to dvd. I fully intend to watch at least one dvd a day from January 1st through December 31st. This blog is going to switch from a review blog to a blog tracking what I'm watching. I might still drop an occasional review but that won't be what this is about. I might post thoughts about what I've watched and I might not. I guess it all depends on my mood when I'm updating.