Archive for the ‘movies’ category

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Enter the Hornet…

July 19, 2010

– –Another challenge for the Green Hornet:  Making it on the big screen!   Some old-time comic and radio serial heroes don’t translate especially well to movies; The Shadow and The Phantom come to mind.   Coming in January of 2011 will be The Green Hornet, an adaptation of the once-popular radio serial, comic book, and 1960’s television series.

Seth Rogen will play Britt Reid, the millionaire publisher and popular media figure who by night assumes the identity of crime fighter The Green Hornet.  The role of sidekick Kato made memorable in the otherwise forgettable tv series by the late great Bruce Lee will be played by Asian pop star/actor/director Jay Chou; look to the character of Kato to be further developed as the creator of The Black Beauty, the Hornet’s “rolling arsenal” of retro weaponry.

Bruce Lee played Kato in 26 episodes of the tv series aired in 1966-67, with The Green Hornet being known as The Kato Show in Hong Kong.  As the Green Hornet would have said to Lee’s show-stopping sidekick, “Let’s roll, Kato!”- – If only Bruce Lee was here! … <sighs>

Categories: comics, cool things, movies, Off-topic, television
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Comments: 8 Comments

In Blackest Night…

May 15, 2010

– – Coming on June 17th is The Green Lantern movie; I’ve been a  fan of Green Lantern since I was a kit, possibly due to combining the superhero thing with an extraterrestrial element (“The Guardians of the Universe”).  It’s hard to successfully adapt comics to the big screen, but this looks promising…although the costume reminds me of a green-themed version of Robin’s get-up in the one Batman flick…

…better practice your Green Lantern oath…and no, I don’t mean swearing!

Categories: comics, cool things, movies
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Comments: 3 Comments

The Horror, the Horror!

April 21, 2010

– – Something wicked this way comes…or at least, something terribly bad is coming.  I’m talking, of course, about the upcoming Yogi Bear movie, which promises to give new meaning to the name, Boo Boo.

One questions why a Yogi Bear movie has to be made in the first place; perhaps it has something to do with the nature of evil, or perhaps the Guild of Malevolent Intent is somehow involved.  Perhaps those of us who are furry haven’t suffered enough in this life, and our pain must be taken to a new dimension.  I will leave such musings to the philosophers, being but a timid woodland creature myself- -.And what possible good can come out of a Yogi Bear movie, you might ask?   The moans and sarcastic commentary to be heard out there just anticipating this movie  are absolutely delicious!

“The misery that will be ‘Yogi Bear,'” as remarks one commentator, features none less than Dan Aykroyd slumming as the voice of Yogi Bear…and get this, Justin Timberlake will play sidekick Boo-Boo!  Tom Cavanagh will play Ranger Smith, a part rumored at one time to be going to Brendan Fraser.  The movie will be done in the live action/CGI hybrid style of Alvin and the Chipmunks.

Now Yogi Bear was a one-dimensional character from almost 50 years ago who had no memorable narratives and was at best annoying as he stole countless picnic baskets from human campers in the fictional Jellystone National Park further impoverished by Hanna-Barbera’s econo-animation.  Now if Yogi would maul someone for that picnic basket, I might consider it redemptive, but having seen Robert De Niro play Fearless Leader in Rocky and Bullwinkle, I figure I’ve suffered enough…and as another commentator put it, perhaps this movie was inevitable, but it’s still painful to see…     😮

Categories: animals, cartoons, furry, movies
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Nature Abhors a Vacuum, and Brendan Fraser…

April 19, 2010

– – God help us, Furry Vengeance is coming, a movie which may set the fandom back further than the Fur and Loathing episode of CSI.   The title sounds like a horror movie, but it appears to be another variation of an already well-worked family comedy formula.

Don’t get me wrong, I like Brendan Fraser.  He’s an affable guy, and I liked the Mummy movies, especially for the awesome jackal warriors. Brendan plays a good action hero who knows better than to  take himself seriously,  but then there are his comedies in which he smacks his face really hard into some solid object…over and over again.

Furry Vengeance, opening April 30th, is described as a  live action family comedy in which an ambitious young real estate developer faces off with a bunch of angry animals in the Oregon wilderness when his new housing subdivision pushes too far into a pristine area.   Led by a raccoon, the animals stymie the development, and teach Brendan’s character about the consequences of man’s encroachment on nature.–Sound familiar, wholesome, harmless, and predictable?  Sample yucks:  Fraser hides inside  a Port-A-Potty, which is being attacked by a bear.

Comparisons to Over the Hedge are inevitable.  This looks like a flick geared to appeal largely to little kids, and there will be worse things out there,  oh yes…things like Yogi Bear, the movie, coming this December… 😮



Categories: animals, anthropomorphic, furries, furry, movies
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Viva the Kraken!

April 15, 2010

– – I’m a sucker for mythology with the usual elements of  ultraviolence and the bizarre thrown in, so Clash of the Titans is my kinda thing.  The 1981 original didn’t exactly enjoy cult status, but was kind of a campy classic, even boasting Laurence Olivier as Zeus, a mechanical owl called Bubo, and stop action special effects that were all that was available at the time.   If you allowed yourself,  you could still have a lot of fun with this film, cheesiness and all.

Reviews haven’t been overly positive for the re-make which I have yet to see, with many faulting the dialogue, character motivation, and general lack of humor in the film, which was hastily re-made in 3D.   The Kraken is eventually released and visually impressive, reminding me however of the toothy Langoliers creatures from Stephen King.   Some have preferred the battle sequence with the gorgon Medusa depicted in Titans… but it’s all good!

…So pass the popcorn, will ‘ya?


Categories: cool things, creature features, imaginary animals, movies
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Barf the Mawg…

March 28, 2010

– – It’s still hard for me to believe that John Candy is dead, taken way too young of a heart attack in 1994 at only 43 years of age.  John created many memorable characters, but as a furry I love him most for his creation of the half-man, half-dog (or Mawg, also seen as Mog) Barfolomew in the 1987 Mel Brooks movie Spaceballs, an obvious parody of Star Wars and Barf a cheaper version of Chewbacca. The film did modestly at the box office, being issued as it was ten years after the movie it parodied.   Brooks’ blend of slapstick and genre parody was getting old even in 1987, but the film remains funny and a cult classic.

Memorable quote: “It’s not that we’re afraid, far from it, it’s just that we’ve got this thing about death…It’s not us!”  Who better to be his own best friend than this marvelous John Candy creation?– –RIP, John, and thank you…

Categories: animals, anthropomorphic, Brilliant but twisted, furries, furry, furry heroes, movies
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The Wolfman Cometh!

January 18, 2010

– – Is it here yet?- -Is it here yet?- –You gotta excuse me if I sound like Eric Cartman or perhaps Bart Simpson, but I just can’t wait for the February 12, 2010 arrival of The Wolfman. – – Can you blame me?!

The cast of the 1941 original was awesome, with Lon Chaney Jr,  Claude Rains,  and Bela Lugosi on board, but this remake will have Anthony Hopkins, Benecio Del Toro (the Wolfman), Emily Blunt, Hugo Weaving, and Art Malik.  Universal is striving to re-image their classic horror masterpiece, and from all I have read, does a great job!  Ain’t no school like the old school…

So bring on the slavering man-beast, and let’s do something dastardly and perhaps scandalous to fair maidens as they run through the moors!- –Let’s go where the wolfbane blooms, and the autumn moon shines at night!- –Heck, I wanna live there!

http://www.thewolfmanmovie.com

Categories: animals, anthropomorphic, cool things, furry, furry heroes, movies
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“We’re All Mad Here…”

December 16, 2009

– – I confess that I’ve always loved Lewis Carroll’s Alice In Wonderland, and especially had a soft spot for the Cheshire Cat…well, said feline has never looked better or toothier than in the upcoming March of 2010 version by Tim Burton!–Who better to capture the notes of madness, darkness,  and menace in the piece than Tim Burton, especially with Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter?!  Stephen Fry plays the Cheshire Cat.

It’s very hard to do justice to Alice In Wonderland, and many attempted adaptations have fallen short of the mark and been disappointments; the recent SyFy Channel’s adaptation comes to mind, while it did have its moments.– This could well be the definitive version!– The Cheshire Cat looks ten times creepier than in all previous versions!!!

…It’s gonna be a weird, wild Wonderland in amazing 3D…March 5th, 2010 can’t come soon enough for this fox!




Categories: animals, Brilliant but twisted, cool things, furries, furry, furry heroes, furry spirits, movies
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Snarly Dudes Rule “Twilight, New Moon!”

November 19, 2009

– – I’m not into the Twilight saga, ’cause it’s geared in large measure for teenaged girls; romance just ain’t my thing, especially when the romantic leads spend much of their time staring intensely, pining away,  and brooding.  The fact that werewolves appear in the movie, however, rouses my furry interest. Vampires are OK, especially if they’re cool and classy like Dracula, Lestat, or Angel, but bring in even a mundane werewolf, and you’ve got me hooked!

So let’s talk werewolves, which is where it’s at– – this movie deviates from the usual trend of showing a nice, slow, and usually agonizing werewolf transformation.  In my opinion, slow and agonizing is the way to go, so the fans can appreciate it as well as the significance of what’s going on. The lycanthropes of New Moon, however, explode mid-leap into a fully-transformed state, with shreds of clothing flying off them. To their credit, the New Moon weres are impressively large, and are not cookie-cutter interchangeable clones; they are distinguishable by size and fur color, with alpha male Sam being the largest and having black fur.  Other weres are russet-hued, silvery, dark brown, and dark grey.  They also use the personalized eyes of the actors in the digital wolves, which are otherwise as realistic as possible. An additional plus is that the actors are mostly of Native American descent.

So paws up for the wild things, even though this shallow romance has been rated with only  **1/2 out of four stars…

Categories: animals, cool things, furries, furry, movies
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The Lure of the Horrible

November 10, 2009

CreepshowThere’s a wonderful scene in the 1982 movie of Stephen King’s Creepshow showing a young boy who spots a monster outside of his window.  The expression on the boy’s face, however, is one of adoration rather than terror.- – I’m sure that many of us can relate to this!

– – Horror movies…why do we like them?–Well, social scientists suggest that we watch for different reasons which include the adrenaline rush, being distracted from mundane life, vicariously thumbing our noses at social norms, and enjoying a voyeuristic view of the horrific from a safe distance.– But above all, being scared is fun!

Neuroscientists like New York University’s Joseph LeDouz point out that fear is not merely a biological reaction, but an emotion derived from deep-seeded evolutionary factors as well as newly-learned cautions.  An interaction between the brain’s primitive amygdala and the higher cortex allows people to interpret an environmental event and respond with an emotion such as fear.  Once an emotion is aroused in the amygdala, it’s hard to turn it off, and if we like that sort of thing, we’re eager to turn that emotion on again.

…and this is why some of us suffer from a post-Halloween let-down, similar to that depression suffered by others after Xmas!–Ahh, for the Nightmare Before Christmas!

Categories: movies, psychology, science
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Comments: 7 Comments

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