Geek-Out Fuel

As an addendum to my previous post on the Thundercats, take a look at this:



http://www.cartoonbrew.com/tv/new-thundercats-trailer.html

Apparently, Cartoon Network plugged this, along with some other upcoming series, during their Game Awards Show crapsaganza. So tell me, Thundercats fans, what do you think?

Superman:Classic

For those of you who are Superman fans, or animation fans, or both, check this out:

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/shorts/superman-classic-by-robb-pratt.html

A wonderful fan film by animation veteren Robb Pratt (Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame, Pocahontas, Kim Possible, and Kick Buttowski, to name a few). This little film manages to capture much of what's awesome about Superman, remarkably all in the space of a minute. He also manages to make most of the action animation on TV look sick. For those of you who think all great animation has to come from overseas nowadays, take a look at Superman: Classic and see what a tiny group of passionate animators can do, in their free time, with a tiny budget.

Super Bowl XLV

Time for the obligatory Super Bowl Cheering / Gloating.


What a great game! I can honestly say that had the Steelers won, I still would have thought it was among the great Super Bowl game.

As a Packers fan though, I have to say I've never been prouder to be a fan. With the Looking Players vs. Owners dispute, I find it refreshing that the only team in the league that does not have an owner brought the Lombardi trophy home.

For me the 2010 / 11 Packers season is one of those great seasons that will live in so many fans' memories. Plagued by injury early on, and never really given the benefit of the doubt, the Packers focused thier energy through out the season and really displayed how well a team can function when the sum of it's parts is celebrated and not the individuals. I feel like I got to see a lot of great teamwork and camaraderie this year, and in the end it paid of. I particularly like that Charles Woodson is the type of man that can admit he broke-down at half time and only just reminded his team mates how much a win would mean to him and the other veterans.

It was a nervous affair for me and my hat goes off to the Steelers (except for Big Rapping Ben). They were a worthy opponent and it is always hard to watch as I sympathize what they experienced in the loss. I also particularly like Coach Tomlin.

At any rate, I also realize most of you were more interested in the commercials and half time show.

The Half time show:

I didn't mind it, but I can see why it is getting blasted for not being great. I also have to wonder how badly the Cowboys organization messed up the sound as it seemed to be more than flat at several different times.

Im a Fergie fan so I didn't mind it.

The commercials.

I'll list my favorite 3 and my least favorite 3.

Generally I feel like this was a mediocre year for commercials as a whole… Im completely sick of most of the Car commercials, and find my self mostly looking forward to movie trailers.

My favorites:

Doritos - The Best Part

I don't know why but I found this one to be the funniest… the guy they picked to be the Doritos lover just assured he has a job for several more commercials… it's wierd, innapropriate and funny.

Budweiser – Wild West

I like the idea here… the Clydsdales weren't over used and the Elton John bit at the end was really funny.

Marvel – Trailer: Capt. America

Wow. Evans doesn't look terrible in this and the CGI to make him look puny at the begining is pretty damn good. Plus they tip their hand to the Red Skull… Im officially excited for this now.

HATED!

Motorola – Empower The People

In my opinion, this is a less than clever attack on Apple's 1984 Superbowl commercial… The miss here for me is that unless your paying attention at the end, you probably think this is a commercial for Apple's iPad. That seems a little more than stupid to me… and I don't really get the idea that Mac is this overlord company that requires you to behave a certain way to experience thier products…. I guess for my two cents, it's time for these android knock offs to advertise based on what they have instead of what Apple has.

Sony – Android Is Ready To Play

It’s ugly, gritty, borders on disgusting, and then you see thumbs on a robot (reminiscent of Human Centipede) and I'm pretty much done this idiot droid.

Here we see Sony making the same mistake that Nokia made years ago… Your phone is a gaming device! It has playstation control knobs on it ! wtf???

If the idea is to beat Apple at the game app market, they need to realize Apple didn't intend for the iphone to be a gaming device… they simply provide an sdk and the users /small businesses developed the games.

Bud Light – Hack Job

A boring take off from last years Bud-House, this one is dull, silly and not even close to the standard for a Super Bowl commercial…

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly • Part 1

Here is the first of what I hope to be many entries in The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly. Admittedly I got the idea, (far from original) from Gamestop magazine.

Herein I will offer you my take on my latest Geek experiences.

The Good: Stuff I generally enjoyed and find either engaging or particularly well conceived.

The Bad: This will usually be stuff I didn't expect to hate, games I find no love for, or tid-bits from pop culture I just can't stomach.

The Ugly: I'll take pot shots at the stuff I find literally disgusting, out of character, or just plain awful; the stuff I find myself gagging on.

For this instalment:

Red, The Other Guys, and Natalie Portman.

The Good:

Red (Retired, Extremely Dangerous) 2010

Director: Robert Schwentke (his only other film of note: The Time Traveler's Wife)

Cast: Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Helen Miren, Mary Louise-Parker, Brian Cox, and Karl Urban (Bones, from the latest Star Trek franchise)

Bet you didn't know this was based on a comic book of the same name by DC. I sure didn't, and overall it feels a lot like a comic, tongue-in-cheek.

Red is the story of Frank Moses (Bruce Willis), retired black ops operative and love-seeker. He pines for Sarah (Mary Louise-Parker) a clerk that handles his retirement checks.

Moses finds himself on the receiving end of a black ops hit and together with Sarah, he tracks down his old associates in order to strike back at the devious agents that would have him dead.

Viewed from the high level, and considering a movie with this type of cast, there is nothing special or Oscar worthy of Red. There in lies it's greatness. The pay off here is watching such a great cast pull off an light hearted, AARP version of The Expendables. Each supporting actor pulls in a solid performance as unwilling retirees seeking the thrills of their former lives.

Bruce Willis is right at home as the super spy action hero. Freeman does anything but phone in a short lived performance as the aging face man. Much of the well timed humor comes from /Malkovich, who, admittedly isn't straying far from his niche, but really shines in his interactions with the other actors. I'll admit to finding Helen Miren totally hot as a retired MI-6 Assassin. Parker plays a there / not there non-spy and would be generally forgettable save for her well timed doses of reality driven sarcasm.

It all boils down to a nearly campy heist / spy movie that I found thoroughly enjoyable,

even laughing out loud at several scenes. It's fast moving, energetic and well paced.

Red was my sleeper hit of the winter.

The Bad:

The Other Guys:

Director: Adam McKay (Anchorman, Step Brothers)

Cast: Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Samuel L Jackson, Dwayne "The Rock "Johnson, Eva Mendes, Rob Riggle, Michael Keaton

This is an unwatchable comedy that revolves around a pair of mismatched cops (Farrell and Wahlberg), with an atrocious storyline detailing the partners' efforts at solving a financial mystery… I think. Like McKay's other Ferrell films, it's obvious that each shooting day was little more than an improv contest between actors. The most obvious problem here is the complete and total lack of laughs from hopelessly stale material that even Will Ferrell can't escape. After 20 minutes I began to feel bad for actors I actually respect. I stared in disbelief as they tried to pull off lines that only the likes of Will Ferrell can butcher. Eva Mendes is so out of place and obviously uncomfortable with her lines that I felt embarrassed for her when I imagine that McKay intended for her to turn me on.

Ferrell's long and aggressively unfunny rant about why a lion could never successfully attack a tuna represents everything that's wrong with The Other Guys, and ultimately served as my point of no return… to bad it's in the first 20 minutes. There's subsequently never a point where the viewer is drawn into the surprisingly complicated and consistently uninvolved narrative, which cements the movie's place as a misfire of impressively epic proportions.

The Ugly:

Natalie Portman in No String Attached.

Disclaimer. I haven't seen this film… and won't see this film. What the Hell is going on? Why is such an acclaimed actress slumming around in a rom-comedy with Ashton Kutcher?

Until it is revealed that she was forced to make such a shitty movie as compensation for her role in Black Swan, Natalie Portman is on the Ugly list… and how the hell does Ashton Kutcher still have a movie career?