Sunday, March 31, 2013
G.I. Joe: Retaliation 3D Review
G.I. Joe: Retaliation picks up where G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra left off. Queen and King Birthers Orly Taitz and Donald Trump plan to expose President Barack Obama's insidious plan to make America into a socialist paradise. They must expose the plot to plant a foreign born president and the way his mother planted Obama's birth announcements in the Hawaiian newspapers in 1961. Um.... okay, that's not the plot to G.I. Joe: Retaliation.
The real plot to the movie is that it does pick up where The Rise of Cobra left off. There's a fake President of the United States installed in the person of Zartan (Arnold Vosloo) of Cobra. The real President (Jonathan Pryce) has been captured. Zartan uses Cobra as his security and army. In case you didn't know, the G.I. Joes are an elite fighting force. The Joes are dispatched to Pakistan to secure a nuclear warhead after the country's leader is assassinated. Led by Duke (Channing Tatum), they include Roadblock (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson), Flint (D.J. Cortrana) and Lady Jaye. (Adrianne Palicki) Zartan as the President orders his forces to attack the Joes. Roadblock, Flint and Lady Jaye are theonly survivors. Zartan blames the Joes and they are framed for the theft of the warhead.
Meanwhile, Storm Shadow (Lee Byung-hun) breaks out Cobra Commander (Luke Bracey) from a secret American prison facility. Blind Master (RZA) convenes Joe's Snake Eyes (Ray Park) and Jinx (Elodie Yung) for a mission. Blind Master asks the two to seize Storm Shadow alive and bring him to justice. The surviving Joes go undercover and get the help of G.I. Joe founder, General Joe Colton, (Bruce Willis) They intend to clear their names, expose Cobra's plans and stop them.
Everything about this movie is competent. Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick have written an adequate screenplay that at least raises problems with real world countries. The plot points regarding North Korea and Pakistan have a basis in reality. I mean it's an actual fear that Pakistan's nuclear weapons could fall into the hands of terrorists. You don't see that covered in Bond movies. Director Jon Chu is adept at staging the action scenes. They make sense and don't overwhelm you with loud explosions. Of note, is the impressive ninja fight on the Himalaya mountains. But competent doesn't equate to good. The movie can't escape its shallow cartoon origins. It's a movie built around the action set pieces. There's a lack of exposition. I mean Storm Shadow was killed in The Rise of Cobra. Yet, there's no explanation of how he comes back to life. And who is Blind Master and what's his relation to the Joes? It's these kinds of plot holes that bring down a movie. And if they can ignore plot holes, at least for the third G.I. Joe movie they can bring back Duke (Channing Tatum) since Tatum is now a burgeoning movie star and sex symbol. See his Magic Mike. (2012)
The acting performances are like the rest of the movie. Dwayne Johnson is just competent. I can't buy his anguish at the loss of the Joes because that's not in his acting range. Bruce Willis, Jonathan Pryce and the rest of the cast take the movie seriously so there's no camp in their performances that could sink a cartoon movie like this. Willis' home arsenal would make a NRA member envious. Adrianne Palicki deserves a special mention. She's the type of eye candy for teenage males that could rocket her to stardom. Whether she's wielding an assault rifle, scantily clad or wearing a stunning red evening dress, Palicki's sexual magnetism easily bests the actions sequences of this movie.
As whether you should pay the extra bucks for 3D, you must first realize that G.I. Joe: Retailiation is a conversion from 2D to 3D. And I agree with Roger Ebert. You cannot turn a 2D movie into a 3D movie. The best you can do is have a cinematic pop up book. That being said, it's not bad for a conversion. Occasionally, there's some pop in the scenes. And the movie was well lit. However, it's clear there was little thought put into shooting the movie as a 3D feature. So, there's nothing special in watching it in 3D. If you are going to see this film, choose the 2D version.
G.I. Joe: Retaliation is a better movie than its predecessor. That's not saying much. But you could do worse. You could be in a CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) breakout session on race. The grade is C +.
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Saturday, March 30, 2013
Jon Stewart skewers conservative Supreme Court justices
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Stephen Colbert looks at study of Facebook "Likes"
The Colbert Report
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Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Stephen Colbert takes on Republican attempts to win young people
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Jon Stewart looks at CPAC and conservative outreach to minorities
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Stephen Colbert on Ham Rove versus Karl Rove
The Colbert Report
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Stephen Colbert looks at the mini-series "The Bible"
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Stephen Colbert takes on the election of Pope Francis
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The Republican Party, the New Fascists, Part Three
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The Croods 3D Review
The Croods (pronounced "crudes") are a family of Neanderthal humans. They are led by Grug Crood (Nicholas Cage, the father and leader of the family. In this family is the mother, Ugga (Catherine Keener), son Thug (Clark Duke), baby daughter Sandy (Randy Thorn), mother in law, Gran (Cloris Leachman), and young teenage daughter Eep. (Emma Stone) Grug's philosophy of life is fear. Darkness and exploration brings danger and at times they do, since wild animals could prey on humans. He commands the family to cower in the cave and not leave during the night. But the story is told through Eep who yearns to explore the world. She escapes the cave and finds Guy (Ryan Reynolds), a homo sapien young man, who knows how to make fire. After an earthquake destroys the cave, the family and Guy set out to find a new home, one which Guy calls "Tomorrow."
The performances are all pretty good. Nicholas Cage doesn't overwhelm us with any mugging and his Grug is the depiction of conservative based on fear. Ryan Reynolds comes off as youthful, and smart. But as always, Emma Stone delivers another great performance. She's hopeful and adventurous. She is the most attractive of the characters.
Directors Chris Sanders (How to Train Your Dragon) and Kirk DeMicco (Space Chimps) (have written a competent screenplay based on their story with John Cleese. Yes, it's the Monty Python Cleese. I like the ideas in the film. The issue of overcoming fear with intelligence and hope is a good thing to teach children.
But it's the bizarre plot points that bring down the movie a bit. First, a number of the animals bear no resemblance to real world creatures that existed at the time. Angry birds that can strip the flesh off other animals sounds like something from another planet. And there's a saber tooth tiger that looks more like a gigantic stuffed animal created by Andy Warhol than the one you see at the museum. All this makes me want to watch this movie on drugs. Then there is using Neanderthals as protagonists. Gutsy. But frankly, they're not very attractive. Still, get through the first two thirds and The Croods' hopeful ideas carry the film.
As for the 3D, I can mildly recommend you see The Croods in 3D. Some effects pop. Best scene is where the fire sends embers in the air. But a good deal of the film takes place in the darkness. Not conducive for 3D and especially bad since you're wearing dark glasses. It's not as great as Sanders' How to Train Your Dragon. Still, the 3D effects are noticeable.
The Croods 3D is a good movie not a great one. It does have a great message about following intelligence over fear. The grade is B.
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
The Iraq War ten years later
President George W. Bush's administration declared that Iraq's Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. Some in the Bush circle tried to link Hussein to 9/11 and Al Qaeda. There was the comment from National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice about smoking guns becoming a mushroom cloud. But here are the facts. Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction. Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. Iraq did not attack us, we attacked them. We Americans believe in justice and due process. But Bush ignored core American values by waging war against a country that did not have weapons of mass destruction. What was outrageous was the evidence that Iraq had such WMDs was weak. The costs of the war according to a piece by Chris Matthews was over a hundred and ninety thousand Iraqis were killed. Over four thousand American troops were killed. And over two trillion of our treasury was spent. If there is anything to be learned it's this, we should never engage in preventative war again or at least be very sure that there credible evidence to go to war.
Here are Chris Matthews' video Hardball pieces on the Iraq War.
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Seek the Bright Moments
However, certain events recently has made me think about life. I don't want to get into the particulars. I want to keep many parts of my life private, at least from the Internet. But this is what I have observed. Life is fragile. Treasure every good moment. Bad things exist but look upon them as part of the mosaic of one's life. But hold in your hearts the moments that brought you happiness. These bright moments will make life worth living. Here's jazz great Rahsaan Roland Kirk with his song "Bright Moments."
Monday, March 18, 2013
Those Crazy Birthers, Part Thirty One
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Conservatives are from the past and some are racist
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Sunday, March 17, 2013
Happy St. Patrick's Day
Bill Maher takes on the minority right-wing
Friday, March 15, 2013
New teaser trailer for Star Trek Into Darkness
Wrong about Peter Weller's character
His character is Admiral Marcus. Trekmovie.com story with other major spoilers. We can now deduce that he's the father of Carol Marcus. (Alice Eve) I still think he plays a major part in defrosting Khan. :-)
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Stephen Colbert takes on North Korea's' dream of nuking America
The Colbert Report
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New favorite links
Recently, I've added new links. As you can tell, I love movies. So there are three new film sites. They are Film.com, Collider.com, and Slash Film. Looking for great jazz in Cincinnati? Check out the Blue Wisp Jazz Club. I like to laugh too. Check out Funny or Die. Not funny all of the time, but sometimes it's hilarious. At least, they try to hit it out of the ballpark. Finally, check out the talented graphics artist Ben Wong at Ben Wong Design.
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Stephen Colbert examines the rising gun sales and an experiment to give away free guns
The Colbert Report
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Stephen Colbert takes on Obama's sci-fi gaffe
The Colbert Report
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Jon Stewart looks at Dennis Rodman's trip to North Korea
Jon Stewart takes on the sequester
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Triumph the Insult Comic Dog sues Carnival Cruise Lines
Interview with Robert Smigel, the comedian behind Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog
Triumph the Insult Comic Dog at the Final Presidential Debate
Saturday, March 2, 2013
President Obama messes up big time by mixing up Star Trek and Star Wars
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Stephen Colbert on the Sequestration
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Stephen Colbert on the absence of a Pope
The Colbert Report
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Stephen Colbert takes on Pat Robertson's belief that demons can possess second hand clothes
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