Hancock

Continuing the summer’s tradition of superhero movies, this one features something a little different. First, one of my favorite actors of this age, Will Smith–a blockbuster king, a likable guy, and his range, though sorely underused most of the time, is not to be disregarded. In this case, however, he does not exactly play a “likable guy”. So let’s talk “Hancock”. This film is not adapted from a graphic novel. It is not based on an old comic book series created by Stan Lee. It’s... Keep Reading...

Dark Knight

The last few summers have been laced with superhero movies. We’ve been inundated with your Spidermans, your Supermans, your Iron Mans, and your Hulks…and get ready for the train to keep rolling–”Watchman” (a DIFFERENT kind of superhero story) is coming out next March. But it seems as though all of those films were leading up to this, the most anticipated superhero flick possibly in the history of film mainly because of one tragic fact: one of the cast members ultimately died from the intensity... Keep Reading...

REM – Accelerate

I haven’t bought an REM album since “Reveal”, and I only listened to it once before being very tempted to throw it out the window of my car. I was so disappointed after a pretty good effort with the “The Man on the Moon” soundtrack, and not only was the album pretty boring except for a few tracks–Stipe just seemed to lose it with the lyrical edge. REM was one of my favorite bands growing up. I not only enjoyed the music, but the lyrics were so abstract and thought... Keep Reading...

The Incredible Hulk

A few years ago, they tried this experiment. Ang Lee was to direct “Hulk” starring Eric Bana (also known as the half-Ryan Theriot, half-Vinny Del Negro clone) as Bruce Banner, one of the biggest conundrums in super hero history. His super ego, the Hulk, was both a hero…and a villain. He wasn’t a bad villain but he caused destruction and had no control over what he did. It was your Jekyll & Hyde for a new age. But let’s go even before that, to when Stan Lee first... Keep Reading...

The Andromeda Strain (A&E 2008 mini)

I had heard about this a few weeks ago, and I liked the cast; am a big fan of Benjamin Bratt although I think he’s buried in a wall of melodrama. I liked that the Scott brothers were behind it, and it did look like it had some promise. After all, the 70′s adaptation was boring as far as I was concerned, compared to the novel which was riveting. Well, this is a two part miniseries, and I guess I can’t make a total judgment until tonight’s concluding part but I can say this:... Keep Reading...

Tom Waits Glitter & Doom Tour

I saw on YouTube the “press conference” that Waits put together for this upcoming summer tour…and I’m pretty peeved that it’s not coming to Chicago. But it is coming to Columbus, OH and St. Louis, MO. I tried looking on ticketmaster for tickets…none available. So I guess I missed the boat…goddamnit… he is probably the only one left that is on my list of “have to see before I die”. He better keep on living! “downtown train” (rod... Keep Reading...

I Am Legend

Hands down, Will Smith made this movie as it would otherwise be a smarmy rip off of “28 Days Later”, and an unnecessary adaptation of Richard Matheson’s classic because it doesn’t use his themes at all in the film. Will Smith deserves an Academy Award nomination for this movie; and ultimately probably won’t get one because the movie is a PG-13 horror flick that seems to have been better served as a summer flick. The CGI is decent, but I still hate the fact that so many... Keep Reading...