Entourage, Season 3 – Doug Ellin – 8/10
Season Three opens just as Season Two did – with Vince’s new movie, “Aquaman” about to premier. While the kickoff of “Aquaman” isn’t exactly “smooth,” the show quickly moves in another direction. With Ari’s agency woes continuing, E and Vince try to sell Ari on “Medellin” a Pablo Escobar story E and Vince are in love with. While not thrilled, Ari does get some things rolling for them but he tries to keep “Aquaman 2” in the running. “Medellin” is so important because it sets the tone for the whole series as it is the root of almost every conflict that arises in regard to Vince’s career. E’s relationship with Sloan continues to move forward (albeit very very very slowly) and he runs into an ex fan, Seth Green who’s two episode performance is pretty funny. Along the way, three new characters come into play as an old friend joins the fold, Vince falls for a woman he meets at work, and Turtle falls for a new girl (as usual)....
Finish reading this article at SaltyStix under "Toss up"
Monday, June 4, 2007
"Jordanesque"
I was watching sportscenter this morning, as I usually do when I wake up and eat my breakfast, and they were doing their weekly rundown of big sports stories. When they got to LeBron James' huge game five against the Pistons they uttered the phrase, "that's Jordanesque." And that got me thinking that I like that phrase and I want that phrase to stay, that phrase, forever.
As much as I like Kobe - and I like Kobe, I never want them to say "That Kobe-esque." Because MJ is the greatest player to lace up his shoes. Sure, he started three years after Kobe because people went to college back then, and sure MJ was foolish to try to play baseball, and sure he was too stubborn and retired early (again). But what he did on the court, is unquestionably the greatest of all time. Hell, even Kobe's personal antics now probably rival all of MJ's marital problems, gambling issues, and early retirement fiascos.
Michael played at a time when the East was THE conference - there were the Bulls, the Cavs, the Knicks, the Pistons, the Heat (sometimes) and the Pacer, and a few other upstarts along the way. It wasnt like now, when the West is far and away the best. Players like LeBron and D-Wade don't have to playe conference games against "real" teams, for the most part. While you really can't question those guys are great players, they cant begin to accomplish what the great one did. LeBron's game should be remembered as "Jordanesque," not "LeBronesque."
What I mean to say in my own, unique rambling way, is that MJ is and should always be, the benchmark. Until someone else has six rings on their hands, no one should question that everyone else are just trying to be, "Jordanesque"
Movies to videogames to movies
For awhile, I was totally down with people making movies with built in audiences, tv shows, comics, even video games. But now with the over saturation of the market with way way way too many comic book movies, I've decided to pick on the video game movies. Why not the comic movies? Because every once in awhile, there is a good comic book movie, while the video game ones are few and far between.
While the "Resident Evil" movies were mildly entertaining, they were largely the same and to say the least, unimaginative. Which is part of the problem altogether - Hollywood is running out of ideas. But please please, look for ideas beyond videogames. Some of these movies, like "Silent Hill," "BloodRayne," "Mortal Kombat," "Street Fighter," to name both new and old examples, essentially REQUIRE you to have played them to know what's going on. Or they just suck at character development/explanation. One of those two.
On the other side of the problem is the oversaturation of the videogame market with movie inspired videogames. Sure, the studios need to make their buck whenever and however they can because ticket sales are dropping, but come on, there are just way too many movie-video games. It's almost impossible to peruse through imdb without stumbling upon all of the "VG"'s as they're listed of your favorite movies. It made sense to make videogames out of James Bond movies because that was when the first person shooter genre needed some life, and Goldeneye was THE game then. But now, there are plenty of other games that do a decent enough job telling their story without needing a movie to streamline them.
In the end, both industries seem to slowly be sucking the other dry, turning fans on both sides against the other. Overproducion has killed the golden goose for both. Sometimes, you just have to sack up, and carve out your own story.
While the "Resident Evil" movies were mildly entertaining, they were largely the same and to say the least, unimaginative. Which is part of the problem altogether - Hollywood is running out of ideas. But please please, look for ideas beyond videogames. Some of these movies, like "Silent Hill," "BloodRayne," "Mortal Kombat," "Street Fighter," to name both new and old examples, essentially REQUIRE you to have played them to know what's going on. Or they just suck at character development/explanation. One of those two.
On the other side of the problem is the oversaturation of the videogame market with movie inspired videogames. Sure, the studios need to make their buck whenever and however they can because ticket sales are dropping, but come on, there are just way too many movie-video games. It's almost impossible to peruse through imdb without stumbling upon all of the "VG"'s as they're listed of your favorite movies. It made sense to make videogames out of James Bond movies because that was when the first person shooter genre needed some life, and Goldeneye was THE game then. But now, there are plenty of other games that do a decent enough job telling their story without needing a movie to streamline them.
In the end, both industries seem to slowly be sucking the other dry, turning fans on both sides against the other. Overproducion has killed the golden goose for both. Sometimes, you just have to sack up, and carve out your own story.
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Take 10: The Most Genius Villains, part B
Here is the second part of our Genius Villains take 10. Here are the top ten genius villains! Who will be first...
Don Rafael Montero (The Mask of Zorro)
Straight up – this guy steals gold from Mexico, to buy California from Mexico. That’s ridiculous. It’s almost like Indian giving. Wait, maybe not. And, his revenge on Zorro is so intense – he steals his child and raises her as his own, literally stealing the guy’s life.
Auric Goldfinger (Goldfinger)
His Fort Knox plan is pretty smart and whenever he wants to make some small change he has a pretty good racket going with the cheating at rummy. And he has a big oriental dude with a deadly bowler hat do his bidding. Plus, those who betray him end up painted in gold. “Do you expect me to talk?: “No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die.” That Is pretty genius. Granted, the guy didn’t speak English and his lines were dubbed, but he’s still bad-ass.
Agent Smith (The Matrix: Reloaded)
Now this computer program becomes much more – coming back from the dead with much much more power. While he doesn’t exactly have much of a plan, his execution of it all – changing everyone to Agent Smith Clones. His dialogue – with Neo and Morpheus is pretty clever too.
Verbal Kint (The Usual Suspects)
The guy seamlessly passes between identities, embellishing a story that he builds on the fly, inspired by objects in the guy’s office. His very obvious personality traits, the limp and the voice are entirely acts that he sheds as soon as he’s out of sigh. Then you can throw in his expert puppeteering of Gabriel Byrne and the rest of the gang which is just to cover his ass. The only strike against him is that he chooses to go by the name of Kaiser Soze.
John Doe (Se7en)
Yes, Kevin Spacey has two characters in the top ten. This guy is a little bit smarter than the Kaiser because he is working with less resources and has to rely a lot more on the reactions of others. His brilliant flourish at the end requires the exact phrasing in a tricky situation to complete what he wants to complete.
Lex Luther (Superman: The Movie)
No, this does not count as a Kevin Spacey character. Granted, Kevin Spacey played a pretty good Lex (“WRONG!” – that’s his best line, not me mocking myself), this is about Gene Hackman. He created a character and Spacey didn’t really try to go in a different direction, he just tried to be Hackman. Anyways, Luther gets props because he’s supposed to be one of the smartest villains in the world.
Ernest Stavro Blofeld (Thunderball)
The concept of Blofeld alone is genius – an all powerful terrorist leader who’s face we don’t see who just sits in his chair petting his cat. And when we finally see his face, you know he’s a genius – and a killer. Anyway, the guy engineers the razor thin margin theft of nuclear weapons, and almost gets away with it. This guy would be unstoppable if we didn’t have James Bond.
Hannibal Lecter (Silence of the Lambs)
This was tough because Dr. Lecter was almost more genius in “Manhunter,” but here Anthony Hopkins runs away with this role (Best Actor Oscar with shortest screen time). Lecter says exactly what he wants to Clarise and begins to get more out of her then she gets out of him. No here’s a villain who’d like to sink his teeth into you.
Hal 9000 (2001: A Spacy Odyssey)
Yes, in terms of a genius, Hal has a distinct advantage because he is a computer from the future. But how Hal dispatches the rest of the crew and knows exactly what to watch for when he thinks they’re going to destroy him. And he is scary as hell. They should have bought a Mac.
The Emperor (Star Wars Episodes I-III)
Finally, the character who inspired this ‘Take 10’ series. The most genius of them all. And no whinning about how he was better in IV-VI (you would be wrong). In the first three, he gets Amidala to get rid of the current Chancellor and nominate him with a sympathetic cause (his home planet was invaded), but he was the one instigated that invasion! Then he gets Anakin assigned to Amidala, knowing that she would weaken him to his greatest fears (losing her) so that the emperor could prey on Anakin. Then, in the last movie it is just ridiculous, the emperor turns the Jedi who is supposed to be spying on him, against the Jedi and nurses Anakin’s fear of losing Amidala. Simply wow.
Don Rafael Montero (The Mask of Zorro)
Straight up – this guy steals gold from Mexico, to buy California from Mexico. That’s ridiculous. It’s almost like Indian giving. Wait, maybe not. And, his revenge on Zorro is so intense – he steals his child and raises her as his own, literally stealing the guy’s life.
Auric Goldfinger (Goldfinger)
His Fort Knox plan is pretty smart and whenever he wants to make some small change he has a pretty good racket going with the cheating at rummy. And he has a big oriental dude with a deadly bowler hat do his bidding. Plus, those who betray him end up painted in gold. “Do you expect me to talk?: “No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die.” That Is pretty genius. Granted, the guy didn’t speak English and his lines were dubbed, but he’s still bad-ass.
Agent Smith (The Matrix: Reloaded)
Now this computer program becomes much more – coming back from the dead with much much more power. While he doesn’t exactly have much of a plan, his execution of it all – changing everyone to Agent Smith Clones. His dialogue – with Neo and Morpheus is pretty clever too.
Verbal Kint (The Usual Suspects)
The guy seamlessly passes between identities, embellishing a story that he builds on the fly, inspired by objects in the guy’s office. His very obvious personality traits, the limp and the voice are entirely acts that he sheds as soon as he’s out of sigh. Then you can throw in his expert puppeteering of Gabriel Byrne and the rest of the gang which is just to cover his ass. The only strike against him is that he chooses to go by the name of Kaiser Soze.
John Doe (Se7en)
Yes, Kevin Spacey has two characters in the top ten. This guy is a little bit smarter than the Kaiser because he is working with less resources and has to rely a lot more on the reactions of others. His brilliant flourish at the end requires the exact phrasing in a tricky situation to complete what he wants to complete.
Lex Luther (Superman: The Movie)
No, this does not count as a Kevin Spacey character. Granted, Kevin Spacey played a pretty good Lex (“WRONG!” – that’s his best line, not me mocking myself), this is about Gene Hackman. He created a character and Spacey didn’t really try to go in a different direction, he just tried to be Hackman. Anyways, Luther gets props because he’s supposed to be one of the smartest villains in the world.
Ernest Stavro Blofeld (Thunderball)
The concept of Blofeld alone is genius – an all powerful terrorist leader who’s face we don’t see who just sits in his chair petting his cat. And when we finally see his face, you know he’s a genius – and a killer. Anyway, the guy engineers the razor thin margin theft of nuclear weapons, and almost gets away with it. This guy would be unstoppable if we didn’t have James Bond.
Hannibal Lecter (Silence of the Lambs)
This was tough because Dr. Lecter was almost more genius in “Manhunter,” but here Anthony Hopkins runs away with this role (Best Actor Oscar with shortest screen time). Lecter says exactly what he wants to Clarise and begins to get more out of her then she gets out of him. No here’s a villain who’d like to sink his teeth into you.
Hal 9000 (2001: A Spacy Odyssey)
Yes, in terms of a genius, Hal has a distinct advantage because he is a computer from the future. But how Hal dispatches the rest of the crew and knows exactly what to watch for when he thinks they’re going to destroy him. And he is scary as hell. They should have bought a Mac.
The Emperor (Star Wars Episodes I-III)
Finally, the character who inspired this ‘Take 10’ series. The most genius of them all. And no whinning about how he was better in IV-VI (you would be wrong). In the first three, he gets Amidala to get rid of the current Chancellor and nominate him with a sympathetic cause (his home planet was invaded), but he was the one instigated that invasion! Then he gets Anakin assigned to Amidala, knowing that she would weaken him to his greatest fears (losing her) so that the emperor could prey on Anakin. Then, in the last movie it is just ridiculous, the emperor turns the Jedi who is supposed to be spying on him, against the Jedi and nurses Anakin’s fear of losing Amidala. Simply wow.
Movies movies movies
Here are the movies I’m psyched about for the summer. I took a few chances here and I also didn’t cover movies that have already come out (Spiderman, Pirates, Knocked Up).
the simpsons movie, july 27
Yellow people! America’s First Family hits the big screen. Unfortunately, because of the nature of the previews, we still have little idea of what is going to go down in this movie. Nevertheless, I’m still excited because, it IS the Simpsons.
Positive: The family we love
Negative: Does this mark the beginning of the end?
brothers solomon, august 31
Will Arnett in a leading role, enough said! I’ve thought this guy was hysterical since “Arrested Development,” and now he gets his own movie. I hope he can carry his own, and the premise – incompetent brothers race to find “mates” so they can give their father grandchildren – is childish and reminiscent of “The Bachelor” (the movie), but I think Arnett can pull this one out.
Positive: Will Arnett!
Negative: Risky…
rescue dawn, august 31
Batman plays John McCain in a gritty portrait of war. Bale is a pilot, captured in Laos and held by the Vietcong. He leads an escape and he and many other POWS do their best to get the hell out of Dodge. Hopefully the movie spends more time with the cool, “Apocalypto” type running-action instead of the torture the beginning will likely entail.
Positive: Christian Bale
Negative: Not enough info on the flick
Finish reading this article at SaltyStix under "Summer Movie Preview"
the simpsons movie, july 27
Yellow people! America’s First Family hits the big screen. Unfortunately, because of the nature of the previews, we still have little idea of what is going to go down in this movie. Nevertheless, I’m still excited because, it IS the Simpsons.
Positive: The family we love
Negative: Does this mark the beginning of the end?
brothers solomon, august 31
Will Arnett in a leading role, enough said! I’ve thought this guy was hysterical since “Arrested Development,” and now he gets his own movie. I hope he can carry his own, and the premise – incompetent brothers race to find “mates” so they can give their father grandchildren – is childish and reminiscent of “The Bachelor” (the movie), but I think Arnett can pull this one out.
Positive: Will Arnett!
Negative: Risky…
rescue dawn, august 31
Batman plays John McCain in a gritty portrait of war. Bale is a pilot, captured in Laos and held by the Vietcong. He leads an escape and he and many other POWS do their best to get the hell out of Dodge. Hopefully the movie spends more time with the cool, “Apocalypto” type running-action instead of the torture the beginning will likely entail.
Positive: Christian Bale
Negative: Not enough info on the flick
Finish reading this article at SaltyStix under "Summer Movie Preview"
Go for the head
I'll issue a warning that this post might be a tad sadistic. But it was something I was thinking about lately (perhaps I'm sadistic then?) So here goes.
Why don't people always shoot for the head? Like, its a lot easier. Well maybe not easier, because it is a slightly harder target (being smaller than the chest), but it is a definite kill (unless you're that lame ass guy from "The World is Not Enough.")
Just think how many problems are created when the guy doesnt shoot the guy in the head. The whole movie "The Assassins" happens because Sly couldn't shake bad habits and shoot the guy in the head. Hell, maybe Hartigan could have gotten into Nancy a few times if he'd plugged the Yellow Bastard in the head the first or even the second time. Even Clint knows that he can get away with a stove top because the guy isnt gonna go for his head. And then Marty copies him!
Those are just a few examples from movies I like, but this is a much larger theme. Frankly what if the guy is wearing a bullet proof vest? Or they happen to have a bible over their heart (this happens more than you would think).
I know I know, that bad guys can't always die the first time because they always need to survive the first encounter so there's a whole movie instead of a twenty minute short, but come on, when you've got the shot, take it.
Why don't people always shoot for the head? Like, its a lot easier. Well maybe not easier, because it is a slightly harder target (being smaller than the chest), but it is a definite kill (unless you're that lame ass guy from "The World is Not Enough.")
Just think how many problems are created when the guy doesnt shoot the guy in the head. The whole movie "The Assassins" happens because Sly couldn't shake bad habits and shoot the guy in the head. Hell, maybe Hartigan could have gotten into Nancy a few times if he'd plugged the Yellow Bastard in the head the first or even the second time. Even Clint knows that he can get away with a stove top because the guy isnt gonna go for his head. And then Marty copies him!
Those are just a few examples from movies I like, but this is a much larger theme. Frankly what if the guy is wearing a bullet proof vest? Or they happen to have a bible over their heart (this happens more than you would think).
I know I know, that bad guys can't always die the first time because they always need to survive the first encounter so there's a whole movie instead of a twenty minute short, but come on, when you've got the shot, take it.
Secret end of the World
Apparently, the many people who fled the scene of Pirates 3 missed the “secret ending” that only the “lucky” got to see by staying to watch until the end of the credits. While I think it is truly fitting that someone who could bear three hours of Pirates 3 could bear the credits and then somehow not kill themselves upon seeing the “secret ending.”
Gore Verbinski must have decided that the movie wasn’t confusing or corny enough, so he tacked on this scene. The ending was available for a short time on youtube, but has since been taken down. So if you really want to see it that badly, you have to suffer through another three hours of Pirates 3. Or you could just read my synopsis below...
Finish reading this article at SaltyStix under "End of the World's End"
Gore Verbinski must have decided that the movie wasn’t confusing or corny enough, so he tacked on this scene. The ending was available for a short time on youtube, but has since been taken down. So if you really want to see it that badly, you have to suffer through another three hours of Pirates 3. Or you could just read my synopsis below...
Finish reading this article at SaltyStix under "End of the World's End"
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