Movie Reviews: Just (In Time) Berlake
by Mike Agnew Jr.When I hear about a movie like this I picture a boardroom. I see four people with black ties, black suits, and black square frame glasses on one side. (Think Agents from the Matrix) On the other side I man who has not slept in 15 days. Papers crumbled around him. Pen marks all over his fingers. His head in his hands. And then, slowly, he looks up tears streaming down his face. "Time is money, Mr. Anderson." Suddenly a smile begins to break. He opens his mouth. "Ok. Ok. You say Time is Money. Well what if....what if in the future....time was the actual currency? And when you ran out of time.....you died." The four silent executives look at eat other. One of them leans forward and presses a big green button that says "Make Movie" on it and the tearful man stumbles out of the office with papers flying out of his overpacked briefcase. As he leaves, he utters, "You won't be sorry."
In Time, or I'm Mortal as it's called in other countries, is this exact premise. It's the near future. Everyone is genetically altered to age to 25 and then never grow older. Okay so everyone can be supermodels in the movie, not bad. Once they reach 25, however, they have one year to live. This is signified by the embedded Timex Indiglo timer built into their arms. Time from these forearm watches can be exchanged with a twist of the wrist. If your wrist is up you are giving time and if your wrist is down you are taking time. Enter crime bosses, high-stake gambling, the time police, and even time shares or as we know them, loans. The movie has a lot of potential and the concept would be interesting....if they explained it. How did it get this way? Why 25? Why one year? And why did someone think it was such a good idea to put everyones bank accounts on their arms? I mean let's just take the time part out of it. Let's just say your bank account balance is tied to your arm. Someone can steal from you with a shake of the hand and not just some of your money, but all of it. This is where the movie lost me at least. It tries to force feed emotion and lessons on mortality down your throat but it never feels genuine. They make jokes about how everyone is 25 but never realy tap into how weird and mentally taxing it would be. Imagine you, your mom, and your daughter are all the same age. It's creepy. Justin "I'm good on Saturday Night Live" Timberlake does a good job filling the lead role but the environment he is in just feels like a bad dream from which he can't wake. This is a solid intercontinental flight with 10 hours to kill and I already watched the Tom Hanks movie thriller. Don't own it. Don't rent it. Just let it come to you. In Time gets a C- for a fun idea that probably should have stayed on the SciFi channel. It would have got a C if the leading lady was hot. C-
Movie Reviews: Drive
by Mike Agnew Jr.
When I first saw the trailer for this movie I thought, "Oh look they made Transporter 4 without Handsome Rob." The opening scene of the movie fulfilled my prophecy. The Drive(r), played by Ryan I'm-fun-to-look-at Gosling, explains his ground rules, meets the clunky, disorganized robbers, and then does what he does best, drives. However, after this opening sequence, the film leaves the Transporter genre and enters down a road of its own; pun intended. Unlike the Transporter movies, of which I do love the first in the series, Drive dishes out chases scenes that are believable and obey the physics of a car. I should also point out that the movie is not one long chase scene *cough*Ronin*cough*, but actually digs pretty deep with a story that will keep your significant other guessing the outcome through most of the movie. A good chunk of this movie is spent in silence as Ryan I-am-so-good-looking-that-I-can-break-up-with-Rachel-McAdams Gosling looks off into the distance, smiles, looks back, stops smiling, and then turns again to reveal another heart-warming smil.....I'm sorry what were we talking about. Oh right, the silence. Yes, the Earth is to Water as the Dialogue of Drive is to Silence. But it works. And, actually, it's a bit fun. It makes me want to try it out in real life. When someone asks me something, I will just look at them and smile without acknowledging anything they just said and see what they do. The silent treatment leaves you to hanging on Ryan Your-Girlfriend-thinks-about-me-more-than-she-thinks-about-you Gosling's every syllable. All in all it was fun movie with the title font of a Lethal Weapon, the music of a foreign french film, and the graphic fight scenes a la the Departed. Drive gets a B+ for it's unexpected twists, turns, and frequent lane changes.
Movie Reviews: A Story of Two Adams
by Mike Agnew Jr.It's been a while since I've written anything on Agnew's Mind. I guess the Jon and Agnew show has been a good enough to get most things off my chest. This MLK Jr. weekend has been nice and relaxing. I've been cooking and cleaning and been the perfect house wife for myself. In between the chores I have treated myself to a few films. The two I watched today were Real Steel and 50/50.
REAL STEEL
Real Steel, in case you can't tell from the movie poster, is about boxing robots. The best part about this movie is that it never tries to be something it's not, at least until the end, but I will get to that later. If you have seen the trailer for this movie then you already know the ending. Basically Wolverine is wagering has been who owes people a lot of money. He used to date Kate from LOST but she moved on, or so it seems, since he started gambling his life away. Enter little Anakin Skywalker, ok so it's not the same kid but I swear they cloned him. The young Jedi has a knack for training robots and so the two pair up to train an older generation boxing robot named, Atom. (I thought the robots name was Adam until they spelled it later in the movie almost making a point that everyone watching also thought his name was Adam.) Fill in a montage here and there and throw in some bonding moments for Logan and Annie and you have a big chunk of the movie. One thing I think needed to be addressed was the fact that these robots could malfunction and crush their human counterparts. Most of the movie I waited for the robot's eyes to change from blue to red and go into destruction mode. When it didn't happen I found myself wishing it would. The main villains are never really developed so who knows why they do what they do. Then you get to the end of the movie which is the only part that resembles a Rocky movie because it's taken straight from Rocky 1 and 4. But something is missing. The emotion. They fill in the emotion in this drawn out slow motion moment where everyone sheds a single tear. It's weak. So weak that I dropped the movie down to a C- just because of that scene alone. That and the fact that little Annie lets out a Phantom Menace "Yahooo" at the end. My recommendation would be to wait for some little cousin or friend's kid to ask you to watch this movie. I think with a kid's perspective the movie would be much more enjoyable. Wolverine with ROBOTS! If you watch this alone and have seen a boxing movie before be prepared to experience some deja vu. A sequel is planned for 2014. Get ready for robots running in the snow. C-
50/50
Fifty-Fifty is a movie about Seth Rogan's friend, Adam, who gets diagnosed with cancer. I remember seeing the trailer for this movie. It had pre-preview segment with Seth, Adam, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt( 3rd Rock, Inception) who plays Adam in the movie. This part was so memorable because (the real) Adam finishs the clip with, "Watch the movie and see if I live or die." This is the tone throughout the movie; a serious life challenge surrounded by comedic light-heartedness. This is exactly how I like my movies, emotional and real. If you have seen (500) days of summer, this movie is somewhat similar. I won't tell you what happens in the end but I will tell you a few things. You will cry. You will laugh. You will say out loud, "Oh what a b*tch!" at one point. You will stand up and cheer at another. Be ready for many realistic life lessons. It's not a downer of a movie but it is a movie about cancer and anyone who has been close to the disease will probably be vouching for the validity of many of the scenes. By the end of this movie my face hurt from laughing and crying so often. Some of the Seth Rogan jokes are quite raunchy but they actually lighten up as the movie progresses. I give it an A- because it's just a really great movie. I may watch it again at a later time. Until then, it will be on my shelf next toa copy of My Life. I suggest watching this with someone who you don't mind crying in front of on a night where you can watch without laptop and cell phone distractions. A-
Avatar: The Last Airbender
by Mike Agnew Jr.A few weeks ago, after watching Avatar: The Smurf Ferngully, Amanda and I found this original Avatar cartoon on Netflix. I say original because it ran during 2004-2008 whereas Avatar just came out in 2009. But, I'm sure James Cameron would put up a fuss that he thought of it first. Whatever. He can have it. He'll never let go. Anyway, we are not talking about tribal people with plug and play dreads. We are talking about the Last Air Bender. I had heard of this TV show before but wrote it off as another Pokemon/YuGiOh regurgitated kid-hypnotizing crap. I could not have been more wrong.
From the first episode I was hooked. Here's the gist of the story.
Sokka, Katara, Aang, and Prince Zuko
Avatar starts off as many stories do. There is great unrest and a chosen leader is born and must lead the people of the world to rise up and overthrow a great evil. Avatar takes place in a world that is split into 4 different nations: Earth, Air, Water, and Fire. Goooo Planet! But before you go looking for 
Matee and his useless heart power ring, this show is no Captain Planet remake. There is a power called "bending" that allows the people of these different lands to control their elements. It is also important to note that not everyone has these powers. It is just a random occurrence in the different tribes. This bending power is awesome, it really is. Sure, it starts off with throwing rocks and balls of water but as the characters learn and train, their bending becomes way more advanced. Take water bending for instance. Sure, you can move water but what about freezing someone running at you in mid-step? And how much water is in your body? What would happen if a water bender started to bend the water inside you? I like to think of myself as a creative person but some of the inventive bends even made me go, "I would never have thought to do that. Even the Green Lantern would have been put to shame.
Avatar State = Run Away
As far as the writing goes, we all know that no show can compare to LOST, (this has been scientifically proven) but Avatar definitely has a very LOST-like/Star Wars-like storyline. The main character, Aang (sounded out Fran Lang), is a young boy who, as the Avatar, is destined to bring balance to the force. As the Avatar he is the only that has the power to bend all 4 elements. Each season of the show, referred to as Books, cover Aang's journey to learn and master these abilities.
Although the show is named after the Avatar, he is not the main character. No one really is. It would be like saying Captain Kirk is the main character of Star Trek or Jack is the main character of LOST. We root for who we root for. And like LOST, each character has their own back-story, some even with their own flashbacks. The stories come together by the end of the 3 book series very nicely. Along the way, there are many twists and turns and just when you think you have got the story figured out, you will be wrong.
Right now all 3 Books of Avatar are available on Netflix and Netflix on Demand. I give them 5 out of 5 stars.
.
The poster and previews got me excited to see the movie. An 8% rating on Rotten Tomatoes did not.
Now, there is a movie that has been released called the M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Air Bender that is supposed to be based on the cartoon series. Yea... right! This movie is based on the cartoon like a Steak and Cheese Sub is based on a Philly Cheesesteak. M. Night took something that was great and original and desecrated it. This post could be pages long if I felt like getting into everything wrong with this movie. Instead, I will just list them off and then address M. Night directly. All the characters names are pronounced wrong. All the dialogue is monotone and makes no sense. The movie is dark like Terminator and the Matrix. The humor is misplaced and trite. These are kids learning to fight not 4 Neo's stomping through bad guys. And what actually made me walk out on the movie, they exposed secrets, through narration, that should not be uncovered until the later books.
.
Dear Manoj Nelliyattu Shyamalan(adingdong),
You gave us the Sixth Sense and for that, we thank you. It was a shocker and one of the first movies to have such a Planet of the Apes type twist at the end that we all rewound our VHS tapes to find what our eyes had missed the first time. But, you persisted and decided to make a genre for yourself. You wanted to be the reincarnation of the great Alfred Hitchcock. Well you, sir, are no Alfred Hitchcock. You have proven time and again that you are short-sighted to what the audience wants and, still, you drag them through the most boring and vain story-lines ever to hit the silver screen. You add your name to the title of movies like it's a gold star, like it has somehow ascended to your divine status. But again, I say to you... You are no Alfred Hitchcock. As your final twist you took a beloved and complete story and removed all the mystery and emotion. You stole the essence. You missed the point. But all is not lost. The Last Airbender, at least, took you down with it. You will never make another film, Mr Shyamalan, and I think you owe everyone an apology. Get out of my sight.
Mike Agnew, Jr.
The Hangover = The Most Overrated Movie Of All Time
by Matt
This movie has the "crown"
First, I must say that I finally saw The Hangover for the first time yesterday. I've heard SO much about the movie. People were touting this movie as the best comedy since Old School and some even claimed it's better. Movies like Anchorman, Wedding Crashers, and Happy Gilmore weren't even in The Hangover's league. I even heard one younger person describe The Hangover was better than Dumb & Dumber! Yes. Keep in mind this kid was 18, so that makes him like, what?... 5 years old when Dumb & Dumber was released. Maybe he was referring to the hit sequel. Now, I try not to over-hype things nowadays, so I avoided Hangover discussions and talk. I couldn't escape it, however, and even heard talk about it on WIP (sports radio). I really wanted to see it. If it was as good as people said, it would live up to the hype. At the same time, I didn't go out of my way to watch it. Yesterday, that changed.
The movie begins and initially introduces the main character's brother-in-law as the crazy wacky guy that's just going to say random things.... okay.... so he's like this movie's "Brick", but crazy. I saw where that was going a mile away. Suddenly, the movie flashed forward to the end of the bachelor party and we find out that they lost his car...errr no, I mean the groom. Wait, this SEEMS familiar. So essentially, the whole movie is a back story to the night as 4 guys celebrate the groom-to-be's final night of single hood. We see them get together, drive to Vegas, begin the night - BLACK OUT. We have no idea what happened next. We see them wake up, Doug is missing, a tiger in their room, a missing tooth, and a crying baby all have taken place. Doug's future father-in-law lends him his luxurious Benz for the trip and when the 3 remaining guys attempt to get their car from the parking garage in order to re-trace their steps, they are given an entirely different car by the valet.... a police cruiser. Wait, THIS sounds so familiar!
Hmmm
The rest of the movie is basically the 3 guys going back to places they visited throughout the night gathering clues to where their friend may be. They even bump into Mike Tyson, whose cameo has been much over-hyped and wasn't as funny as I thought it would be. I mean, you have Mike Tyson here. The possibilities are endless comedy-wise.
Wait, now there are dangerous, violent people after the guys?!?! Then it hit me..... this seems so strange ....and familiar:
Right! Exactly! From the opening moments, I knew that they were building up to something good and something has to happen... really funny... and it never truly did. Why? I couldn't get past the fact they RIPPED off a cheesy Ashton Kutcher movie. Now, Dude Where's My Car? is what it is: A major movie debut for Ashton Kutcher with the share of the lead and a horrible unrealistic stoner plot. Some could argue that it's a "good" horrible. It's so bad that some of it may be good. Regardless of what you think, you can't deny that Dude Where's My Car? came first.
The acting, overall quality, realism, story, and overall feel of The Hangover is superior to Dude Where's My Car? I really liked the funny character development with the 3 guys (we dont' get much of the missing groom-to-be) especially the whipped guy and the running joke about his girlfriend banging a waiter on cruise....or is it a bartender? The fact people are so quick to "crown" this movie is a joke. It had some funny parts, of course, more than the average comedy, yes, but to "crown" it is a little absurd.
"You want to crown them, go ahead and crown their asses," he said, his voice rising. "But they are exactly who we thought they are!"
Overall, good movie, just not the movie everyone thought it is. I think that one of two things happened here. One, people are just marks and never heard of, saw, or remember Dude Where's My Car? Two, people just didn't care and blatantly ignored the fact the movie was a rip-off and fell victim to the crazy Alan character besides the fact he was a crazier "Brick" from Anchorman. The Hangover is for a generation that will never get to live through first-run classic movies like Old School, Anchorman, dare I say Dumb & Dumber and give them a chance to memorize some quotes and think they are being funny. This is their claim to fame. Hey, goooooooooood for youuuuuuuuuuu, but it's not that great.
For your comparison:
Dumb & Dumber: * Too good to rank*
Old School: 5/5
Anchorman: 5/5
Wedding Crashers: 4.5/5
The Hangover: 3/5
Dude Where's My Car?: 2/5
Bad Movies……..even in HD
by Mike Agnew Jr.I recently stumbled upon a reservoir of HD movies someone uploaded. Since most of the movies were in 1080P, I could not resist downloading and watching them. I was instantly made aware that a pretty picture will not always cover up a horrible story.
Taking of Pelham 123
This movie was doomed from the start. John Travolta as a bad guy... it's Swordfish all over again. In fact, this movie should have been called Swordfish 2: Underground Train. Travolta is back in all his go-tee glory with a bland seen-it-before storyline. If there is any saving grace, its Denzel Washington. He's back with his explain-it-to-me-like-I'm-a-5-year-old attitude. He plays a transportation coordinator in charge of New York's Subways. He comes to work one morning and, low and behold, one of his subway cars is, well, taken. The hijacking occurs in the first five minutes but you will probably miss it because you will be in the bathroom throwing up due to the sporadic editing of the opening title shots. Random zooms and speedy panning shots of New York get thrown at you like postcards taped to baseballs. Once you have recovered, all that's left is the same old, same old: hostage situation, money is demanded, but (just like swordfish) there is a stupid twist that has something to do with the stock market. This movie begs to be be intelligent but, between Travolta dropping f-bombs to get street cred and crowbarring Tony Soprano as the Mayor of NY, you instantly stop caring. This movie also makes NYC cops look like idiots. On the way to deliver Travolta's ransom money, more cops and citizens die than are on the train in the first place. One cop rides his motorcycle into a parked car. All in all, nothing happens in this movie. If you still want to watch this movie make sure to watch Swordfish first. I would give this movie a C- but since it has Denzel, I'm going to bump it up a little bit. Rating: C+.
Orphan
Oh, Dear God. Well, you should already know what you are getting in this movie. Creepy little girl gets adopted by a normal family and then things start going wrong and it turns out she is a demon or something. You are partially right except for two things: 1. The family is not normal. They live in Conneticut where everyone is apparently depressed all the time. By the end you want them to all die anyway. 2. The girl is not a demon but something equally as stupid. In the end, this is one of those movies that amps up the flute-a-phones so that every time someone turns a corner, answers their cell phone, or opens the medicine cabinet, you will think something is about to jump out at you. The funny thing is, it only happens about 1 out of every 5 times. So, at some point you will jump because they have cried wolf so often. Is it scary... yes but only in the way of someone screaming in your ear. You get what you expect. Rating: C.
.
A Perfect Getaway
This movie is an instant hit as long as it stays where it belongs... on TNT on a Saturday afternoon while it is raining outside. I could definitely see myself watching Drumline and seeing a notification "A Perfect Getaway" up next. The storyline is pretty basic: 3 couples go on vacation... one of the couples is a pair of murders. The couples come in three flavors: nerdy suburbanites, hunting southerners, and trailer trash. Now, I won't give away which couple are the killers, but I will tell you that the movie is full of fake-outs. Everyone has a legitimate reason to be the killer and you will not miss any of these clues because the camera will zoom up and play dramatic music every time a fake-out occurs. Timothy Olyphant, star of Hitman, a soldier in Transformers and the bad guy in Live Free or Die Hard, actually gave an okay performance. This is a hard thing to admit because I hate him in all other movies. He is right up there with the asian guy from the Hangover. You will see this movie reinvent itself 4 different times throughout. It almost feels like there were 4 different directors and probably 6 different endings, something I'm sure would be on the DVD. I felt like this movie tricks the audience so many times that once you know the ending you cannot go back and watch the movie because you will wonder, "Why would they say that if no one could hear them? Why pretend not to be the killers behind lock doors?". Rating: B-.
The Ugly Truth
You do not need to actually watch this movie. You can just watch P.S. I Love you and 27 Dresses while eating 30 cold gorditas from the grimiest Taco Bell near you. Then, wait an hour. The horrible gut bomb you drop later will be The Ugly Truth. To be fair, I should not review this movie because I never finished watching it. That's pretty rough when I can normally sit through anything that graces the screen of my television set. From what I did watch, the story is exactly as I have described above. You have the self-loathing Jesse Spano played by Katherine Heigl, who just so happens to have cats and hate men. Then you have some grown up A.C. Slater played by Gerard Butler who somehow has a TV show all about bashing women and romance. I'm sure by the end they learn something from one another. They probably fall in love due to a borderline love/hate relationship, then something happens probably due to a mis-communication of some sort. Then someone makes a grand gesture and they compromise. Blah blah blah. No one should ever have to watch this repetitious drivel.
Rating: F-.
Abrams Boldly Goes…
by Mike Agnew Jr.
I honestly don't know what took me so long to write about this movie. It instantly sky-rocketed to my personal Top Ten among the likes of Rocky, Superman, and Back to the Future. I originally saw the movie as a better-than-average-quality bootleg. I downloaded it and watched it by myself. At the end of the movie... I stood up... and clapped... in my family room... by myself. I have since raved about the movie to my friends and loved ones. I have since watched the movie 11 12 13 times. (I watched it a few times since starting this post.) If you want to watch it... come over... and I will gladly make it 12 14. What follows is my review of Star Trek:
Well, we are back again... we are welcomed to the bridge of Starship Enterprise. But wait... these are not the faces we know... oh no... no, no, no... Are we about to watch a re-make? Well, yes and no. Yes, this is a Star Trek movie with new actors portraying the mantles of Captain Kirk, Spock, and Dr. McCoy as well as the rest of the Enterprise team we have come to know and, for some, love. But please do not be fooled. This movie does not simply whore its trademark and characters with the goal of making a movie that makes a video game that makes a puff daddy remix and video. This movie stands alone and single-handedly re-defines the Star Trek Universe.
The Star Trek Legacy
Making a new Star Trek movie is a very difficult task. You have to worry about the reception from millions of Star Trek Fans. It's not like any of them could actually beat anyone up or cause any physical harm, but I'm sure they are quite annoying. I fit more in the middle... well... maybe a little closer to the Trekkie side but I can't speak Klingon or cite episodes or anything like that. I started watching Star Trek the Next Generation afternoons after school, but before you judge, I was also watching Batman the Animated Series, Power Rangers, and Breaker High. But, I am a science fiction junky, especially when it deals with stories that cross paths. When new Star Trek shows started coming out, I had to give them a go. I still remember Star Trek Deep Space Nine's premiere. It was actually in prime time and there was a handful of Next Generation stars to give it the Star Trek cred it needed. eventually the show started repeating itself and I stopped watching. Then I decided to go backwards and start watching the original generation...Kirk, Spock, Scotty.
See....they were young once too
I went right into the films. To my surprise, they were really good. I mean, you had to wait through the "city council" scenes where something I didn't understand was being decided or something. But once that was over you could get back to the action and back to the characters. There was something about this team that was different from the rest. Sure, in the other shows the characters went through space, got in a problem, solved it, and learned a lesson. But they never did it with style. Kirk... he was the man. And it was fun to watch him work. I was instantly hooked. I even liked the one where they traveled back to the 80s to get a whale... that was the whole movie... but it was fun. The original Star Trek Team: Kirk, Spock, Chekov, Sulu, Uhura, McCoy, Scotty. Time after time they beat the bad guys and did so in the coolest way... as friends just hanging out on a spaceship.
Star Trek: The New Class
If you are even vaguely familiar with all things Trek you will be sitting through the movie with your character checklist, and don't worry they are all there. Also, the casting was... perfect. I had a few reservations before seeing the movie for the first time. Sylar as Spock had me the most worried but after the opening scene I was so into the story that the poop that is the show Heroes left my mind completely. (I will be tackling that review shortly). Another hiccup was Sulu played by Harold of Harold and Kumar. But, then again, would anyone really expect Abrams to be able to find someone with a voice even close to George Takei. All-in-all, the new cast is terrific.
No Belding, No Screech
Music and the Sounds of Silence
Enterprise brushing some dirt off its shoulder
The Music, Sounds, and Silences of this film were the key to the story of this movie. Within the first 5 minutes of this movie you will be emotionally pulled in one direction and then thrown in another. Abrams takes pwhew pwhew out of fighting in space, turns down the volume on your TV, and replaces it with a wondrous orchestra. Instantly you become more focused on the visuals and the emotion than the fight itself. Abrams uses silence to fill the emptiness of space, a feeling that we rarely see in films set in the void of space. There are times when you will hear gun fire outside a ship and then from inside the ship. My personal favorite note about the music of Star Trek is how close it relates the music of LOST. When I first watched the opening scene I whispered to myself, "Claire's baby." Keep your eyes out for the scene where the Enterprise rises out of the dust of space and the music was almost exactly the same as the "We are going on a hike around the Island and it will take 3 episodes" theme from the show.
Lensflare.com
We decided on 300 reading lights.....
If you are looking to be a photographer and want to see the proper use of lens flare then this movie is for you. What I am trying to say is that Abrams uses lens flares a lot in this movie. But don't worry you don't need shades....unless you are from Miami and wear shades to bed. <insert 80's riff> The flares give the sense of feeling the sun, the brightness, and the warmth. Since, as you might have guessed, most of the movie takes place in space. Space has suns and stars. They are bright. The twinkle. And they get in the lens. Also the new Enterprise bridge is setup with some 200 Ikea lights increasing the amount of lens flare indoors as well.
Final Thoughts
To Non-Star Trek Fans: Watch the movie. You don't need any Star Trek knowledge to understand this story.
To Star Wars Fans: Suck it up. Yes, Star Wars is better, but I've got to be honest. Round 2 of Star Trek is much better than the second round of Star Wars movies. Nothing will ever beat Han or Yoda but for normal humans and half-vulcans these guys are not half-bad. bah doon, chiiich...
To Non-Science Fiction People: Sit quietly and look at the screen. Do not scoff or walk out at any point. Once everyone else has enjoyed the movie, spend the after movie discussion smiling and nodding. You can get back to the Ugly Truth. You might need to watch it twice if you never "get" time travel.
To Star Trek Fans who date someone who hates Star Trek: Rent 21 or The Ugly Truth on DVD and offer it as an alternative. Once you throw both movies out at 10 minutes you will be able to pop in Star Trek and enjoy.
To LOST fans : You have less than a month before your next LOST fix. This is the best substitute I can provide.
This is one of the best movies I have seen in a while. The story is cyclical, which I love, and even though it starts a new Star Trek timeline it still leaves the original where it belongs, as legend.
In the words of the great Captain Kirk......"Buckle up."
World’s Finest as Public Enemies
by Mike Agnew Jr.
Captain Marvel/Superman Show Down
The third DC straight-to-DVD animated movie was released the other day, Batman /Superman : Public Enemies. This movie was based on the Public Enemies graphic novel and in no way strays from the made-for-adults genre of super-hero movies DC has been releasing. (See my explanation)
"Superman, when I tell you to, BRING THE HEAT!"
The basic plot is that Lex Luthor is now president of the United States. The country has fallen on rough economic times and crime is on the rise. Luthor hires a handful of super-heros to clean up the streets for the government "unlike some other vigilantes who think they are above the law" a.k.a. Superman and Batman. So Luthor frames Superman right from the beginning and places a billion dollar bounty on his head. This gets every villian and hero up off the couch and hunting down this duo. Let the melee begin. This movie has a slew of characters in it: Grodd, Solomon Grundy, Power Girl, Captain Atom, Giganta, Mongol, Mr Freeze, Captain Marvel, Killer Frost, Hawkman, and many more characters make an appearance including Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce Wayne's butler. There are also references to the Flash and the Joker and a match up between Batman and all the different "freeze" characters.
The voice acting is perfect thanks to the return of the original cast from the Batman and Superman Animated Series: Kevin Conroy as Batman, Tim Daly as Superman, and Clancy Brown as Lex Luthor. This gives the movie that authentic feel and adds a little LOST-esk-ness since Clancy Brown played Kelvin Inman (the army sergeant/ Dharma button masher on LOST) and Tim Daly voices the "Previously on LOST..." at the beginning of some episode.(Although denied by the writers and probably Dewitt too, I still believe it's him). There are also some guest voices from Allison Mack of Smallville and John C. McGinley of Scrubs.
Most Awkward DC moment EVER!!!
One of my favorite moments, and probably one of the most shocking was kiss shared between an overweight Amanda Waller and a krypto-roiding Luthor. A few moments later Waller turns on him and, after a long pause, Luthor exhales a curse under his breathe. Again....not a kids movie....but very funny. One quick note about the size of the characters....The original Public Enemies graphic novel was illustrated by Ed McGuinness who has the ability to make characters look huge. He actually puts muscles on top of muscles. So when you watch this movie just make a note that they animators actually toned down the size of the characters....except maybe Powergirl....but for that you will have to watch.
Delve Into Agnew’s Mind
Login the Old Fashined Way
Polls
Loading ...Recent Comments
- Kate Hallman on Jon and Agnew Show 2.1.12
- Jeff H on Jon and Agnew Show 11.30.11
- Ry on Jon and Agnew Show 10.16.11
- Erin Magarity on Jon and Agnew Show 10.16.11
- Erin Magarity on Jon and Agnew Show 10.16.11
