Ok, I have to admit that I was a huge fan of the Fox Network early 90’s cop show 21 Jump Street. What can I say other than it was a show about cops who looked like teenagers so using TV logic they go undercover in high school as students to catch bad guys. I mean the show gave birth to Depp and Grieco, nuff said.
It’s been twenty years since that show first first premiered and now we have the long-awaited, much-anticipated film adaptation of said show set for spring of 2012. It’s going to be an action-comedy but still using the same premise as the show, but instead of taking the original characters from the show and just having new actors play them the film just returns to the 21 Jump Street program with a new batch of recruits. So, instead of Johnny Depp and Richard Grieco we get Channing Tataum and Jonah Hill instead. I did read that Depp will appear in this film in a major cameo. Now, here’s to hoping they’re keeping Grieco’s appearance as a major secret.
The first trailer has been released and it’s in glorious red band. So, as I look at the trailer I will assume that this film will either be a very hard PG-13 or a soft R rating.
21 Jump Street has a release date of March 16, 2012.
It looks like the Grand Theft Auto franchise from Take-Two Interactive and Rockstar Games will continue onward with a new title that was recently announced through a debut trailer.
Grand Theft Auto V looks to be a sort of sequel to Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas which was set in the fictional west coast state of San Andreas and the city of Los Santos. While not much else about this upcoming have been released to the public the reaction to the trailer has been extremely positive. This franchise remains one of the cornerstone of the console gaming industry. As more and more information becomes available from Take-Two Interactive, Rockstar Games and Rockstar North I am sure the hype for Grand Theft Auto V will continue to just go up.
There hasn’t been an announcement as to which gaming platform the title will come out on, but it would be a major surprise if this title doesn’t get a multiplatform release onto the Xbox 360, PS3 and maybe the PC and the upcoming new Nintendo console, Wii U.
So, anyone else excited by the prospect of another new Grand Theft Auto title?
Well, actually, normally I don’t post at all, since I never finish video games anymore. I’m working on that. But today was special! I got a free pass to see an advance screening of this film (and by advance, I mean people on the East Coast are about to see it, I’m sure…but moving on…). I initially wasn’t going to go, having failed utterly in my attempts to enjoy the previous Harold and Kumar offering. I’m sure the target audience for these films are people who don’t know who Cheech Marin or Tommy Chong are, but until marijuana is legalized everywhere, this kind of stoner humour is going to have its own demographic to target. I’m okay with that! The key for any film-maker, regardless of genre or intent, is please – please god – tell a good story. Make a good film! That’s all I ask. Write a script that doesn’t suck, get some actors who can play the characters you’re drawing, and find a director who has a vision of what the movie will look like, and you’re generally going to create something watchable. Some of those movies are still going to be terrible misfires, but I always enjoy the effort being put forth.
So is this latest iteration of Harold and Kumar a good movie? I’m surprised to find myself saying… yes, I thought so. Now, I will admit, this movie is almost certainly going to play better to a sold out theater (my particular screening was on the I-Max in 3-D) on a huge screen. When the entire audience is laughing and having a good time, it’s easy to get swept up in the momentum of the film. I’m usually not a huge ‘out loud’ laughter guy at the movies, but I did find myself cracking frequent smiles, and some parts incited me to laugh out loud.
The film traces yet another night-long misadventure that teams up perennial screw-up Kumar, still living in the same junked apartment and getting high every day (and once again without a job), with straight-laced family-man Harold, who has married his heart-throb Maria and landed a cushy job on Wal-Street. The pals begin the film estranged, and part of the journey that we take with Harold and Kumar is them coming to realize how important their friendship is. Some of the messages in the film are surprisingly heartwarming, despite the comic ridiculousness of every situation that the unlucky pair find themselves in. All of the familiar characters are there, albeit in cameo appearances (even Neil Patrick Harris, though his sequence was particularly fun), and we add some new faces who frame a story that is basically what you’d expect. All of the locations and situations are new, but we are definitely treading familiar ground. Still, I thought this movie felt a good deal fresher than Harold and Kumar Escape Guantanamo Bay. It has a spirit of fun and a great energy throughout the entire ride, and neither the highs nor the lulls felt overdone to me. The script is fairly tight, all things considered, and breezes in at an 89 minute running time which feels just right.
Oh, and one last thing. For once, yes, I actually thought that the 3-D added something to the film. A lot of the film’s elements are coming at you off of the screen, and the film has an incredibly refreshing sense of humour about how ridiculous it is that a Harold and Kumar movie is in 3-D at all. It was intended to be released in 3-D, as opposed to the cute studio trick of using a computer to add 3-D effects in post to jack up ticket prices, and the effort pays off. By the end I still found myself a little annoyed with the uncomfortable 3-D glasses, and I’m still hardly a champion of paying a premium for 3-D effects, but this film does make good use of them. I’m sure it would still be enjoyable even in 2-D, but in this case I’d recommend seeing the 3-D version.
My sister Erin and I went and saw The Rum Diary on Tuesday and wow, was it ever a disappointment. The commercials make it look like a wild comedy featuring Johnny Depp looking all sexy and decadent but, in reality, the film is kind of a mess that is almost schizophrenic in its attempts to be more than the sum of its parts.
Johnny Depp plays Paul Kemp, an alcoholic writer who goes to Puerto Rico in the early 60s and takes a job writing horoscopes for the local newspaper. The job leads to him drinking a lot and hanging out with characters who are sweaty and so generally grimy that it’s borderline revolting to even see them on-screen. (Giovanni Ribisi, giving a distressingly bad performance, is the main offender.) Paul also ends up kinda befriending (but not really) a businessman named Sanderson (Aaron Eckhart), who you know is a bad guy because he’s the only character who dresses in pastels. Anyway, Sanderson has a girlfriend named Chenault (Amber Heard) and Chenault really has no purpose for existing other than for Paul to fall in love with her and save her from a terrible future of being married to a rich, handsome man. The film starts out as a comedy and then, after about an hour, it suddenly turns all serious and preachy. It’s as if the film can’t decide whether it wants to be an unfunny comedy or a laughable drama.
Luckily, Johnny Depp is on screen for nearly the entire film and, as we watched, Erin and I quickly learned that the best way to enjoy The Rum Diary is just to allow yourself to be carried away by the Deppness of it all. Don’t think about how the film’s kind of a mess and how Aaron Eckhart is more of a designated villain than a real villain and ignore the fact that Chenault is a sexist fantasy and tune out the preachy dialogue and try not to think about how everyone appears to have had more fun making the film than you’re having watching it, and just concentrate on Johnny Depp being all kinds of sexy.
If you do that, The Rum Diary is a tolerable 2 hours.
The latest “AMV of the Day” is one that should elicit more than it’s fair share of “awwwwwws” and may even bring some to happy tears.
“Maya and Companion” is the latest AMV which has caught my eye and I’m glad that it had. I’ve been awash in blood and violence for the horror-theme month of October so coming across this video more than balances out all of October. The video takes scenes of the Azumanga Daioh character Sakaki and her pet kitty Maya. Those scenes alone would be enough to bring a smile to my face (this anime is one of my favorites), but editing the scenes together and pairing it with the song “Good Company” from the late 80’s Disney animated film, Oliver & Company, just sent the video into sweetness and big smile overload.
I must give thanks to this amv’s creator, kireblue, for making this video and I wasn’t surprised to read and hear that it was a huge hit with the con-goers at this year’s Otakon 2011 anime convention in Baltimore.This amv would’ve been one I wish I could’ve seen live with a full audience.
Anime: Azumanga Daioh
Song: “Good Company” – from Oliver & Company (sung by Myhanh Tran)
Through the Shattered Lens 