Sunday, May 30, 2010

The Lose Of Two Legends Edition

The word legend gets through around a lot, especially lately. But this past week, we lost two people who will live on in the world of Pop Culture.

Gary Coleman died just a few days ago. For some people, he became a punchline when he was working as a secruity guard and got beat up. But for people of my generation, he will always be Arnold "Whatcha you talking, Willis" Drummond on Different Strokes. He died of a brain hemorrage after a fall in his home in Utah. That shows how serious of a condition Bret Michaels condition could have been. The good news is he made a great recovery, enough to win Celebrity Apprentice and also appear on the finale of American Idol as well.

We also lost Academy Award Nominee Dennis Hopper. He was one of the few actors the could pull off crazy and you weren't entirely sure if he was acting or if he was actually being Dennis Hopper. He was in Easy Riders with Jack Nicholson. He has appeared in several movies and TV shows, even doing a stint for a couple of years in TV commercials. He had fallen on hard times recently too. It was unfortunate as many saw that his best days were behind him and his health failing.

Last year we lost a lot of celebrities, and I have a bad feeling that this year we could be heading for an equally bad year.

Let us have a moment of silence for the passing of Gary Coleman and Dennis Hopper

Thursday, May 20, 2010

The Iron Man 2 Review and Transformers news.

So I finally saw Iron Man 2. Just two weeks after it's debut. I was a huge fan of the first movie so I can became giddy like a school girl when I heard about the sequel. It was definitely louder then the first movie, which isn't really a bad thing. I have a few complaints about it as well as a few happy thoughts. First, the complaints. We all knew when Disney bought the rights to Marvel characters there would be some cross over potential. But I didn't know that Tony Stark's dad, Howard was actually Walt Disney in disguise. I'm pretty sure I saw World Showcase in this plans of the original Stark Expo. Atleast Mickey Mouse didn't wind up in the War Machine suit. I expect that in Iron Man 3. Mickey Rourke's character was decent despite the fact he barely was Whiplash (other then the Monaco Race scene). But the thing to remember is he was a mix of two Iron Man villians so that explains it. It was a little long and there was some scenes that just went a little far. Drunk Iron Man and a DJ was excessive as was him sitting in a doughnut.

I liked Terrance Howard in the first one. I got excited for Don Cheadle in the role for this one, but he really didn't have a whole lot to do in this movie until half way through the movie so that was disappointing. Gwentyhe Paltrow is barely in this movie as well, which was another disappointment.

I have always been a fan of Sam Rockwell. He is one of those actors that most people wouldn't reconigize but everyone has seen him in a few movies. He makes smarmy look awesome. He is a douche in this movie, and I like it.

Robert Downey Jr is excellent once again. I could watch him read the phone book and I think I'd be on the edge of my seat. He has a comedy coming out that I am looking forward to.

Scarlett Johansen kicks major butt in this movie! She is bad Ass.

Overall, it was a good action movie. I give it a 7 out of 10.
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Megan Fox apparently is out of Transformers 3. Both her and Bruckheimer are saying it was their choice to cut her. I admit that I didn't see the 2nd one. She has kind of faded after back to back diasters at the box office (Transformers 2 and Jennifer's Body) so I can't say I blame Jerry Bruckheimer.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

The South Park 200-201 Follow-Up Rant Edition

I know that I have recently commented about the issues with the 200 and 201st episodes of South Park, but last week I read an article in the USA Today about it and it has gotten me thinking even more.

In case you are not aware of the issue with the episodes, Comedy Central pulled them from rotation, airing them only once and Episode 201 was aired in a Bleeped out fashion, totally missing the point of the episode. The storylines revolved around the Muslim Prophet Muhammad appearing in a bear suit (or perhaps the issue was him appearing at all). A Twitter account owned by someone named Abu Talhah Al-Amrikee threatened to kill Matt Stone and Trey Parker for this. Perhaps it wasn't a direct threat, but they mentioned Theo Van Gough, a film director that made about movie about Muhhamad that was killed by a Muslim for it. That is pretty clearly a threat to me. What's even funnier to me is Al-Amrikee is stating he is allowed to say what he wants due to free speech because he is an American Citizen. Isn't Stone-Parker American citizens too?

Last season South Park lampooned two of my favorite things. One is professional wrestling (Episode 191). The other is a show called Ghost Hunters (Episode 189). Did I threaten them? No. You know what I did. I didn't watch the episodes. It really is that easy. If something offends you, don't watch it.

It seriously bothers me to have someone in the USA, let alone New York City, freak out about this and then claim Freedom of Expression. It works both ways. It kind of reminds me of the quote from A Few Good Men when Jack Nicholson's character talks about "the blanket of freedom we all rise and sleep under and then questions it when it's appropriate". Ok, I am paraphrasing it, but you get the point.

And yet nothing has been done to the man for threatening to kill Matt Stone and Trey Parker. Can anyone explain that to me? When even recently a man was arrested for threatening to blow up the WWE Offices and visit the building with a machete and a machine gun. Zavr Peygumbari was charged with one count of second-degree harassment, two counts of second-degree threatening and four counts of fourth-degree threatening. He made 20 calls to WWE Headquarters which such threats. And you may be asking yourself, why would he be this upset at professional wrestling? His favorite Diva, Mickie James had been recently released from the company.