Memoirs of a Fanboy

First Avengers Poster!!!

2011-06-15T07:19:00.000-07:00

The first promotional image from Joss Whedon's The Avengers!

Alright, if you've payed any attention to Hollywood these days, you'll notice that superhero movies are all the rage. The two big contenders who seem to take all the glory in both the cinemas and their comic book predecessors are DC and Marvel.

While I'm not nearly as well versed in comics as I am in film or television, there's some pretty simple facts about these companies that most geeks/nerds/fanboys/fangirls/soccer moms who took their 8 year olds to Watchmen know.

DC is behind iconic characters like Superman, Batman, The Green Lantern and Wonder Woman.

Marvel has brought about household names such as Captain America, The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man.

Both are the heaviest hitters in the superhero industry, both have created a garish amount of movies as of late, and in the near future, both will be putting out movies wherein all their heroes gather together to form a sort of Spandex Key Club

Marvel's upcoming film, The Avengers, will fit the bill by taking take all the heroes already established in their recent films and bringing them together to fight some sort of villain who apparently couldn't just be handled by a monstrous mutant, a genetically enhanced super-human, a technological genius or a god.

Fortunately, we know that the movie is in good hands; Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy, Firefly and Serenity, is behind the wheel. We here at Memoirs of a Fanboy, (meaning me) are fairly sure that the film should be quite well done just knowing this simple fact.

But enough ranting; lets get onto the poster!

Here it is again for good measure:

So who do we have here? The Hulk? Check. Iron Man? Check. Captain America? Check. Thor? Check.

But here's the deal, we also have two other faces in the poster. One familiar and one not so much. The first, being the woman in the upper right hand side of the poster, is none other than Black Widow, the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent we see sent to keep an eye on Tony Stark in Iron Man 2. While she certainly proved her mettle, she is by no means a superhero, possessing no known super powers besides being able to find a way into increasingly tighter latex. It should be interesting to see how she is involved with the Avengers.

The next face is that of Hawkeye, another member of the Avengers with absolutely no super powers. In the original Marvel comics, Hawkeye is the most accurate archer in the world and joins The Avengers solely on this basis. However in Thor, we get a blink and you'll miss it cameo from Hawkeye who appears to be working for S.H.I.E.L.D.

I'm not quite sure what to make of Hawkeye other than that he looks pretty uninteresting. Or gay. In a Legolas sort of way...

The Avengers hits the big screen on May 4, 2012!

Who would you like to see as the villain in The Avengers? Sound off in the comments below!

Blame Society

2011-06-09T13:46:00.000-07:00

BlameSociety is a group of total nerds who use a mix of British humor and geek lingo to create hilarious videos. Blame Society creates spin offs of Chad Vader, (their most popular video series), with various other fictional characters that they've thought up.

As a big fan of these guys, I couldn't help but post about the fact that my question was featured in their latest video! :D

Check it out below, along with some of my other favorites from these guys!

Napoleon Dynamite Heads To The Small Screen!

2011-05-16T20:04:00.000-07:00

I don't even know how to react to this one. I'm a fan of the original Napolean Dynamite movie that came out in 2003, but this... I don't know what to make of this.

The movie in itself was idiocy coupled with stupidity all wrapped up with a nice wallop of downright bizarre.But, (and that's a big but) it was very original. I get the feeling that creating a series, an ongoing week-after-week dose of Napolean, will quickly kill off the originality the show's predecessor oozed of.

With that said, I'm looking forward to seeing more of the series. Hopefully it'll prove me wrong and surmount to a few good laughs.

One interesting tidbit is that all the cast members from the film will be reprising their roles in the series. That should help to bring in viewers and keep to the sense that the show really is a continuation of the film.

Napolean Dynamite will be airing on FOX in the summer of 2012. Check out the trailer below.

Star Wars Easter Eggs!

2011-05-10T09:57:00.000-07:00

I've created my first post as co-contributor for Spoiler Whore!

Go check it out here and don't forget to follow and comment!

Countdown: Top Ten Memorable Movie Deaths

2011-05-08T18:56:00.000-07:00

No, I'm not going to make this an excuse to showcase grotesque scenes of gore that is the staple of oh so many a horror film. Instead, I'll be showcasing the top ten most thought-provoking, emotional, humorous (can death be humorous?) or downright blaze-of-gloryesque deaths.

Spock: Yes, he came back to life one movie later, but that certainly didn't lessen the impact his death had on audiences across the world in that summer of '83.

Spock, like Data a generation later, embodied the human potential to grow and killing him off was like a swift kick to the hearts of Trekkies everywhere.

Wash: The witty pilot of everyone's favorite cowboy spaceship, Hoburn Wash's sudden and unexpected death at the hands of cannibalistic, barbaric Reavers, after just having saved the entire crew through a series of incredibly skillful maneuvers was a shock to many fans of the short-lived Firefly series.

Though his death was upsetting, (especially to me :\) some of the latest Firefly fiction has established an interesting plot line wherein Zoey, Wash's widow is pregnant with their child.

Vinzinni: After being tracked down and having witnessed both his unfortunate allies fall before him to the 'masked man', Vinzinni resorted to simple trickery, hoping to poison his opponent in a so called game of will. To Vinzinni's demise, the masked man, none other than Buttercup's long lost love, Westley (SPOILER!), had trained himself to develop an immunity to the very same poison that Vinzinni had put into his glass.

Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader: The death of Anakin Skywalker, hero, villain and the focal point for the entire Star Wars saga, was nothing short of tragic. Anakin's rise, fall, redemption and ultimately death, remains to this day an epic; one of the greatest cinematic stories ever told.

Boromir: Of all the deaths we witness in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, none is more tragic and depressing than that of Boromir's. His possession by the ring and his desperateness to defend his people sent him into near madness, betraying his oath, his morals and in the end his very life to the power of the One Ring. What makes his demise all the more bitter is his redemptive fight at the end of the first film, sacrificing his life for his childlike Hobbit companions and regaining his honor in postmortem.

Captain Miller: At the climax of Saving Private Ryan, after fighting a grizzly, desperate and downright brutal battle, the good Captain and his squad of soldiers did what they set out to accomplish; they saved Private Ryan. Miller's last words, whispered to Ryan, wrap up the tale perfectly in an emotional atom bomb, "Earn this."

If you haven't already shed a tear during the film (Cylon?) you're sure to do so now.

Maximus: After having fought valiantly as a gladiator in the Roman Colosseum, Maximus was injured before his final encounter with Emperor Commodus. As his final act of vengeance against the cruel Caesar, Maximus slew him in the sand, but not before Commodus mortally wounded Maximus.

Collapsing in the blood-tarnished sand of the arena, Maximus finally reunited with his family.

William Wallace: Having fought the good fight, Wallace gave his life over to the enemy as a testament to his unwavering principle of FREEDOM! Though his death was gruesome, his legacy lives on till this day.

King Leonidas: In the end, after fighting for days on end against the insurmountable might of the Persian army, King Leonidas and his 300 Spartan warriors fell to a shower of enemy arrows, but not without proving one powerful point, gods don't bleed.

Unnamed "Joker's Vanishing Trick" Thug: While it may very well be one of the most iconic moments from Batman's The Dark Knight, I couldn't actually find a good picture of this guy. Oh well, if you've seen the film its likely you won't have forgotten this particular scene.

Suffice to say, the Joker pulled off one of the best magic tricks ever.

Agree? Disagree? Sound off in the comments below!

Getting Back Into the Routine

2011-04-25T16:09:00.000-07:00

Red Friday: Maybe you've heard about this new craze of sorts that's sweeping the nation. Okay, so its less of a craze and more of a gigantic patriotic ball that American citizens are trying to get rolling.

Basically, its a group on Facebook, click here if you will ----------> RED FRIDAY

The group's main shtick is that they'd like people to wear red, any sort of red on every Friday in open support of our troops. I liked the idea so much, that I went ahead and created this little montage for the event.

It's nothing special, at all, but I had a good time making it.

Free Star Trek Books:

I get free Star Trek books in the mail. Its by far the coolest perk of being a geeky blogger with a humble 55 followers. Simon and Schuster were very generous and simply asked if I'd like to receive their latest novels. Of course I said yes! I LOVE Star Trek, and I LOVE Star Trek fiction! Wait, isn't all Star Trek basically fiction? Whatever...

It's awesome, I love it and I thought I should at the very least give a big thank you to the folks who author and distribute these fantastic novels. In fact, if you like Star Trek or Sci-Fi for that matter, check out these great Star Trek novels here.

Might I suggest Watching the Clock by Christopher L. Bennett? Very compelling novel. Especially for those hard core Trekkies... Trekkers?

Civilnation:

I'm going to take a guess that if you're reading this, that you're a blogger, or at the very least, versed in the World Wide Web.

Now I'm going to take another guess. How many times have you simply stated your opinion, be it a short comment on Youtube, Twitter or Tumbler and the next thing you know, someone's verbally attacking you for no particular reason. Whether or not those really do intend it or not, their comments can be harmful. Very harmful. Heck, you may even get insults thrown at you by your friends on Facebook.

That's where Civilnation comes in. Civilnation is a non-profit organization who's goal is to make the Internet, and its denizens, a more friendly, accepting and less abussive place. While I am downright against regulating speech, it is a freedom after all, I think it's imperative that we at the very least educate and try to be examples for the online community.

If you're interested in pledging to Civilnation, or would simply like to pass on the link and get the word around, click here.

Alright, so that's all for today. I'll be getting back to my traditional posting style shortly, but in the meantime I might as well ask another reader question!

Who is your all time favorite movie character?

I'm back; again...

2011-04-22T05:51:00.000-07:00

Yes, its been a while. But, it seems like this is a reoccurring trend for me:

1. Post belligerently for a few consecutive weeks.

2. Leave the blogging world entirely for various different 'real world' reasons.

3. Return to blogging to thunderous applause from all in the blogging community.

4. Wash and repeat.

So I may have stretched that second to last one a bit. But nonetheless, I'm back, and excited to be so! I have a lot in mind for 'Memoirs'! Oh, and lest we forget, I've also yet to post on Spoiler W****, so I'm looking forward to that in the near future!

Yeah, so again, I'm really glad to be back. I'm not going to go into the whole description of how the real world took over. Instead I'll use one word that should sum up the past 6-7 months of my life college.

Yes, prep for college has completely overtaken my life, but fortunately it has all payed off and I'll be joining the ranks of lackluster beer chuggers, keg standers and drug abusers come this fall. *Note to self; don't join those ranks*

So yeah, that's about it. I'm back. I'll be posting frequently. I'll try to keep up with everyone's blogs. And I've got some new material in store. Hop along for the ride if you haven't done so already.

Almost Pointless

2011-01-26T18:50:00.000-08:00

Okay, this is hardly worth a post, but I thought that this was pretty darn cool.

Follow these quick instructions to get an sweet surprise on ANY Youtube video.

1. Pause a Youtube video.
2. Hold down the 'left' arrow key.
3. Hold down the 'up' arrow key.
4. Enjoy

Roundup: Catching Up & Fanboy Heaven

2011-01-20T14:03:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been a while and I've missed a lot of interesting bits of info. But, it's been quite an eventful week in geeky news.

The Dark Knight Rises:

First off, and possibly the most interesting news break this week was that info regarding the upcoming sequel to Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, has been released. The cast has been revealed for the new heavy-hitting characters.

Anne Hathaway as Catwoman

A picture of Hathaway with her clothes on. Who new?

Yeah, you read that right. I think I just had a geek induced seizure. With the exception of someone like Natalie Portman or Rachel Weisz, I do believe Hathaway will be perfect for the role. She's practically got the sultry seductiveness aspect of the character mastered already.

Tom Hardy as Bane

It's about destiny Picard!

I'll be honest. Until a few weeks ago when this character's name was thrown around as a possible villain in the latest installment in Nolan's Batman films, I hadn't even heard of him. Now that I know the back story to Bane, (he literally breaks Batman), I find myself greatly anticipating what Nolan will do with this character.

Oh, and on a side note; is it just me, or does Nolan love to reuse his actors in different movies?

Liam Neeson Returns To Star Wars!

Upon reading this highly unexpected news this morning, I began to scream for joy. In my mind of course :P

So apparently The Clone Wars will be resurrecting Qui Gon Jinn, master to Obi-wan Kenobi all around awesome Jedi and one of The Phantom Menaces' redeeming qualities. Albeit temporarily. And as a vision. But nevertheless! Qui Gon is back, and Liam Neeson himself will be returning to voice his original character.

First Images For X-Men First Class:

I'll admit, I found the X-Men movies to be dreadfully awful. The acting was atrocious, the stories were rushed, boring and childish, and nothing anyone can say or do will change my opinion.

With that said, I'll give the upcoming prequel, First Class the benefit of the doubt. Here's the first two officially released images.

I don't care if you didn't like the movies either; if you don't know who this is, you might as well leave this site.

Apparently everyone who thinks that Victoria's Secret models are 'mutated' were right.

Fanboy Quote: "None of you seem to understand. I'm not locked in here with you. You're locked in here with ME!" --Rorscach, Watchmen

Fanboy DVD Pick:

O Brother, Where Art Though?

Highlarity ensues when three chain-gang convicts escape a life of menial labor and become a nationwide phenomenon as the traveling band, The Soggy Bottom Boys.

Completely Random: Here it is. Enjoy.

And lastly, here's the start of a new segment. "Reader Questions".

So without further adieu, here's the first question.

"What's your all time favorite song?"

So there you have it.

Answer away in the comments below!

Mine you ask? Oh, wait. You don't? Oh well... 1979 by the Smashing Pumpkins.

I'm Back; Once Again

2011-01-19T17:09:00.000-08:00

Totally random, yet insurmountably awesome pic.

Yes, I've returned. I took a nice long break from writing my blog over the holidays. Frankly, I probably won't be updating as often as I used to, ( I know I know, the whole 'life' excuse is getting old).

It's a shame really. There's so much material that I'd love to follow through with. In the meantime, I'm going to try and dish out a few posts here and there before I inevitably am pulled back into the world of non-blog-writing oblivion.

Oh! Before I began my extended break, I became a co-contributor to Jia's blog, Spoiler Whore. Yes, I promised to never use vulgar language on this blog, but I'll let this one slip. :P

So as I return I'll say this; it's good to be back! Reading everyone else's writings and insights, getting a laugh or two and dusting off the portion of my brain devoted to my own writing skills.

Fanboy Christmas: Alternative Christmas Songs

2010-12-19T12:16:00.000-08:00

Are you getting tired of listening to the same Christmas songs over and over again on the radio? Well, I'm not, but you very well may be. If that's the case, enjoy these alternative, Fanboy-approved Christmas songs!

Hope your Christmas is going wonderfully! And through all the last minute holiday shopping and festivities, don't forget to remember the true nature of Christmas!

Oh, and FYI, yes there is a poll going on, feel free to vote. Just highlight the area were the choices would usually be. Don't ask why, frankly I haven't a clue why my blog's giving me trouble.

Roundup: Pirates 4 Trailer, Chuck Parody, New Segment

2010-12-13T19:17:00.000-08:00

Lo and behold the trailer for the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie; On Stranger Tides.

After watching the trailer, I'm reminded of the failure that was At World's End. However, I'll stay hopeful that this latest installment will be worthwhile.

For those Chuck fans out there, enjoy this MAD spoof of the ever popular spy show. Yes, it's corny, cheesy and childish, but it's the first spoof of Chuck ever made, and that alone warrants attention.

Fanboy DVD Pick:

We Were Soldiers: Following the exploits of a Lieutenant General (Mel Gibson) who led the US in the first major battle of Vietnam, We Were Soldiers provides a unique look not only at the battlefield, but at life back home where the wives and families of those fighting abroad struggle to cope with the war and everything it brings about.

Here's a new segment within a segment titled, 'Completely Random'.

To herald in the new mini-segment is....THIS! Click Here!!!You Won't Regret It!

Opinions on the new Pirates movie? Sound off in the comments below!

Quick Movie Reviews: Despicable Me, Harry Potter & more!

2010-12-10T09:25:00.000-08:00

Once again, I'm back! Life always has a way of tearing me away from my blog, and once again, it was just at the right time. Hence I'm happy to say, that everything is right in the world of Alex.

Well, it's been quite a while since I've reviewed movies. I've been promising this latest installment for quite some time now, and finally, here it is. Enjoy and basque in its awesomeness.

(I went ahead and decided to split this uber-long lineup of movies into two posts, so look forward to my reviews of Toy Story, The Town, Red and Karate Kid shortly.)

The Expendables: If there's one thing that I've learned over the past couple of years of watching movies like Rocky Balboa and Rambo, it's that films directed by Sylvester Stallone are the cinematic equivalent to horse crap. The only reason that they're actually in theaters and not completely overlooked in the Sundance Festival is because his name is on it.

So, it goes without saying that The Expendables is an absolute train wreck. I understand that they were trying to poke fun at all the action movies that have come and gone, but everything was way too overdone! I couldn't believe anything that was going on in the movie which alienated its audience by being blatantly unrealistic, all the while still trying to take itself seriously. Frankly, Rambo was the same way. How can you say that you're making a tribute to action movies with this over-the-top ridiculousness when the last movie that you made had the same exact style, and it didn't make any excuses for itself?!?

Even the movie's vast menagerie of famous action stars couldn't rectify the emptiness and flagrant stupidity that is The Expendables. Frankly, the acting of nearly all the "stars" was incredibly sub par and downright disappointing.

Lastly, it shouldn't come as a surprise that once again, Stallone attempted to humanize his character, which I wouldn't totally be against if it was done in a way that resembles good storytelling in any way shape or form.

Rating: 3 (Vomitous)

Despicable Me: Going into it, I didn't expect much from Despicable Me, it's a CGI children's cartoon about a comical villain, aided by a myriad of even more comical henchman, who finds himself the father of three young orphaned girls. Upon leaving the theater, my original expectations hadn't been proven unwarranted.

Despicable Me is entertaining, but is completely unoriginal. Instead, it tries to use ever popular actor Steve Carrell, cast as the main title villain, to make up for what is obviously recycled material that we've seen hundreds of times in other movies.

Carrell is totally wasted in this role. He's become popular due to his acting; not voice acting. The character hardly draws from Carrell's signature, quirky, style of comedy at all, making the choice to cast Carrell ever the more pointless.

While the children will eat up the asinine antics of Carrell's 'Minions', parents and everyone above the age of 12 will find themselves rewatching a story that has been told countless times.

Rating: 5 (average)

The Last Airbender: While staying partially true to its source material, The Last Airbender deviates away from and neglects what made its inspiration great; fun, character development and the awesome ethnic setting, but mostly fun.

Now, with that said, I really don't understand why this movie has been belittled as much as it has. Yes, it deviates from it's source in more ways than one, yes some of the actors are stiff, and yes Iroh isn't obese, but this movie really isn't that bad.

The original cartoon was fantastic (it's the only anime show that I've ever found remotely interesting), so it hurt to read what many a movie critic had to say about it. And while I really wanted to like this movie more than I do, it simply strayed too far away from everything that made the TV show great to stand outside of the immense shadow that it's descendant cast.
Rating: 5 (average)

Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows: Part 1: With the action entirely taking place outside of Hogwarts, Hallows' creators had the perfect opportunity to do something very different with this latest installment. They did. Deathly Hallows Part 1 is the most unique of all the films and may in fact be my favorite film over the entire series.

The movie, like most of it's predecessors follows the plot of the novels closely and sums up the first half of the book, capturing all it's major plot points, quite accurately. The entire movie had a somber, tenebrous feel to it, and it worked wonderfully.

Hallows was one of my favorite books in the series, so to finally see the initial chase/fight sequence on the big screen was something of a Fanboy dream. I even found myself more wrapped up in the character's adventures, especially the suspense between the trio more so than when I read the book through the first time.

Despite what critics are saying about the movie's so called, cut-off ending, I couldn't disagree more. The film ended at a perfect spot, with an extreme amount of foreboding permeating the very air that you're breathing as the final scene fades to black.

Let me put it this way; everything in Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Part I coalesces perfectly, from character development, to staying true to the book, to the beautiful cinematography, creating one, if not the, finest installments in the Harry Potter movie franchise to date. Only one question remains, will the next and final movie be able to top it and wrap up this adventure that we've all followed for over a decade?

Rating: 8 (superb)

Get ready for the 12 days of Christmas-Fanboy Style, starting December 12th!

Also, it was Gina from Fantasy Casting's birthday yesterday. Head on over to her blog, give her a birthday greeting, and how 'bout a follow while you're at it? You know that's what you'd want on YOUR birthday!

Updated Design!

2010-11-26T13:33:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!

Christmas is right around the corner! I might be jumping the gun by creating a Christmas themed banner, but for some strange reason, I'm in a particularly festive mood today.

I know, I've been slacking off in my posting as of late, and I've promised numerous times to post my reviews of a lot of different movies, but once again, it seems like real life is taking up most of my time. How dare it?!?

For now, I've updated my blog design with a Christmas theme, which will most likely be modified as the holidays get closer.

I'll be keeping up with everyone's blogs, but I won't get around to creating some articles of my own, movie reviews, (cough), until early December.

Until then, have a Merry Christmas!

Green Lantern Trailer, New The Clone Wars outfits & Serenity!

2010-11-17T19:02:00.000-08:00

Well here it is. The long awaited trailer for The Green Lantern!

Okay, is it just me, or does this not look good? I'll admit, I'm not a big fan of Ryan Reynolds. At all. I find him exceedingly annoying, and it looks like they're trying to sprinkle this movie with a little too much of his 'charm'.

And aren't those suits weird? I don't know. It could just be me, but my anticipation for this movie has been drastically lowered.

On the flip side, check out my fellow geek blog Anakin and His Angel, which is celebrating it's tenth anniversary this month! Congrats Jen!

The Clone Wars gets a new look:

Nearly half way through it's third season, The Clone Wars will now be updating the models for it's core three characters, Anakin, Ahsoka and Obi-Wan.

Each character will be sporting a newly designed outfit, with both Obi-Wan and Anakin appearing more like they do in Revenge of the Sith and Ahsoka getting more covered up.

In addition to the new wardrobe, all three characters seemed to have a more 'aged' look. And finally, as witnessed by this awesome video, Ahsoka will be using not one, but two lightsabers in the future. While retaining her original saber, she'll be putting a short lightsaber or shoto to use.

Okay, I'm drawing way too far into this aren't I? All I know is that it's a breath of fresh air seeing these new designs.

Serenity Continues:

Serenity, the ever popular cult-classic sci-fi western is continued once again in a comic book format with the long awaited Shepherd's Tale, and also a free online comic, Downtime.

Besides the fact that it feels REALLY good having new Serenity material to read, there's one very interesting thing I thought that I should point out. Neither of these comics were created by Joss Whedon. In the comments for Shepherd's Tale on the Dark Horse website, it says that Joss' brother, Zack has been passed the creative torch.

As a fanboy who can dream about a future where Firefly/Serenity returns to both the little and big screens, I am currently jumping for joy. Yes, I CAN dream!

Finally, and I know that I've said this many a time lately, but I WILL be posting my reviews of multiple movies tomorrow; Toy Story 3, The Last Airbender, The Town, Despicable Me and Red.

What are your thoughts on the Green Lantern trailer? Love it? Hate it? Sound off in the comments below!

Roundup: Again

2010-11-11T09:08:00.000-08:00

This video, courtesy of both MTV and my fellow geek blog, TCW Reviews, has brought me to one conclusion, one single irrefutable fact; Savage Oppress is a monster. An extremely cool, over the top, killing machine of a monster. If you do nothing else in the day but watch this clip it will be worth it.WATCH IT!!!

Savage is a Monster:

MTV Shows

Okay. So that was pretty cool right? Well here's another video to wet your appetite. Have I been going crazy with the videos lately? Yes. Am I likely to stop anytime in the near future? Probably not... no.

Kung Fu Panda 2 Trailer:

Lastly, coinciding with the release of the Serenity graphic novel The Shepherd's Tale, comes a free online web comic called Downtime. While it is short, it's a great tale with a very authentic Firefly feel to it. Check it out here.

Alright, that's it. Again. I fully intend to create a full length post in the near future, most likely a Quick Movie Review of all of the following; The Town, The Last Airbender, The Karate Kid and Toy Story 3. I know that I've promised this before, but I assure you, I'm working on it. So stay tuned!

Roundup: Video-centric

2010-11-10T18:23:00.000-08:00

I didn't feel liking creating a post today, until I'd seen this. Originally, I wasn't very intrigued by the addition of Darth Maul's brother in The Clone Wars. The whole concept just seemed to be an example of how the team behind The Clone Wars was running out of story lines. In their defense, they're not, the whole thing just felt very Star Trekish. Technically speaking there's only so many new stories that can be created. [1] [2]

You may or may not have heard of Kinect, the new supplemental gaming system to the Xbox 360. For those of you who own one, I envy you all the more; Star Wars will be making it's way to the Kinect system next year.

What is Kinect you ask? To sum it up, it's basically a camera that tracks your movements without the assistance of anything that you hold or wear, and broadcasts the image of you and your movements onto the game that you're playing.

I think. Honestly, the technology is new to me too...

More Kinect: Star Wars Videos

Lastly, and this is a must-watch, I've posted a new video in the upper right hand corner of my blog, (as if you hadn't seen that like a smack in the face when the page first loaded). The video features Brian Regan, a comedian I've discovered recently. Is it just me, or is he one of the funniest stand up comedians you've ever seen? And he's clean. I usually don't fixate on that, (I'll admit, Dane Cook can be funny. At times...) but it's a breath of fresh air to watch someone be funny, without being overly crude or obscene. Just watch, I promise you won't regret it!

And for additional viewing pleasure, check out these other Brian Regan videos; UPS, Serving Sizes, Stupid in School, Flying.

Music in the Media Week (cont.): Top 5 Favorite TV Soundtracks

2010-11-05T18:54:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to get back on track with my old posts since my departure. The first thing I thought that I'd tackle would be Music in the Media Week. However, I think that I'll probably stretch it out to Music in the Media Month. I simply don't like bogging down my blog with all those videos. I need words in between posts, actual words! So the five or so posts that I have lined up, in addition to my first 'Music' post from a few weeks back will make up Music in the Media Month.

Here we go with the next post.

My Top 5 Favorite TV Soundtracks:*

*No, Glee's not one of them. I'll say that you need to listen to each and every song! Also, the additional songs are fantastic! The only reason I didn't place them in the post itself was to conserve space. Also, each additional song is a link, so click away!

5. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles:

Bringing about some of the most touching and chilling music heard on television, The Sarah Connor Chronicles resonated with the hearts of many fans of good television before it's untimely cancellation. The show also managed to stay true to it's movie predecessors as is clearly evident in all three of the following songs.

Sarah Connor's Theme: Heart felt, but oozing with a sense of dread and foreshadowing that just can't be shaken off.

Cromartie in the Hospital: A perfect example of the suspenseful music that perfectly transcended from the big to small screen.

Opening Theme: A great theme that captured the action/adventure feel that accompanied the show.

Additional Listening: Sampson & Delilah-End Credits

4. Chuck:

Featuring old hits by famous artists like The Talking Heads and Rush, and adding new songs from relatively unknown artists like Spoon and Franz Ferdinand, Chuck adds a great bit of variety to the monogamy that is weeknight television music.

The Underdog: Upbeat, fun and a great example of one the indie songs that Chuck features regularly.

Chuck Theme Song/ Short Skirt Long Jacket: Can I just say that this is one of the catchiest songs ever? Every Monday night I find myself whistling along with the opening montage.

Beat the Devil's Tattoo: Another relatively unknown band who's find a welcome home on one of Chuck's latest episodes.

Additional Listening: Got Nuffin'-Once in a Lifetime-Tom Sawyer-Bite Hard

3. Star Wars: The Clone Wars: With a movie composer, Kevin Kiner, behind the wheels of the music composed for The Clone Wars, you'd think that a quality soundtrack would be produced. Well you would be correct in that assumption. The music created for The Clone Wars is, epic, dramatic and diverse in it's ethnicity-derived themes. But first and foremost, it's Star Wars.

Jabba's Palace: Kiner was specifically instructed by George Lucas to create a different theme for each planet visited in the show and to incorporate music from Earth's many different cultures. The first song that features this new brand of Star Wars music was the Arabic-inspired piece that accompanied multiple scenes taking place in Jabba's Palace.

Battle of Christophsis: Absolutely magnificent in it that it evokes a sense of absolute epicness and relays the feeling that The Clone Wars is grand in magnitude.

Battle of Teth: Heard during the ascension of the Tethan cliffs, this fantastic piece of work helped to set the pace for this fast paced action sequence.

Additional Listening: Anakin vs. Dooku-Courtyard Fight-Jabba's Chamber Dance-Ziro's Nightclub Band

Yes, I'm aware that all of these songs are originally from the soundtrack used for The Clone Wars feature film, but the film itself was intended for television to begin with and much of the music used in the movie is used in one way or another in the show itself.

2. Heroes: Do you ever get moved so much by a piece of music that you shiver? No? Just me? I've seriously embarrassed myself by putting this little tidbit about me on the world wide web? Oh well, because that's what happened to me when I first heard Fire & Regeneration. The music composed for Heroes fit with the overall theme of the show extremely well.
From the feeling that you're part of something larger than life while listening to Fire & Regeneration, to the creepiness that is Sylar's Theme, Heroes' diversity and epicness set the tone perfectly for what would be one heck of show. *cough* ...season.

Fire & Regeneration: This is what plays when Chuck Norris defecates. Yes, I went there.

Heroes Action Theme: The title itself suitably sums up this great piece.

Sylar's Theme: The tale of Sylar, the mass murderer of 'heroes', was certainly a disturbing one, all the while accompanied by Sylar's theme.

Additional Listening: He's Frank-David Bowie's Heroes

1. Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Last Airbender spawned some of the most intriguing and inspirational pieces of music my ears have had the fortune to be graced by. The score created for the show set the tone for the show itself with the utmost perfection.
Agni Kai: This song would play every time Firebenders would engage in a mutual duel. Powerful and exhilarating.

The Avatar's Love: Please forgive the poor quality, yes those are footsteps in the background. Beautiful and enchanting, 'Love' is a great example of the passionate side that the show frequented regularly.

Season 3 Trailer Music: Dark, mysterious and foreboding, the music that accompanied the trailer for Avatar's final season couldn't have been more perfect.

Additional Listening: Yuyen Capture Aang-Azula's Theme-Dai Li Headquarters

Wow, that's a lot of videos. Can you tell that I ran out of ways to describe songs? Yeah...

Keep on the lookout for my next MITMM post, The Top Ten Best Trailer Scores along with my reviews of Toy Story 3, The Last Airbender, Karate Kid and The Town, which should actually have words in it. Coherent words, in paragraph form!

What are your favorite TV soundtracks or songs? Feel free to leave links to them in the comments below.

Return of the Fanboy

2010-11-04T09:30:00.000-07:00

Greetings awesome followers! It's been quite some time since my last post. I had just started a week-long segment regarding music in movies and television, when I suddenly dropped off the end of the earth. Hopefully, I left many of you shocked, disappointed and wanting more. Emphasis on 'hopefully'.

I suppose I should explain myself. Well, to put things in layman's terms. Life took over. A mixture of school, family, and a new job took precedence. I'll most likely revisit, the Music in the Media Week segment sometime soon.

Obviously, a lot of news has been coming out in the weeks since I've stopped posting. I've tried to keep track of all the cool happenings, rumors and news, but alas, by the time that I've gotten around to writing this post, I've most likely forgotten about a good deal of quality news.

Well, here's my best attempt at compiling everything that I thought was interesting. That I can remember...

Star Trek 2 Villains: Okay, so first off, and I think this is the coolest news/rumor; someone supposedly close to the production of the next Star Trek movie, the sequel to 2009's Star Trek, has revealed five different villains from the original Star Trek series, and left it up to us fans to guess who the villain will be. The choices are;

The Talosians

Gary Mitchell

The Horta

Trelane

Harry Mudd

For those of you unfamiliar with these classic villains, descriptions for each can be found here. Personally, I'd LOVE to see Gary Mitchell take the lead as the next villain, the only thing I could see complicating things is that in this alternate timeline, McCoy seems to have taken the role of Kirk's best friend. As for the rest of them, I think that J.J. Abrams could easily adapt any of them into a great villain.

But who's to say that McCoy can't take the role of Gary in the next movie. Now THAT would be interesting.

Star Wars Sequels: The Internet has been abuzz lately with the rumor that George Lucas will be creating another Star Wars trilogy, taking place after the events of Return of the Jedi.

This supposed sequel trilogy will (according to rumor) follow the exploits of characters other than the Skywalkers. The trilogy is rumored to be released after the final movie of the saga, Return of the Jedi, will be shown in 3D in 2016 or 2017.

Now, I would normally shoot this rumor down right off the bat, and wouldn't even bother posting about it; but I must say, this actually does have a certain amount of credibility to it. The original website that posted this news, IESB, has broken some of the most important Star Wars related news in the past with their 'inside source' in Lucasfilm such as Revenge of the Sith being the first PG-13 Star Wars movie.

For now, I'll contain myself and my thoughts on yet another trilogy, but I'll also be keeping a look out for any and every bit of news regarding this in the future.

Quinlan Vos in The Clone Wars: After coming off it's incredible second season, The Clone Wars' third season seems dull in comparison. Littered with stories that are bogged down by politics, uninteresting characters, and poor character development, The Clone Wars' third season has gotten off to a rough start. However, in it's defense, there are always bright spots. The first two episodes of the new season, 'Clone Cadets' and 'Arc Troopers' were breakout episodes, as was the most recent installment, 'Assassin'.

Now, The Clone Wars promises something to fans of the Star Wars Expanded Universe (novels, video games, comics). Quinlan Vos, a prominent character in tie-in novels that accompanied the prequel trilogy will be making his Clone Wars debut in one of the series' upcoming episodes. Personally, I couldn't be more excited. The only thing that could quell that excitement would be if the show's creators changed the character drastically from his portrayal in all his previous work. (That of a rouge triple-agent Jedi Master whose continuous struggle with the Dark Side puts him over the edge time and time again.)

Does he look like a triple-agent? I didn't think so! However, this could easily be explained away that this is one of the rare times when he's not deep undercover behind Separatist lines. Also, if you recognize the name, congrats. George Lucas liked the character so much that he put a mention to Quinlan in Revenge of the Sith. He even went so far as to put Quinlan's apprentice, Aayla Secura, (the scantily clad blue-skinned Jedi) in the latter two of his prequels. Okay, enough Fanboyish ranting.
Movie Titles Revealed: The titles for Transformers 3 has been revealed, The Darkness of the Moon, as has Batman 3, The Dark Knight Rises. Is it just me, or do both of those sound awefully familiar? The Darkness of the Moon sounds like a Pink Floyd song, (you know which one), and the Dark Knight Rises? Seriously?!? That's all they could come up with? Wow...

Lastly and on a completely different note. Who would like to see the pumpkin I carved for Halloween this year? Well here it is anyway. Creative no?

Aaaaaahhhhhhhh, it's good to be back!

Alright. That's enough. This post is already long and disorderly enough. Thanks to everyone who still kept up with me while I was inactive.

Who do you want to see in the Star Trek sequel? What are your thoughts on another Star Wars trilogy? Can you contain yourself now that I'm back?!?

Music in Media Week!

2010-10-12T10:07:00.000-07:00

This entire week, I'll be creating posts pertaining to the wonderful world of music in mediums such as movies, television and also... um.... well basically just movies and TV.

Music inspires us! It makes us sing and dance, laugh and scream, and sometimes, it brings out the silliest in us. The tone provided by music, sets the pace and ambiance for the viewers. Bottom line, music can make or break movies and television.

So, without further adieu, here's my first post for what I'm declaring is music week!

My Top Ten Favorite Opening Theme Songs:

10. Mash:

Unfortunately I couldn't find the actual opening credits, so this will have to do. Isn't it simply an uplifting song?

9. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air:

It was funny the first time, and it's still funny the hundredth time.

8. Spongebob:

I couldn't help but put our spongy, aquatic friend onto the list, after all, his theme song is pretty much known by children and adults alike. Or maybe it's just the children's parents who heard it every waking day of their lives?

7. Futurama:

Another cartoon, I know I know, but this one's different. It has Zoidberg in it!

6. Star Trek: The Next Generation:

Though the middle three Star Trek series all sported fantastic opening themes, The Next Generation's was the finest by far.

5. All in the Family:

"And you knew where you were then!"

4. Malcolm in the Middle:

The theme showed just how dysfunctional the family was in a manner of 30 seconds.

3. Chuck:

One of the catchiest theme songs, ever!

2. Firefly:

Should I be embarrassed to say that I can quote the lyrics off the top of my head? Nah!!!

1. Band of Brothers:

To this day, it still makes me want to cry.

Honorable Mentions:

The Pacific:

Riveting, but Band of Brothers' opening takes the cake.

That 70's Show:

You knew laughs were going to ensue whenever you heard this theme song.

Star Trek: Voyager:

As much as I loved the Voyager theme, The Next Generation's is a classic.

Feel free to jump on in and create your own music inspired posts, and leave a link to it in the comments section!

Star Wars Blu-Rays: Deleted Scenes

2010-10-05T09:11:00.000-07:00

George Lucas (the creator of Star Wars) while at Celebration V, revealed that his epic sci-fi saga would be converted to Blu-Ray. With this welcome news came a special treat for fans of the films. A scene cut from the original production of Return of the Jedi, wherein we see Luke crafting his new lightsaber as Darth Vader calls out to him through the Force.

This little scene is just a taste of what we can expect from the Blu-Ray releases. Each new scene whether it barely made it into post-production or not, will be fully recreated for the release. Below is a list of deleted scenes that possibly might be added to the saga.

Episode I: The Phantom Menace:

Digital Yoda in Episode I: This has been hinted at for quite some time now. During a documentary, a scene from Episode I, where Yoda is entirely digital could also be seen.

Probability: High

The Waterfall Scene: An extended portion of the Gungan sub sequence, wherein the trio, upon reaching Naboo's capital of Theed, find themselves surfaced directly near a waterfall.

Probability: Medium

Probe Droid Attack: One of my favorite deleted scenes, the probe droid attack explains why Qui Gon and Anakin are running through the Tatooine desert prior to being attacked by Darth Maul. It also adds a nice additional farewell scene for Anakin.

Probability: Medium

Exotic Neimodian Birds Suffocate: At the start of The Phantom Menace, the Jedi divert an attempted poisoning. In the original script, there are two birds who share the room with them. The poison was originally invisible, but as the birds fell to there deaths, the Jedi instantly knew that they were not welcome. I wouldn't put it past them to somehow incorporate this scene into the finished version.

Probability: Low

Episode II: Attack of the Clones:

Assault on the Core Ship: These scenes were tremendously awesome! Coinciding with the larger arena battle scenes in Attack of the Clones, the footage was never completed, with large portions of it even lacking sound. The rough footage was released to members of Hyperspace, the official Star Wars fanclub. Yes, I'm really showing my level of fandom here.

Probability: Medium

Padme's Family: Multiple extended sequences of Padme and Anakin's pre-marriage relationship were cut from the final film. One of my favorites involved Padme taking Anakin to her childhood home for dinner with her parents and sister. The scene, while a little corny, added a certain amount of realism to the duo's relationship.

Probability: Medium

Padme's Bedroom: After meeting Padme's family, Padme shows Anakin her bedroom. It is a quiet scene that showcases Padme's humanitarian work and a small portion of her political background through moving "holo-portraits" that adorn her walls.

Probability: Low

Episode III: Revenge of the Sith:

Yoda arrives on Dagobah: This short scene closes the story of Yoda in the prequel trilogy, allowing for his absence in Episode IV and his eventual discovery in Episode V to have a smooth transition.

Probability: High

Order 66-Clone Trooper Disguise: An additional scene as a part of the Order 66 sequence was cut, wherein Obi-Wan and Yoda confront a group of clones disguised as Jedi and proceed to kill the group who were laying in ambush for Jedi to return to the Temple. An extension of this scene, presumably cut for graphic nature, involved a Jedi youngling who was lured in by the disguised clones and proceeded to be killed by a blaster wielding clone firing at point blank range at the child's face.

Probability: Low

Episode IV: A New Hope:

Luke's Anchorhead Introduction: Luke's introduction was cut from both Episodes IV and VI. Though his Return of the Jedi intro has been confirmed as a new scene on the Blu-Ray release, the ever popular Anchorhead introduction has still yet to be confirmed. The scene involves Luke, gathering with his friends in an outskirt town known as Anchorhead where he tries to show the group the space battle seen overhead between Princess Leia's vessel and Darth Vader's. We also are introduced to Biggs Darklighter, Luke's best friend, making his death at the film's end all the more bitter.

Probability: Medium

Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back:

Fleeing Echo Base: A scene were upon fleeing the assault on Echo Base, Han, Leia and Threepio come a cross a door with a warning sign on it. Han ushers the trio into the door, but stops at Leia's protest, "No! That's were they keep the creatures!" (Referring to the Wampas; the same creatures that attacked Luke at the start of the film). Threepio proceeds to take off the warning sign as he follows Han and Leia further along the corridor. The Snowtroopers chasing after the trio fall for 3PO's trap and become a small snack for the creatures.

Probability: Medium

Episode VI: Return of the Jedi:

Extended Tatooine Departure: After destroying Jabba and his sail barge, the heroes reunite at the hangar bay that houses both the Falcon and Luke's X-Wing. A sandstorm engulfs the group as Han thanks Luke for saving him and Luke explains that he has to leave for Dagobah.

Probability: Medium

General Cracken and the Falcon's gunners: An Expanded Universe (books, comics, video games etc...) character know as General Airen Cracken was supposed to appear in Return of the Jedi as one of the gunners for the Millennium Falcon during the Battle of Endor. In addition, extra scenes involving the B-Wing pilots were originally going to appear in the 2004 special additions, but were withheld for a "future release."

Probability: High

Hopefully, there are even more scenes that have yet to be revealed that will make it onto the Blu-Ray release, and for your viewing pleasure, here's the first scene revealed from Return of the Jedi. Watch it, if you haven't done so enough already.

Which scenes do you want to be added to the saga and why? Feel free to comment!

Harry Potter 8, 9 & 10!

2010-10-01T18:48:00.000-07:00

There's no time for a picture! Okay, forgive me, because at the moment, while writing this post, I'm in the process of yelling and screaming in joy and wetting my pants repeatedly! J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series, (duh) mentioned previously today while on the Oprah Winfrey show that she may publish three more continuations to her extremely popular series of Harry Potter novels!

I can't believe this news! It's SO awesome in SO many ways! That's all I can make onto paper right now, so feel free to freak out in the comments! WOOOOOOOOOOT!!!

Here's a quote from the show, (she mentions the tenth novel in an interview with EW.com): "They're all still in my head. I could definitely write 8 or 9."--J.K. freaking Rowling.

Star Wars in 3D!

2010-09-28T19:37:00.000-07:00

Years and years of rumors have now been confirmed! Both USA Today and the official Star Wars site have confirmed that the entire Star Wars saga, beginning with The Phantom Menace will be converted to 3D and re-released in theaters. The prospected release date is 2012. The release dates for the following five movies has yet to be revealed.

With the earlier news of the Star Wars saga being converted to Blue Ray, and considering that the Blue Rays will feature formerly deleted scenes, as seen here, the question rises; will the 3D release feature the deleted scenes?

Which scene or scenes are you looking forward to seeing in 3D the most? Mine would have to be the Battle of Endor, The Battle of Geonosis and the three-way-duel between Obi-Wan, Qui Gon and Darth Maul.

Roundup: Blackwidow movie, Pick of the Week, The Hobbit, Rock Band 3

2010-09-26T19:40:00.000-07:00

Highlighted Song: I'm really looking forward to Rock Band 3, so to share my anticipation, as a part of the Highlighted Song mini-segment, I'll be sharing some of my favorite songs that are slated to appear on the upcoming threequel's track list. Let's start with one of my favorites, good 'ol Lowrider.

Quote: From Gangs of New York:

Boss Tweed: The appearance of the law must be upheld, especially as it's being broken.

Fanboy Pick of the Week: If there's one thing that I've learned when it comes to children's movies it's this, Pixar never disappoints. With each new film, Pixar outdoes itself, creating both visual and storytelling masterpieces that captivate both young and old. One of my favorite movies that Pixar has dished out is The Incredibles.

Taking a humorous slant on the life of retired super heroes, The Incredibles managed to perfectly parody the lives of a retired (super) couple, all the while feeling like a 50's comic book. The movie also promoted the importance of family, something we see so rarely in today's media and culture.

News Flash: The much anticipated prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Hobbit, has once again been delayed, this time due to a change in the movie's shooting location. According to IGN, a writer's strike originally taking place in the Australia/New Zealand area has now spread to encompass both Europe and the United States. Members of SAG, (the Screen Actor's Guild) were told not to participate in the creation of the movie due to the fact that it was not a union run project. The movement may force Peter Jackson and Warner Brothers to change the location of the movie to Eastern Europe.

On the other hand, here's some hopefully positive news regarding The Hobbit. It is rumored that Martin Freeman of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy fame will be playing Bilbo. Personally, I think there is no one more perfect for the role than Martin. Now that his name has come up, I don't think that I can envision anyone else in the role. Hopefully we'll be able to see him on the big screen sometime in the next, oh I don't know, decade or two.

Some of you may be aware that the recent Marvel movies, i.e. Iron Man 1 and 2, The Incredible Hulk and both the upcoming Thor and Captain America, are all predecessors to an Avengers movie. But what you may not know is that Black Widow, a character first seen in Iron Man 2 and played by Scarlett Johanson will be appearing in her own Marvel movie as a follow-up to The Avengers. I'm not sure how well this will be. But I really don't know enough about the character to go into any more detail. All I know, is that she kicked some serious buttocks in Iron Man 2 and that she works for Samuel Jackson.

Stay tuned as I look back (and forward) on Harry Potter, the novels and movies of a generation!

Countdown: Top 7 Best Movie Opening Scenes

2010-09-22T05:56:00.000-07:00

Top seven? Why not a nice round number like 5 or 10? Well, here's why. I truthfully couldn't find any more than seven opening sequences that I thoroughly enjoyed and thought should garner a position on this list. That's it.

So without further adieu...

7. Gladiator: A battle of titanic proportions, a victory won, and a great life lost. The opening scenes of Gladiator, with it's depiction of a battle between the Holy Roman Empire and a horde of Germanic barbarians sets the stage for what would be one heck of an action packed ride.

6. Up: I'm not one known to cry while watching a movie, but I'm not sure if I've scene a more tragic scene in a film. Up's opening sequence, with it's tale of love found, love lived and love lost, brought me pretty darn close to tears!

5. Star Trek: The opening sequence for Star Trek's latest incarnation can be summed up as pure cinematic gold. From the breathtaking visual effects to the utilization of the classic Star Trek sound scheme from the original series, Star Trek's opening sequence sets the pace for the rest of the film. Not to mention, it pulls your heart strings!

4. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring: After seeing the introduction with it's massive battles, elves clad in gold, Sauron wielding a mace to the terror of his enemies, and a story that held true to the books, fans of the novels instantly knew that they're childhood memories were in good hands on the big screen.

3. Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark:

The first scene from the very first Indiana Jones film is pefect. It instantly sets up Indy as an extremely interesting character to follow. Indy has to avoid poison darts, spear pits, and gigantic boulders. And in the end, his efforts were in vain anyway. I don't think he'd be considered your typical archaeologist! For anyone who's seen the film, I don't believe any more needs to be said.

2. Saving Private Ryan: The opening sequence for Saving Private Ryan has already gone down in the history of cinema as one of the most realistic interpretations of modern warfare to date. From the first scene where we see Private Ryan, aged and tormented by the ghosts of his past, to the D-Day assault on Omaha Beach, Saving Private Ryan has one of the most notable opening sequences in cinema, period.

1. Star Wars: A New Hope: Every viewer, upon seeing the might of the Empire's gargantuan Star Destroyer eclipse Princess Leia's smaller Corellian Corvette, knew that they were in for something completely different than anything they'd ever seen. This in turn heralded the introduction of one of the greatest movie villains of all time, Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith.

Your thoughts? Did I leave any movies out? Did I add any that you didn't think should be on the list? Feel free to comment below.

Quick Movie Review: Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Repo Men, Red Baron & From Paris With Love

2010-09-19T18:17:00.000-07:00

I've now realized that I should not pay attention to Rotten Tomatoes when choosing to watch a movie. After watching three movies that I thoroughly enjoyed, Red Baron, Diary of a Wimpy Kid and From Paris With Love, and seeing that Rotten Tomatoes had them on the rotten side of the scale, I realized one very important thing; reading reviews about a movie, or seeing how other people rate it, prejudices you towards the movie before you've even seen it, when the only thing that should be affecting your enjoyment of a movie is simply you. Whether you like it or not shouldn't be interpreted by what another person liked or disliked.

With all three of these movies on the lower end of the scale and one of my favorite films, The Book of Eli, also having been given a poor rating, I came to the conclusion that you alone should interpret your level of enjoyment of a movie, not someone else.

So with that said, who wants to hear my reviews of the following movies and become prejudiced about them?

Here goes...

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. It perfectly captured the minds of thousands of children who suffered through that awkward stage of adolescence. Its plot was clear, crisp and straight to the point. It's characters, especially the main character's best friend, Rowley, really seemed to connect with me. My childhood was similar to both the title character and his chubby companion.

And I think that that's where Diary of a Wimpy Kid is at it's best. Connecting with older audiences who've already been through the experiences depicted in the movie and who can now look back on it and laugh at the absurdity of it all.

Rating: 8 (Close to excellent)

Repo Men: If there's one word that would describe this move, it would be this, screwy.

Repo Men had it's moments, but it was simply a hollow movie filled with far too many twisting plot lines and unnecessary gore. Once you feel like it's finally acquiring it's pace, once Jude Law's character receives the artificial heart, it drops off into an entirely new premise. Romance. Why? Truthfully I have no idea.

In addition to the unnecessary plot line, Repo Men's ending was abhorred. [Spoiler Warning] Basically, it returned to a scene from a remarkably forgettable moment about two thirds of the way into the movie, and revealed that the character's mind alone had fueled everything from that point onward, and that the movie had in fact ended there. I never have, and never plan on swearing on this blog, but I think a certain 3 letter abbreviation comes to mind when watching the final 10 minutes or so.

Rating: 4.5 (Below average)

Red Baron: A fantastic war drama that sports breathtaking visuals, fantastic fight scenes and a deeply intriguing story of one the world's last known war heroes who struggles with the humanity of war and love itself.

Red Baron, though dry at times, follows the exploits of Manfred von Richthofen, none other than the Red Baron, from his time as an inexperienced fighter pilot to the ace of World War I Germany that he is remembered as today.

Quite a few critics bashed The Red Baron for it's historical inaccuracies, and I usually get frustrated myself when a so called 'historical film' varies from it's source material, but for once, I didn't care. Besides, there's so much obscurity revolving around The Red Baron, his life and untimely death, that the movie can almost get away with it.

The movie's fight scenes, almost exclusive to the skies, were absolutely gorgeous! I don't think that I've ever seen a better looking fighter pilot movie. Ever.

If you're a fan of war movies, you've got to see this film!

Rating: 8.5 (Close to excellent)

You can catch some of the exceptional action scenes in the trailer for the movie bellow.

http://www.firstshowing.net/2010/01/15/awesome-aerial-dogfights-in-the-red-baron-official-trailer/

From Paris With Love: Action packed and humorous, my affection for From Paris With Love is accredited to one single thing. The hilarious, over the top acting of John Travolta. From start to finish, Travolta's character of Charlie Wax was a shoo-in for funniest assassin in a 2010 film. What? You've never heard of that category in the Oscars?

The plot follows as this. A diplomat's assistant working in the US embassy in Paris is in the process of becoming a spy for the United States. He's eventually assigned a partner, (Travolta), who's particular way of getting the job done is incomparable.

Wax is an incredibly funny character to watch. He's downright lethal, but at the same time, you can hardly take him seriously as he admits that his one true weakness, one that will eventually be the only thing in the world that can kill him, is a Parisian hamburger.

One particular scene, involving his partner's SUV, had me laughing for quite some time. My recommendation? Rent it, watch it and then come back here and leave a comment about how funny you thought the above mentioned scene was.

Rating: 7 (Above average)

Thanks for reading, following and commenting!

The Clone Wars Returns Tomorrow!

2010-09-16T08:28:00.000-07:00

Am I the only one who is excitement for this knows no bounds? The Clone Wars returns with season 3 tomorrow at 9:00 PM on Cartoon Network. The series premiere will feature an hour long two-parter with the episodes 'Clone Cadets' and 'ARC Troopers'.

I can't wait for the new season to kick off! There's so much to look forward to.

1. The introduction of not only ARC troopers [image at top], but also clone commandos from the popular Republic Commando video game and novels.

2. The introduction of Dathomir and the Nightsisters, two very prominent figures in the Star Wars Expanded Universe.

3. The extended Asajj Ventress plot line.

4. The improved CGI. With each season the show seems to progress greatly with it's use of CGI. From what can be seen in the trailers and TV spots, this trend seems to have extended into season 3.

There's so much more, such as that awesome lightsaber fight involving Dooku and a group of cloaked Jedi assassins, the introduction of Darth Maul's brother Savage Oppress and the addition of prominent Jedi characters such as Saesee Tiin.

Don't forget to tune in tomorrow! I might just have to start writing reviews of each episode. Don't hold me to that though... :)

Roundup: Lots of new stuff!

2010-09-12T16:30:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I've decided to make the Roundup segments a little more conformal. In each Roundup, I'll be posting a series of new and old features.

1. Highlighted Song: The highlighted song segment will now be a part of Roundup. You must listen to the song as you read through the Roundup. It's there for a reason; to set the mood for the blog. :P

2. Quote: It's exactly what it sounds like. I'll be posting a quote from one of my favorite movies, TV shows, video games, or books.

3. Fanboy Pick of the Week: I'm really excited about this new mini-segment. In Pick of the Week, I'll be posting my thoughts about a movie, TV show or book and tell you why I enjoyed it, and why you should too. Does that make me narcissistic? Yes, it probably does...

4. News: How else am I going to get my geek on if I don't have new things to freak out over?

Since Chuck is starting its fourth season on the 20th, I figured that I'd celebrate with the extended version of the Chuck theme song; enjoy.

Quote: From Napoleon Dynamite.

Trisha: I wanted to thank you for the beautiful drawing you did of me.
[through gritted teeth]
Trisha: It's hanging in my *bedroom*.
Napoleon Dynamite: Really? It took me like three hours to finish the shading on your upper lip. It's probably the best drawing I've ever done.
Trisha: Yeah... it's really... neat.

Fanboy Pick of the Week: The year was 2007. Among big name movies like Transformers, 300 and I Am Legend was one small movie focused on none other than an oil prospector who would soon became rich during the turn of the century.

Feeling as if it was a Clint Eastwood blockbuster, There Will Be Blood is literally a masterpiece. It's focus was on Daniel Plainview, the aforementioned oil prospector, played by Daniel Day-Lewis. Plainview is tipped off to a large oil deposit and hence travels with his son to claim the prize. Upon arriving, Plainview is introduced to Paul Sunday, a young ego maniacal priest who's views of right and wrong brink on the extreme.

Plainview's own moral standing conflict with the young priest's and thus plays perfectly into Paul's hands. I don't wish to spoil any more of the film, and will end with this. YOU'VE GOT TO SEE THIS MOVIE! If you haven't already seen it, it should be the first thing on your bucket list. If you have seen it, watch it again!

Another interesting snippet is that There Will Be Blood was actually loosely based off of Upton Sinclair's classic novel, Oil! Who knew?

News Flash: A series of Q&A videos regarding the past two seasons of The Clone Wars are now appearing on Star Wars' main site. You can watch them here.

Also, the first pics from the upcoming Captain America movie have made it to the web. Sure, the actual picture is of a stunt double, portraying the good Captain, but at least we get to see his costume. And might I say, how awesome is it?!?

Stay tuned for my DVD reviews of Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Repo Men!

Jeffster!

2010-09-07T18:19:00.000-07:00

A series of Chuck-based webisodes are appearing on The WB. The webisodes follow Jeff and Lester, the two ignoramus Buy More employees who were falsely accused of burning down the Burbank Buy More.

The webisodes, (I just love saying that), are to lead up to the Chuck premiere on Monday, September 20th. Starting September 7th, a new episode will appear each day on The WB website, leading to the final episode which will be released on the 13th.

I've seen the first webisode and while it clearly has been payed for my Microsoft, it delivers Jeffster's brand of funny, quite well.

Check them out here.

Green Lantern Guest Post!

2010-09-01T09:33:00.000-07:00

Everyone give a warm welcome to Gina from Fantasy Casting as she provides Memoirs with its very first guest post. Be sure to stop by Fantasy Casting after you read her post. Don't forget to follow her while you're there. ;)

As you probably already know, The Green Lantern has been greenlighted (pun intended, ha.) for a film release in June 2011.

For those who don't know, unlike many other comic characters, Green Lantern has multiple alter-egos over the years. Hal Jordan is the incarnation of the Green Lantern from DC's Silver Age of comics, during the late 1950's revival and is the version that will be portrayed in this film. He is a pilot who was given the ring of power by Abin Sur.

First of all, let's start with the man of the hour; the Green Lantern himself, also known as Hal Jordan, played by none other than Mr. Ryan Reynolds.

I don't know how I feel about this. First of all, I am a female. So... there's that side of it. And in that regard, I am happy to see Ryan Reynolds do just about anything. However, he's already Deadpool, which worked out well, but let's be real: This is also Van Wilder. Can he support a whole superhero film all by his onesie? We shall see...

Before we get too far into this, I want to put out there in blogland that I think this would have been an excellent opportunity to cast a black superhero. The Green Lantern was John Stewart, a black architect for most of the 70s, and that character still makes an appearance in the books today. There are so few mainstream, headlining black heroes, why not take advantage of the opportunity, you know?
Anyway, moving on. The love interest, Carol Ferris, is being played by Blake Lively, of Gossip Girl fame. I'm skeptical. Real skeptical. According to DC legend, Ferris is a powerful female. She's Hal Jordan's boss, and is hailed as being one of the first strong female characters, emerging long before the second wave of feminism broke in the United States. This girl:
Is supposed to embody intelligent female power? OK... maybe she's a better actress than I think. I would hate to judge too unfairly; just because she's overly pretty, famous for her fashion choices, stars as a spoiled socialite on one of the most sexually-charged teen shows of all time, ranks #4 on Maxim's Hot 100 list and lists "Long Blond Hair" as her trademark on IMDb... maybe she's deeper than that. Who knows. Or, more likely, DC rewrote the character to be just a pretty face. If it's door #2, then we're set.

Hector Hammond is one of the villains for this film, and Peter Sarsgaard has been brilliantly cast for this part. Seriously, this guy always looks a liiiittle bit like he's gonna crack, any minute. I think the uber-nuts Hammond is a perfect fit.

Our second villain (because, you know, one just isn't tough enough these days) for this film is Sinestro. For you comic-book geeks out there, you'll know that Sinestro is considered one of the greatest super-villains of all time. In fact, my sources (wikipedia) tell me that he was ranked at the 15th greatest super villain ever by the people who determine the validity and awesomeness of super villains. (side note: who doesn't want that job?!?!?!) Hold your breath. They have cast Mark Strong.
Feel free to geek out. I am.

Who's excited? Other than for Blake Lively, that is. And honestly, when you look at this:

how can you not be?

Agree? Disagree? Post your thoughts in the comments.

Gina blogs over at Fantasy Casting, where she spouts her opinion about who should be cast in the film versions of books, comic books and anything else that strikes her fancy. You can contact her here.

Images: Google Images

Guest Post & Highlighted Song!

2010-08-28T07:47:00.000-07:00

Gina from Fantasy Casting will be providing Memoirs with its very first guest post! I'm really excited! Fantasy Casting is one of my favorite blogs. Click here to check it out!

And don't forget to check back here at Memoirs this week for Gina's guest post!

Today's Highlighted Song comes from none other than Firefly, one of my all time favorite shows. Some of you may remember this, or still have it stuck in your heads! For those of you who've never seen it, you can watch the first five episodes of Firefly on Hulu, here. You're still here? What are you waiting for? Go! Go!

New Segment: Roundup!

2010-08-26T04:49:00.001-07:00

Lately, I've been creating a lot of posts regarding news; simply news. So instead of having a slew of random posts about news, I figured I'd compile them all together into what I call a Roundup. So here we go, the first Roundup.

The Walking Dead:

I really don't like horror. In fact, this may be the only post you'll ever see me create that has anything to do with the subject. However, I don't mind zombies nearly as much, and The Walking Dead seems like an extremely promising concept, one which I'm surprised has taken this long to be made for the little screen.

It always seems that in zombie movies, so much more could have been explored. I'd really like to see the survivors survive, instead of constantly running and then ultimately either finding a cure or dying. As a weekly series, The Walking Dead can certainly and most likely will dabble into this premise. So without further adieu, here's the trailer for The Walking Dead.

The Clone Wars: Season 3:

It has been revealed that Quinlan Vos, the fan favorite Star Wars prequels-comic-character, will be appearing in the upcoming season of The Clone Wars with the likes of fellow popular Expanded Universe subjects such as Delta Squad from Republic Commando and the Nightsister from The Courtship of Princess Leia. When and what episode he will be appearing in has yet to be unveiled.

It has also been revealed that the next series of online Clone Wars web comics will return to its roots from season 1 and concentrate less on a single story arc, and more on individual happenings of the war. Yay!

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides:

This may not be news to some, but the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie is slated for a 2011 release. The film follows the exploits of none other then Captain Jack Sparrow as he gets a blast from the past when he reacquaints himself with Black Beard's daughter, Angelica, played by Penelope Cruz.

Angelica forces Jack onto her father's ship, the Queen Anne's Revenge . The group, joined by none other then Captain Barbossa and Mr. Gibbs, embarks on a quest to locate the legendary Fountain of Youth.

Some of the best news is that both Orlando Bloom and Kierra Knightely will not be appearing in this sequel. Personally, I liked the characters at first, but by the end of the third movie, I was downright sick of them.

Answers to the 'My 20 Favorite Movie Quotes' Post':

1. Galaxy Quest

2. Serenity

3. The Book of Eli

4. Beowulf

5. Shaun of the Dead

6. Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl

7. Batman: The Dark Knight

8. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

9. The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy

10. Star Wars: The Phantom Menace

11. The Survivors

12. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

13. The Princess Bride

14. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

15. The Patriot

16. Napolean Dynamite

17. Up

18. Terminator

19. Watchmen

20. Star Wars: A New Hope

I can't believe no one got numbers 2 or 9!

20 Favoirte Movie Quotes

2010-08-23T07:19:00.000-07:00

Here's a list of my twenty favorite movie quotes. See how many you can get right and post yours answers in the comments. Some are easy, some aren't so easy. Also, feel free to create your own list, and either leave it in the comments or post a link to it in the comments. Oh, did I mention the comments?

1. "That's the episode I died in.... episode eighty one!"

2. "This is the captain. We have a little problem with our entry sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and then...explode."

3. "With all my heart. I've always thought that I'd find a place where this book would be safe and needed. But I haven't found it yet."

4. "Keep a memory of me, not as a king or a hero; but as a man: fallible and flawed."

5. "Don't forget to kill Philip!"

6. "Stop blowing holes in my ship!"

7. "You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain."

8. "Bones, are you afraid of the future?"--"I believe that was the general idea that I was trying to convey."--"I don't mean this future."--"What is this, multiple choice?"

9. "So long and thanks for all the fish. So sad it had to come to this..."

10. "The ability to speak does not make you intelligent."

11. "Jaaack?"--"Yeah?"--"Time out, okay?"--"Time out?"--"Time out."--"What do you mean time out"?--"You're not gonna believe this. I was in a hurry when I left the cabin this morning, and, well, silly me, I got the wrong bullets."

12. "You must unlearn what you have learned."

13. "We'll never survive!"--"Nonsense. You're only saying that because no one ever has."

14. "I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."

15. "I have long feared that my sins would return to visit me, and the cost is more than I can bear."

16. "They're pretty good, except for one little problem. That little guy right there. He is nipple number five. A good dairy cow should have, like, four."

17. "Hey, let's play a game. It's called, "see who can be quiet the longest."--"Cool! My mom loves that game!"

18. "Come with me if you want to live."

19. "This city is afraid of me. I've seen its true face."

20. "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought."

Star Wars Celebration V Highlights

2010-08-15T15:29:00.000-07:00

Okay, so you may or may not know what a Star Wars Celebration is; basically they are the largest Star Wars conventions in the world that happen to come around once every few years.

A lot of big Star Wars news is revealed at these conventions. Celebration V, the latest Celebration since Celebration Japan in 2008, began just recently in Florida. The biggest news coming from the convention can be found below. And might I say... holy crap! (to all of the below)

George Lucas himself appeared at the convention where he had a sit down with The Daily Show's Jon Stewart. Some of the biggest and most exciting news to come from the interview was that the entire Star Wars saga will be released on Blu-Ray in the fall of 2011. In addition, and perhaps even more exciting, is the fact that at least one new scene from the original trilogy has been added to the movies. This scene, cut from Return of the Jedi, shows Luke putting the final touches on his new lightsaber and placing it in R2-D2 as Vader calls out to his son through the Force.
[You can watch the video at the upper right hand of my blog for a short while. I apologize for the quality.]

Hopefully, this isn't the only scene that will be added to the saga's Blu-Ray release. Several other unfinished scenes come to mind, such as the original Anchorhead scene from A New Hope were we are introduced to Luke and his relationship to Biggs Darklighter. Also, it would be fantastic to see the extended Geonosis Arena Battle wherein Ki-Adi Mundi and Plo Koon infiltrate a Trade Federation core ship in an attempt to disable the droid army. A geek can dream right? :P

The Clone Wars Season 3, beginning on September 17th, was featured heavily at the convention. Along with interviews with the show's creators, an extended trailer for the new season was shown.

This trailer has so much going on. First off, I love how much the new season appears to be influenced by previous work from the Star Wars Expanded Universe (books, comics, video games). Several things to note from this were the inclusion of Asajj Ventress' starfighter from the original Clone Wars micro-series, the Nightsisters from the novel The Courtship of Princess Leia, and perhaps most notable, Delta Squad's appearance from Republic Commando. Some new plotlines that look quite promising are one when Ventress is on the run from Dooku after being told to be disposed of by Darth Sidious and a lightsaber fight between Dooku and three invisible Jedi assassins. A pecurious plot twist comes in the shape of an introduction of Darth Maul's brother. I know, weird right? I don't know where that's going to end up going, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
[The trailer can be watched here.]

Fans of the Star Wars novels of the 90's will be happy to know that the ever popular X-Wing series will be continued in the shape of another Wraith Squadron novel, some of my personal favorite Star Wars books. Also, Grand Admiral Thrawn will appear in the follow up to the 2007 Mara Jade novel, Allegiance.

Well, now that I've revealed just how much of a Star Wars geek I am, I might as well mix things up with a little non-Star-Wars news.

To my great dismay, it's been revealed that a new Terminator movie is in the works. This time around, it will be entirely CGI. Really? Let's hope, "It won't be back." Yeah I know, that was corny.

Whatever, that's all I've got, I'm gonna rewatch the deleted scene now. :)

Highlighted Song! Master of Shadows

2010-08-11T07:09:00.000-07:00

Master of Shadows was used in the trailer for 2010 and conducted by Two Steps From Hell, the masterminds behind some of the most epic music my ears have had the fortune to hear.

Also, Inception wins the poll for favorite summer blockbuster with 55% of the votes; not much of a surprise there.

Countdown: My Top 5 Favorite Movie Heroins

2010-08-09T06:21:00.000-07:00

After writing this article, and having to shorten it drastically when compared to the two separate articles featuring my favorite movie heroes and villains, here and here, I came upon the realization that the protagonists in movies are almost always men. This is primarily due to the stereotypical assumption that Hollywood has adopted; that women should be the nurturing type as opposed to the adventurous thrill seeking type that is common of movie heroes. As for myself, I'm not taking sides. I've simply compiled a, (regrettably shortened) list of my favorite movie heroins. So without further adieu, here is the countdown.

5. River Tam: Resilient, powerful and dangerous, the young girl turned experiment known as River Tam was the brain child of a secret government-run institution that's focus was on creating the perfect human weapon. River was the finest consummation of their experimentation.

River became the embodiment of not only physical prowess, but also of mental capabilities, quickly becoming a bona fide psychic. After her older brother Simon sprung her from her "schooling", River joined the crew of the Firefly-class transport ship Serenity.

However, the Galactic Alliance, the government that backed the ambiguous institution, would not let their prized student escape. River was hunted for her knowledge of the Alliance's secrets, soon leading to the events of Miranda wherein River, in an attempt to protect both her brother and her new found allies from Serenity, fought and killed dozens of insane and cannibalistic Reavers in hand to hand combat.

4. Neytiri: The daughter of Eytukan, leader of the Omaticaya Clan, Neytiri was one of countless Nav'I involved in the resurrection against the RDA, a mining conglomerate that had invaded Nav'I soil. Neytiri joined forces and fell in love with Jake Sully, an Avatar formerly working for the RDA, in an attempt to eliminate the RDA's forceful presence on Pandora.

Neytiri introduced Jake to her culture and trained him to become a capable warrior like herself. Through trials and tribulations, Neytiri pulled through, all the while at Jake's side. The duo gathered multiple Nav'I clans and put an end to the RDA's presence on Pandora in one massive battle.

3. Leia Organa: Strong willed and resilient, Princess Leia Organa was the youngest member of the Galactic Senate. She was also a key member of the Rebel Alliance.

The daughter of Anakin Skywalker, now the embodiment of oppression as the Sith Lord Darth Vader, Leia possessed a keen affinity for the Force which manifested itself in her connection with her twin brother Luke.

During the events of the Galactic Civil War, Leia became a hero of the Rebellion and a figurehead of both insurrection and peace. Though her powers of the Force were not tapped into until later in her life, her skills in combat, diplomacy and leadership helped the Rebel Alliance on many occasions such as the Battle of Endor wherein Leia helped to destroy the shield generator for the second Death Star allowing the main Rebel fleet to assault and destroy the Death Star, striking a massive, crippling blow to the Empire.

2. Eowyn: Eowyn, the passionate niece of Theoden, King of the mighty equestrian nation of Rohan. Eowyn was forced into the war for the Ring of power when her uncle Theoden became possessed by Saruman, one of Sauron's greatest enforcers.

Eowyn joined forces with the remnants of the Fellowship of the Ring who freed Theoden from Saruman's wicked grasp. Eowyn proceeded to protect her people from Saruman's forces when she helped to lead them to the fortress of Helm's Deep. Throughout her unreciprocated love with Aragorn, heir to the throne of the Gondor, Eowyn stayed strong, not letting her love of Aragorn intercede with her love for her people. Eowyn later proved herself in combat, when she slew the leader of the Nazgul, the Witch King of Angmar, whom no mortal man was said to be able to slay.

1. Sarah Connor: Before encountering both a time traveling robot assassin and a time traveling soldier, Sarah Connor was a typical young adult of the 80's. That was then. Upon encountering her first Terminator, sent to kill her future child, John Connor, Sarah learned that in the future, a computer called Skynet would use a robotic army to devastate the world in a nuclear war, purging most of the human race in the process. Her son would be the savior of mankind.

Sarah, upon learning the truth from Kyle Reese, a future soldier and the father of her unborn child, attempted to tell the world about her discovery. She was deemed clinically disturbed and was admitted to an insane asylum for a number of years, all the while unable to speak with her son and prepare him for the inevitable apocalypse.

Sarah, with the help of her son and a Terminator altered to protect John, escaped the asylum and lived on to pass on her knowledge of weaponry, military tactics, computer hacking, and the future in general to her son who would go on to save the world from Skynet.

Do you agree? Disagree? Who are your favorite movie heroins? Feel free to comment below.

News Flash! Korra, Chuck & New Widget

2010-08-02T12:01:00.000-07:00

The Legend of Korra has been confirmed as a 12 part miniseries instead of an entire new multi-seasonal series. I for one was hoping for a new series, but who can complain? Besides, if this is successful enough, it's likely we'll see more sequels.

Spoilers Ahead for Seasons 3 and 4 of Chuck!

(To view the paragraph, highlight the empty space below.)

Linda Hamilton, the actress who portrayed Sarah Connor in the first two Terminator movies, has been cast in the role of Chuck's mother in season 4 of the hit NBC action-drama. The show's creators state that Chuck's search for his mother will be a main focus of the new season which will begin on September 21st.

I've created a new widget called Fanboy Freakout! (Upper right corner) Basically, it shows what I'm currently interested in or freaking out over. I'm not sure whether or not It'll last, but I figured I would give it a try.

Quick Movie Reviews: Inception, The A-Team, District 9 and more...

2010-07-27T11:19:00.000-07:00

I've been watching a lot of movies lately. A lot! And I've been getting behind on my movie reviews. So in an attempt to give reviews to all the movies I've watched lately, I've decided to compile them all into a single post that is the epitome of Quick Movie Reviews (with the exception of Inception which deserves a full review). Enjoy!

Inception: Were do I start with Inception? This movie has so much going for it. With hugely successful movies from the past two years such as the The Dark Knight, Star Trek and Avatar, it's only natural that Hollywood should have a year of half-decent films. Yet, through the darkness and disappointment of movies like The Last Airbender, Robin Hood and Prince of Persia, their lies a few glittering gems; Toy Story 3, The A-Team and Inception have all delivered. However, none have delivered more so then Inception. To put things simply, if you only watch a single movie this year, watch Inception. It will, pardon the corniness, blow your mind!

Its hard to go into detail with Inception without spoiling anything. So if you're opposed to light spoilers, skip ahead to the second half of this post.

You still there? Good! Now I can tell you how much you've missed and how much you need to see this movie!!! Inception follows the exploits of Dominic Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his group of Extractors, individuals who enter a person's mind and 'extract' secrets for an employer.

Cobb and Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), Cobb's longtime partner, are then enlisted into an attempt to plant a thought into the mind of the heir (Cillian Murphy) to a massive banking conglomerate. The process of planting a thought in a person's mind, Inception, is thought to be impossible, however Cobb has faith that it is attainable, all be it very difficult.

Cobb then proceeds to gather a group of individuals who assist both Arthur and himself in attempting to plant a thought into the heir's mind. The group consists of Cobb's employer, (Ken Watanabe), an architect, (Ellen Page), who articulates the dreams inhabited by the Extractors and several other participants of which I won't go into any detail about.

Throughout the group's attempt at planting a thought into the young heir's mind, they are faced with one resounding problem, a mental barrier created by the heir that takes the shape of armed security. This, of course leads to mayhem throughout Inception and provides a sort of James Bondish feel as the heroes narrowly escape the guards, or use high-tech gadgets to combat them.

With all of Inception's creativeness, their was one scene that stood out for me. The scene was were Arthur, while in a dream within a dream, is protecting his accomplices who are in yet another dream within a dream, confusing I know.

While Arthur is trying to protect his partners from a guard, the van that is carrying the entire group in the 'first' dream begins to spin out of control and topple over. As the van roles, so does the entire dream that Arthur is in. Walls quickly become floors as Arthur and the guard duke it out. The entire scene was visually stunning! Mind you, I'm not easily impressed by this sort of thing.

In summary, Inception is THE blockbuster of the summer and at two and a half hours long will leave you with a perfect sense of closure as you leave the theater, knowing that you've just seen the next best film.

Rating: 8.5 (Excellent)

District 9: District 9 has the makings of a great film and seems to have caught on with the sci-fi community. What I found appealing was how even with its blatant sci-finess, District 9 set itself apart from typical 'first encounter' films by having an unlikely protagonist, an unlikely setting, and an unlikely outcome.

Rating: 7 (Close to excellent)

The A-Team: Containing everything that a summer blockbuster should; action, comedy and explosions, The A-Team is a palate cleanser when compared to the summer bombs previously mentioned.

Rating: 7.5 (Close to excellent)

Gamer: Gamer is hands down one of the worst movies I've seen to date. It is littered with pointless attempts to startle the viewers and is clearly aimed at teens looking for a cheap thrill.

Rating: 1.5 (Vomit inducing)

Old Dogs: Surprisingly funny, Old Dogs draws heavily on the comedic talent of its two main actors, Robin Williams and John Travolta, creating a film that succeeds as a family friendly comedy.

Rating: 6.5 (Above average)

Law Abiding Citizen: Should it come as a surprise that Gerard Butler was in leading roles for three of 2009-10's worst films? (Gamer, Law Abiding Citizen, The Bounty Hunter). No, it shouldn't. It seems that whatever he touches seems doomed to be a terrible movie.

Law Abiding Citizen focuses on showing how the United States legal system is flawed. The movie makes its point quite well, but sacrifices realism in the process. Are we really to believe that Butler's character simply dug his way into prison cells and that he waited ten years to do so? Come on Hollywood...

Rating: 4.5 (Poor)

Unthinkable: Unthinkable is an edgy, vicious movie that in hindsight was like watching an hour and a half of torture. Literally. The movie revolves around a professional torturer and his attempts to crack the mind of a convicted terrorist. Those who can sit through the entire movie and all the acts of grotesque violence it presents will find themselves wishing they hadn't due to the empty feeling left at the film's culmination.

Rating: 5 (Average)

Edge of Darkness: Edge of Darkness provides a decent revenge-thriller, boosted by the performance of Mel Gibson, but in the grand scheme of things, is ultimately forgettable.

Rating: 6 (Average)

Invictus: Like all of Clint Eastwood's films, Invictus draws less on action, visuals and cheap thrills but more on the telling of a story in it's rawest sense.

Rating: 7 (Above average)

Karate Kid (1984): I may very well get bashed for saying this, but I found The Karate Kid to be dreadfully dull and loaded down with far too much of the stereotypical story that can be expected from 80s teen heartthrob Ralph Maccio.

Rating: 6 (Average)

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: The epitome of Spaghetti westerns, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly serves as a decent cowboy film boosted by Clint Eastwood's typically excellent performance.

I've heard many a time about how this film has inspired current producers and directors. The only question I have is, why? The story was fine, but the acting was simply bizarre. Besides, its hard to take the movie seriously when all the Mexican characters were clearly portrayed by Iatlians.

Rating: 5.5 (Average)

The Clone Wars Season 3 Trailer & The Force Unleashed II

2010-07-23T18:34:00.000-07:00

Here we have a new trailer, revealed at Comic-Con, for the third season of The Clone Wars.

There's not much to say about this. It looks cool, its always good to see more Cad Bane and it seems like TCW creators have once again aimed higher in terms of scale, e.g. the space battle.

Also, a web documentary for the upcoming sequel to The Force Unleashed.

I really liked how Hayden Blackman compared TFU II with The Empire Strikes Back, if it lives up to that statement, or it is even 50% true, then we're in for one heck of a ride when we get ours hands on this.

Avatar Sequel Confirmed!

2010-07-22T06:15:00.000-07:00

Nickelodeon now has a press release for the rumored Avatar: The Last Airbender continuation. The sequel, Avatar: The Legend of Korra, takes place 70 years after The Last Airbender, and follows the exploits of Korra, an Avatar native to the Southern Water Tribe. According to the press release, by the start of the show Korra will have already mastered three of the four elements (water, earth and fire). When Korra endeavors to master the final element, air, she travels to the heart of the 'modern Avatar world', Republic City. The steampunk/industrial city is plagued by crime and also sports a growing non-bending revolution.

The release goes on to say that Korra's Airbending master will be Aang's son Tenzin. The press release also hints at the possibility of flashbacks to the characters from The Last Airbender. Finally, we can wrest assured that the show will be in good hands; those of the original creators of The Last Airbender, Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.

I'm so excited about this! As I've said previously, Avatar was one of my favorite shows. It had action, drama, character development and an incredible ambiance that simply sucked me in.

Korra sounds like an awesome continuation of The Last Airbender and is slated for a 2011 premiere.

Source: Detnews.com

Updated Design & Speed Painting

2010-07-13T10:42:00.000-07:00

I've been dabbling with the new template designer as of late and though I'm not entirely sold on the new design, I've decided to give it a try. What do you think of the new design? I'm looking for input.

On another note, I recently discovered multiple videos online that feature some of my favorite Fanboyish characters. These videos basically show a character being drawn on a computer program, but simply sped up so that you see the creation of the finished project quicker. They're very fun to watch, so I posted some of my favorites below.

Here's Captain Malcolm Reynolds from Firefly/Serenity.

Darth Maul from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.

Cameron from Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

And lastly, Sylar from Heroes.

Highlighted Song: Panoramic

2010-07-03T07:07:00.000-07:00

The Book of Eli featured a wonderful soundtrack from composer Atticus Ross. My favorite piece was Panoramic. It literally gives me chills whenever I hear it. Is it weird to admit that? :P

Green Hornet Trailer

2010-06-26T11:06:00.000-07:00

I must admit that I'm not very well versed in super hero comics such as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and the like. And I only first heard of the Green Hornet when the 60's television show incarnation of the character was mentioned on Kool TV

However, this trailer leaves me smiling. I've never been a huge fan of Seth Rogen, but I think that he looks pretty good here; completely out of character.

Quick Movie Review: The Book of Eli

2010-06-24T05:32:00.000-07:00

The Book of Eli: When I tell you that The Book of Eli is one of the greatest movies I have seen, understand that I'm not exaggerating in the slightest. The Book of Eli is full of action, heart and a powerful story of commitment and faith.

The story revolves around Eli (Denzel Washington), a traveler of post-apocalyptic America who is in possession of the last known Bible. Eli, told by Christ to simply take the Bible west, devotes thirty years of his life to this mission. Along the way, Eli encounters a myriad of fellow survivors who would prevent him from completing his task by robbing and/or ing him.

Throughout the movie, Eli shows a laudable tenacity when it comes to protecting the Bible. In one particular scene, Eli dispatches a group of highway bandits within a matter of seconds while using his trademark machete. The action scenes are graphic, but extremely well choreographed.

Denzel Washington is joined by Gary Oldman who plays the role of Carnegie, the greedy overseer of a decrepit town wherein Eli must stop to both recharge his portable battery and rehydrate himself. Carnegie however, like Eli, is one of the few literate people still living in the world and is in search of the Bible. Carnegie wishes to expand his small empire and knowing that the Bible will draw people towards it, seeks to take it from Eli. The fight sequence where Eli refuses to hand over the Bible is mind blowingly awesome and a powerful testament to God's will.

Washington is also joined by Mila Kunis who plays Solara, a young under Carnegie's 'protection' who takes to Eli and follows him on his journey west. The duo are tracked by Carnegie and without spoiling too much info, action ensues.

The movie has a surprise ending that will make you want to rewatch the movie just to see all the little hints, and trust me their are hints. It also ends on a positive note, professing that in the end faith and commitment to God will bring peace.

The Book of Eli is also aided by a wonderful score. The relatively unknown composer Atticus Ross provided an enchanting soundtrack. The standout piece, Panoramic, honestly gives me chills every time I hear it.

In summary, The Book of Eli is a masterpiece and one that should not go unseen.

Rating: 9.5 (Excellent)

You can look forward to my review of District 9 and Gamer in the near future.

Futurama Returns June 24th!

2010-06-21T06:07:00.000-07:00

Futurama, the goofy futuristic animated comedy from the creators of the Simpsons, will finally be returning to television this Thursday on Comedy Central after being off the air for over seven years!

In 2007 the show returned in a direct-to-DVD format with the hilarious movie, Bender's Big Score. Multiple other DVD movies were to follow, but this Thursday marks the first time that new episodes of the series will be aired on television since its cancellation in 2003.

Who can forget characters like Bender, Zoidberg, Zapp Braniggan, Morbo and Roberto? Not me! And remember; "Hypnotoad commands you to watch it!"

E3: The Old Republic Second Trailer

2010-06-14T11:00:00.001-07:00

Once again, I find myself at a loss for words. :P

E3: New The Force Unleashed II Trailer

2010-06-12T16:35:00.001-07:00

Words can't describe how awesome this trailer is...

Quick Movie Review: Prince of Persia & The Road

2010-06-08T13:29:00.000-07:00

Prince of Persia: Prince of Persia doesn't have much going for it. With that said, it is possible that it is the only decent video-game-to-film-adaption created to date; but with all the half rate video game-movies for comparison, this isn't saying much. Prince of Persia delivers as an action packed summer blockbuster, but nothing more.

Prince of Persia is Jerry Bruckheimer's latest Disney movie. It was marketed in a similar style to that of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies; a live-action Disney movie aimed at a slightly more mature audience.

PoP delivers as an action packed summer blockbuster, but nothing more. Character development seems to take a backstage to the continuous action scenes that quickly loose their er.

The movie runs at a reasonably fast pace and follows certain plot elements of the original video games. In the movie, Prince Dastan, a former child of the streets before being adopted by the king of Persia, is framed for the of the king. He then embarks on a quest to clear his name and get revenge for his adopted father's er.

Immediately after being framed, Dastan is joined by young Princess Tamina who seeks to protect the Sands of Time encased in a dagger that Dastan recently acquired. The relationship between Dastan and Tamina takes center stage throughout most of the film with witty, flirtatious banter being exchanged between the two for the most part of the film.

The film's end was entirely foreseeable and seemed very unnecessary. I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but it also seemed to make everything beyond the first twenty minutes of the film pointless.

In the end, Prince of Persia succeeded in creating an exciting summer blockbuster, however without giving depth to its characters and creating a feeling of rushed plot lines, it fails to capture an audience and is easily forgettable.

Rating: 5.5 (Average)

DVD Review:

The Road: Based off of the book of the same name and written by Cormac McCarthy (the author of another book-to-film adaption, No Country For Old Men), The Road is a powerful tale of love, trust and morality.

The Road follows the journey of an unnamed father and son duo who are attempting to traverse a disaster-torn world and reach the Pacific Coast. I really enjoyed the fact that the disaster that claimed nearly all life on earth is never described or visualized, though we do see that the earth is in fact plagued by continuous earthquakes.

The father/son duo come across many difficulties during their sojourn, such as starvation, the aforementioned earthquakes and cannibals. Yes, a large portion of the survivors have turned to cannibalism to feed their hunger. It's a dark and ugly perspective and one that certainly garners the movie's 'R' rating.

Of all the post-apocalyptic movies that Hollywood has created, The Road seems to be the most realistic example of a future wherein the world suffers a complex disaster. Not that I'd know how that would turn out, but simply watch the movie and see for yourself. There's not a single zombie or post apocalyptic mutant in it. :P

The relationship between the father and son, the main focus of the film, is strong and beautiful. The father continuously proves that he'll go to no end to ensure his boy's safety, even to the point of other survivors who threaten the duo. The son provides a sort of moral compass for the father, who occasionally will go too far with protecting the boy.

While the movie can be depressing at times, the ending, for the most part is a happy one. I highly suggest watching The Road to anyone who has the stomach for such gritty films.

Rating: 7.5 (Close to excellent)

E3 News! Sony Unveils New TCW MMO

2010-06-02T06:06:00.001-07:00

E3 is right around the corner and it seems that multiple companies are having pre-expo reveals.

For those of you who don't know, E3 is the Electronics Entertainment Expo that takes place annually in Los Angeles. The convention gives many of the popular software developers like Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo a chance to reveal their future games and technology to the geek world.

I'll be creating multiple posts pertaining to E3 news over the next few weeks, principally regarding Star Wars games such as The Old Republic and The Force Unleashed II. And here we go...

Sony has unveiled a press release regarding a new Star Wars MMO taking place in The Clone Wars era. This new game will be aimed at a younger audience yet it still managed to catch my eye. No surprise there! :P

The Clone Wars Adventures looks to be similar to the Cartoon Network MMO, Fusion Fall and like its predecessor will also be free. In addition to exploration and social interaction, Adventures will feature multiple mini-games such as speeder bike racing, lightsaber dueling, RTS style fortress protection and Jedi Starfighter piloting.

Adventures looks intriguing and I'd like to try it out, I'm just not sure how long it would be able to keep my interest.

PC Games - E3 2010 - Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures

Highlighted Song!

2010-06-01T14:21:00.000-07:00

The movie-adaption of Beowulf changed the poem's story quiet drastically with its "sins of the father" twist. However, even with all its flaws, I still loved the movie for bringing both the story of Beowulf to life and creating a truly epic soundtrack that mirrored the mythology of Beowulf perfectly.

New Avatar Series!

2010-05-27T07:13:00.000-07:00

I just learned that a continuation of Avatar: The Last Airbender, the animated series from Nickelodeon is now in the works with the title, Avatar: The Legend of Korra.

I absolutely loved Avatar, so I'm extremely excited about this news! Hardly any information regarding the series has surfaced with the exception of two things of note; 1. Nickelodeon has confirmed the show's existence and states that they're hiring staff for the show. 2. Former Avatar creators Mike DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko are both involved in the series' creation.

Suffice to say, I'm ECSTATIC about this news! Even though Avatar was a children's cartoon, I found myself enthralled in it. It had an incredible feel to it; the stories were clean and well thought out and the characters were fresh and appealing. It was certainly a guilty pleasure for me. :)

You can look forward to more posts regarding Avatar: The Legend of Korra in the near future.

New Show: The Cape

2010-05-20T11:25:00.000-07:00

Along with canceling Heroes and renewing Chuck, NBC has signed on for a myriad of new shows. The one standout for me personally was The Cape. I'd heard about it before simply due to the fact that Summer Glau, star of Firefly/Serenity and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, is slated to be a primary character in the show.

Due to her track record with canceled shows, it'll be interesting to see how long The Cape lasts. It seems like an actiony kind of show, but one that doesn't take itself too seriously. I think I might like that. So without further adieu, here's the trailer.

Quick Movie Review: Iron Man 2 & Moon

2010-05-17T06:19:00.000-07:00

Iron Man 2: The sequel to the hit 2008 blockbuster Iron Man, Iron Man 2 succeeds in returning us to a world wherein the witty Tony Stark (Iron Man) struggles with five major major problems. (1) His battle with the U.S. government over control of the Iron Man suit. (2) The appearance of a new villain who has created technology that is a duplicate of Iron Man's own weapons and power source. (3) A new creator of military grade weapons who vies with Tony over domination of the weapons manufacturing market. (4) His relationship with Ms. Potts is getting heated, and (5) Stark's dying. Oops... SPOILER ALERT!!!

The plot runs reasonably smoothly, though the pace does take a while in coming. After the pace is set however, the movie delivers. The action scenes are wonderfully shot and choreographed and the humor that we've come to expect from Stark seems to have transcended to encompass multiple other characters, which sounds like a bad thing but really isn't. Most of the new characters, with the exception of the main villain, Ivan Vanko who came across as an annoying nuisance, where quite fun to watch. Don Cheadle's role as Colonel Rhodes seemed to be a great improvement from Terrence Howard's portrayal of the character in the first movie and might I point out how fun it was to watch Jon Favreau reprise his role of Stark's chauffeur/bodyguard, Happy Hogan?

Also, there were multiple hidden references to the upcoming Avengers movie, with one example being Captain America's shield which can be seen in one shot when Tony uses it to prop up one of his latest experiments. Additionally, if you sit through all the credits, which I forced my forgiving friends into doing, you can briefly see Thor's hammer.

All in all with it's great action sequences and nonstop humor, Iron Man 2 might in fact be one of the only sequels to come out that is, dare I say it, better than its predecessor.

Rating: 8 (close to excellent)

DVD Review:

The British science fiction film called Moon didn't get much publicity in the US and frankly the budget of the movie seemed slightly low. With that being said Moon should have had more hype in the US! This was a great movie. The lead role was played by Sam Rockwell who subsequently played the weapons manufacturer, mentioned above, in Iron Man 2. Rockwell's performance was solid, though I've had trouble taking him seriously since I first saw him in Galaxy Quest where he played the ridiculously dim-witted Guy Flegman, and his role in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy didn't help either. However, even with multiple humorous scenes, he came off as a serious character, which I enjoyed seeing greatly.

The story follows the repetitive exploits of Sam Bell, an employee of a lunar mining operation whose job is to make sure all the mining equipment is running smoothly. He also happens to be the moon's sole inhabitant.

Without spoiling too much, things go awry when he gets into an accident on the moon's surface and upon waking up after the accident believes GERTY, his computer partner and only companion has been withholding information from him.

The movie runs at a slow pace, and you'll find yourself surprised that the film was only two hours long after watching it through. But the suspense and humor all quicken near the second half of the movie when Sam comes in contact with a mysterious person also on the moon.

I feel like I should stop here. Not only do I not want to spoil anything in the movie, but these are supposed to be quick movie reviews.

Moon is great! If you like Sci-Fi or drama, I highly suggest renting it. It is for sure a diamond in the ruff!

Rating: 7.5 (close to excellent)

Highlighted Song! Fire & Regeneration

2010-05-16T06:49:00.001-07:00

In honor of the now canceled show Heroes, I give you Fire & Regeneration. I don't know what it is about this song, created for Heroes and prominently featured in the show on multiple occasions, but I've always enjoyed it. It fits the show perfectly. It's sort of a mix of cultural musical variations, which Heroes continually used in the show with characters like Hiro Nakamura from Japan, Peter Petrelli from the United States, and Mohinder Suresh from India.

Heroes R.I.P.

2010-05-14T17:57:00.001-07:00

NBC has revealed their fall lineup, and among the multitude of shows that have been canceled is Heroes. I'm extremely sad to see it go. Heroes was such a great show during its first season, and its depressing to see it go in such a downward spiraling manor. Rumors were abound, before the official news of Heroes' cancellation, regarding a possible two-night Heroes movie event that would wrap up the show, however this too has been shot down.

It's possible that another network such as SyFy or TNT would pick up the show, however this is highly unlikely due to poor ratings for Heroes here in the United States.

Luckily my other favorite show, Chuck HAS been renewed. Last season fans rallied together to insure the show's survival. This season brought about no such thing. NBC renewed the show without a hitch. So thankfully I'll have something to watch on boring Monday nights.

Countdown: Top 5 Best The Clone Wars Episodes of Season 2

2010-05-08T11:46:00.000-07:00

Now that the Clone Wars has wrapped up its newest season I thought it fit to compile a list of my five favorite episodes from the season II. These episodes are by far the shining stars of season II and even if you've not been interested in TCW previously, these are certainly worth watching.

5. Lethal Trackdown

The final episode of season II, 'Trackdown' featured some of The Clone Wars' strongest characters, Aurra Sing, Plo Koon and Hondo Ohnaka. While that alone may support an episode, Trackdown also features great action scenes and wraps up the Boba Fett story arc quite nicely.

Though I don't understand how both Slave I and Jango Fett's helmet could both be destroyed when they appear in episodes V and IV of the film saga.

4. Voyage of Temptation

Though its name seems to have been derived from a raunchy romance novel, 'Voyage' was by far the greatest TCW episode to date in terms of character development.

'Voyage' showed a side of Obi-Wan not seen in the films. By throwing a new character by the name of Duchess Satine into the mix, (a peace loving politician with ties to Obi-Wan's past), TCW successfully added new depth to these characters we all know and love.

Obi-Wan's romantic side shown in 'Voyage' was quite a breath of fresh air compared to his constant role in the television show of Anakin's strict former master. While on the subject of Anakin, we also get to see quite a bit of foreshadowing with him at the episode's end.

3. Lightsaber Lost

Until Season II I hadn't seen an episode that I thought portrayed Ahsoka very well, at all. 'Lightsaber' showed just how competent Ahsoka is and isn't. It also introduced a fun new character in the shape of Terra Sinube, an aged Jedi Master who accompanies Ahsoka on her quest to retrieve her lightsaber from a pickpocket.

Finally, Lightsaber featured incredibly detailed shots of Coruscant, something TCW crew seems to have nailed since season one when shots of Coruscant outside of the Jedi Temple and Senate were quite rare.

2. Landing at Point Rain

Hands down the most action packed episode The Clone Wars has to offer, Landing at Point Rain is full to bursting with massive explosions, aerial attacks and not to mention burning bugs.

Rain was a huge step forward for TCW, showcasing near cinematic visuals and an amazing amount of on-screen CGI models. 'Rain' also features the first appearance of Jedi Master Ki-Adi-Mundi in The Clone Wars.

1. Children of the Force

Children of the Force was an awesome ending to the Cad Bane-Holocron story arc and actually aired as the third episode of Season II. After watching this for the first time I had high hopes for season II and, for the most part, those hopes were fulfilled.

'Children' showcased a myriad of 7 planets and locations in its 22 minute time slot, and while I'd usually consider that a detriment to the story, well to put it simply, it worked well for this particular episode. The pacing wast fast and the action was packed.

The mysterious tone of the episode combined with what is by far some of the greatest examples of both Bane and Darth Sidious' villainy, created a wonderful episode that will remain the highlight of Season II for me.

Honorable Mentions:

Brain Invaders:

Brain Invaders is action packed and contains multiple examples of Revenge of the Sith foreshadowing. In addition to that, a great Jedi VS Jedi fight can be seen in the episode.

The Deserter:

'Deserter' is one of the only episodes from season II that showcases Captain Rex. His character development throughout the episode is memorable, along with the final fight with the clones and the commando droids.

Senate Murders:

I could sum up why this episode is a standout with one simple statement; Padme doesn't need rescuing for once in this episode. But that alone doesn't make Senate Murders great. The ambiance in this episode is wonderful and while I could do without Spongebob voicing the obnoxious police detective and the ending was quite foreseeable, Murders truly deserves to be an honorable mention.

So to wrap things up, The Clone Wars pulled through in season II. It fixed multiple problems from season I, no Jar Jar and less "Roger roger". It also featured more side characters compared to the constant use of Anakin, Obi-Wan and Ahsoka in Season I.

The one problem I can think of is that Asajj Ventress wasn't shown once in the entire season. Why?!? Ventress improved some of season I's episodes greatly, and while she did appear in a season two episode that was pushed back to season I, I'd certainly enjoy seeing her role expanded in Season III.

Firefly: Still Flying

2010-05-07T15:29:00.000-07:00

I opened up one of my recent Star Wars Insider magazines, and within it I found an add for a new Firefly/Serenity book coming out soon. I was REALLY excited, because after inspecting the add it stated that new stories involving the crew would be published in the book, and penned by the same people who wrote for the TV show.

I was already interested in buying it, but that is icing on the cake! We've not had an original Firefly story in quite some time with the exception of the comic books. I'll be sure to post a review of 'Still Flying' after it's released on the 25th. FIVE STARS!!! Oh wait, too soon?

Highlighted Song! Signal to Noise

2010-04-30T20:30:00.000-07:00

Possibly one of my favorite instrumental songs ever conceived, Signal to Noise was written and sung by former 'Genesis' lead singer, Peter Gabriel. The score was used for the 2002 film, Gangs of New York. The music itself is a dramatic epic of sorts. Below is the song in both its normal, and purely instrumental forms, along with two music videos that use 'Signal'. Finally there's the scene from the Gangs of New York opening that showcases the music as well.

BE WARNED!!! Rated R violence and language is contained within the 3rd and 4th videos. If you don't want to see possibly disturbing images, don't watch 'em.

Here's the instrumental version of 'Signal' and by far my favorite.

Here's the normal version with Peter Gabriel providing vocals.

Here's a link to a Serenity video that features 'Signal'. Unfortunately embedding has been disabled for this video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GX6IIiFfBXI

(Content Warning!) Granted, some portions of this video don't quite seem to match up, especially with the added end piece, but it's still pretty awesome.

(Content Warning!) Lastly, here's the fight scene at the beginning of Gangs of New York.

Expanded Universe Gems: Dark Forces: Jedi Knight

2010-04-27T21:55:00.000-07:00

Okay, so you may have read previously that I LOVED the Star Wars video game, Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight. But what you may not know, is that the game was accompanied by a series of novellas. Now when I say novellas, I'm referring to a set of three short stories, written as if they were a single story, but simply divided into a trilogy of short, hardcover books. These stories coincide almost perfectly with the story of Jedi Knight, (with a few creative liberties thrown in) and add a massive amount of depth and back story to the already excellent tale.

The first novella, Soldier for the Empire chronicles the start of Jedi Knight's main protagonist, Kyle Katarn, as he discovers that his place as a Stormtrooper among the Galactic Empire is unfitting. Kyle's journey from his young, unwise self at the start of 'Soldier', to that of a Rebel Agent to Jedi Knight to galactic hero and Expanded Universe icon is a truly epic one.

Some of the most intriguing characters, who also happen to be the main villains of the trilogy, are the Dark Jedi; a group of Force-wielding Dark Siders who are attempting to locate and infuse themselves with the power of The Valley of the Jedi, which holds the spirits of both Jedi and Sith from the final battle of the Great Sith War, told in the Tales of the Jedi comic series. The Seven Dark Jedi are led by Jerec, former Jedi and survivor of Order 66.

'Soldier' and it's subsequent sequels, Rebel Agent and Jedi Knight are all aided by gorgeous full-color illustrations by three separate artists. The illustrations fully flesh out Kyle's story and draw deeply from the live action cut-scenes created for the Jedi Knight video game.

In addition to both the video game and the novellas, Dark Forces was retold
in an audio drama format. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to hear or acquire these audio dramas, but if anyone wants to send me a donation... :P

Besides it being a fan favorite, and the fact that not mentioning it in one of my 'Expanded Universe Gems' segments would be blasphemous, Dark Forces holds a place as dear in my heart as the Star Wars films themselves. With its wonderful cut-scene enhanced video game predecessor, an awesome storyline, and wonderful illustrations, Dark Forces is truly an EU Gem!

Katarn as he appears in on of the cut-scenes from Jedi Knight; played by Jason Court.

The Last Airbender: New trailer & 3D

2010-04-26T15:29:00.001-07:00

The Last Airbender, the live-action, feature film incarnation of the popular Nickelodeon animated epic, Avatar: The Last Airbender, is set to be released in the United States on July 2. Thanks to an update on the movie's official website, www.thelastairbendermovie.com, we now know that the film will be released in 3-D.

In addition to that little piece of news, a new trailer has been revealed which seems to show more promise for both the story, and the bending we'll be seeing in the film.

I'm not sure if I'm excited about the 3-D news. Creating movies in 3-D has become a fad, once again... Also, as far as I know, The Last Airbender wasn't originally created with 3-D in mind. It was most likely adapted for 3-D similarly to Clash of the Titans.

But hey, I'm not complaining. There's still no way I'm going to miss this! :)

The Old Republic Update

2010-04-26T15:09:00.001-07:00

The Old Republic is looking to be quite an exciting expansion to the Knights of the Old Republic series of video games. There have been multiple updates to the official The Old Republic website that I've not posted about.

New TOR Webcomic: Blood of the Empire is a prequel to The Old Republic's popular online comic series, Threat of Peace. Blood of the Empire will, like its predecessor, lead up to the events of The Old Republic.

New Planets: Three more planets have been revealed as playable locations for TOR. The first planet, Voss, is new to Star Wars lore. According to www.swtor.com, Voss is a world populated by a species sharing its name with the planet and the Gormak, a race know for their incredible technology.

Taris, one of the main locales of the original Knights of the Old Republic video game will once again be visitable, though now it will be visualized as a planet of ruins. For anyone unfamiliar with the plot of the first game, Taris once featured a marvelous cityscape, which was later destroyed by the reigning Sith Lord Darth Malak.

The third planet revealed was Belsavis, another locale from previous Expanded Universe material, Children of the Jedi to be precise. Belsavis is to appear as a frigid planet covered in ice in TOR.

Holonet Updates: The Galactic Time line section of The Old Republic website is a wonderful way to reveal the backstory for the upcoming game. Its entries are a mix of narration in the form of a Jedi historian, and conceptual art for the game which has been transformed into moving works of art. If you've yet to see these videos, I highly recommend traveling to http://www.swtor.com/info/holonet/timeline to check them out.

Highlighted Song! Freedom Fighters

2010-04-20T17:20:00.000-07:00

Like I said, some of Two Steps From Hell's finest works were created for the Star Trek trailers. Below is my personal favorite, Freedom Fighters, and possibly the most epic song ever created. Enjoy!

In other news; Chuck, my current TV obsession is continuing to rock.

New Segment: Quick Movie Reviews

2010-04-18T10:34:00.000-07:00

So as I'm sure you're aware by now, I love to watch movies, though I don't have nearly enough time to write reviews about each one I see. Therefore, I'm creating another new segment wherein I feature several reviews of movies, both old and new.Before I get into my first lineup, I'll introduce you to my rating system. It's quite simple, and almost doesn't need an introduction, but here goes. The rating system is on a 1-10 scale, 1 being a terrible movie, not worth seeing and sure to make you spew your last meal, 10 being a true work of art, a masterpiece in all realms of film, characters, visuals, and story.

So without further adieu, here's my first lineup of reviews.

Clash of the Titans: A remake of the 1981 film of the same name, Clash of the Titans is a tale of Greek mythology, and while it has its moments, primarily in its action sequences, the film fails to deliver a compelling story. In addition, beyond the main character of Perseus, Titans doesn't have much depth to its characters.

Rating: 6.5 (Better than average)

DVD Review:

Sherlock Holmes: Staying true to the Holmes stories and portions of its canon, Sherlock Holmes comes with plenty of laughs, character development and action. Its portrayal of the relationship between Holmes and Watson took center stage, creating a great comedic atmosphere throughout the duration of the film.

Along with the wonderful visualization of 19th century London, Holmes comes with plenty of surprises and portrays Holmes in a way true to the books and short stories. The movie itself seems to literally have come off the pages of one of the many Holmes stories

Rating: 7.5 (Close to excellent)

New Segment: Highlighted Song!

2010-04-16T04:59:00.000-07:00

So I'm starting up a new ongoing segment wherein I highlight my favorite movie and TV show soundtracks. Or simply a random song that I see fit to mention. These posts will be intentionally short, but I'll also take the time to put in short news blurbs within each post. Enjoy!

Two Steps From Hell, the creators of a large portion of the music you hear in movie trailers, created such music for the 2009 release of Star Trek. Some of the companies finest epics where created for Star Trek's second and third trailers, with the first one, 'Down With The Enterprise' featured below.

Also, if you're into Horror films, check out Starcostume's countdown of the Top 15 Horror Movie Villains here; http://blog.starcostumes.com/greatest-horror-villains.html.

Look for Two Steps From Hell's second score for Star Trek's trailers in the coming future.

Countdown: My Top 10 Favorite Movie Villains

2010-04-12T14:20:00.000-07:00

1. Darth Vader- In my opinion, Darth Vader is the epitome of villains. He's powerful, foreboding and he's got a temper. His fall from grace chronicled in Star Wars' prequel trilogy was saddening to say the least, and for fans of the original trilogy, nothing compares to the moment where Vader revealed himself as Luke's father.

2. The Joker-While Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker was greatly hyped due to his death after the film's completion, his final performance was one for the ages. Ledger brought about a perfect interpretation of the classic comic book villain, while adding several small additions of his own to Batman's bane.

3. The Borg-The penultimate adversaries for the Federation and all its allies, the unstoppable force that is the Borg wreaked chaos throughout the Star Trek universe many a time, coupling their hive mind with their tenacity and impressive technology.

4. Colonel William Tavington-The personification of a coldblooded soldier, Colonel Tavington sowed death and destruction into the Martin family after killing both of the family's eldest sons during the Revolutionary War. believe it or not, Tavington was an actual Colonel during the Rev War. Google it if you don't believe me.

5. The Terminator-Yes, I did feature The Terminator as an 'Honorable Mention' on my list of Top 10 Movie Heroes (below), but as you may or may not know, he began as a villain; hence the name the Terminator. The unstoppable killer is a common theme in action, horror and suspense movies. One of the original examples is of the T-800, or the Terminator featured in the movie of the same name.

6. Sauron/The Ring: The creator of The Ring of Power, Sauron gathered massive amounts of villainous creatures to him, creating a true force to be reckoned with for those inhabiting Middle Earth. Sauron also wreaked havoc in his postmortem state of being, as both the 'Eye' of Sauron and The Ring itself. Besides, his armor is so cool looking!

7. The Alliance-Everyone fears rule under a corrupt government. The Galactic Alliance is a shining example of such a government. With Serenity's exploration into characters and their freedom the Galactic Alliance became the adversaries of the crew after creating the madness that was River Tam, and attempting to dissolve of the evidence of their creation of the space savages, the Reavers.

8. The Klingons- A species of interstellar warriors with a barbaric mindset, the Klingons began as the Federation's original nemeses, but eventually created a fragile alliance with the Federation. I still prefer them as the enemies. *Crosses fingers for next Star Trek movie.

9. Emperor Palpatine- Known as the ultimate manipulator, the Emperor began as a politician, rising into the office of Supreme Chancellor, and eventually bestowing the title of Galactic Emperor onto himself. His manipulation of Anakin, the Jedi and the entire galaxy creates the focal point for the entire Star Wars movie saga.

10. Lord Voldermort-The tormentor of both Harry Potter and the magical world in which he inhabits, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had all the tendencies of a power hungry protege. Though his character doesn't make a true appearance until the fourth novel and its subsequent movie tie in, mere stories of his exploits had fans of the books and movies eagerly awaiting his return.

Honorable Mentions:

Grendel: Grendel was the reason that Beowulf traveled to Denmark in the first place. News of his terrible exploits had reached far and wide, and the movie adaption of Beowulf did a wonderful job of bringing the creature to life.

Viki and the NS-5s: Viki was an artificial intelligence that made all the NS-5s (new and powerful robots) turn on their human creators. In the end, Detective Spooner hit the nail on the head when he simply said, "You so have to die!" before putting an end to the computer.

Davy Jones: The antagonist of the second and third Pirates of the Caribbean movies, Davy Jones was loosely based off of the seafarer's legend of Davy Jones' Locker. In the films, Jones was beautifully created using motion capture technology.

Stay on the lookout for my Countdown of My Top 10 Favorite Movie Heroins & Villains, along with a new ongoing segment wherein I feature one of my favorite movie or TV soundtracks.

Countdown: My Top 10 Favorite Movie Heroes

2010-04-07T10:18:00.000-07:00

Here's a countdown of my top 10 favorite movie heroes of all time!

1. Luke Skywalker: Sure, like his father before him, he managed to whine during A New Hope, but during the events of The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi, Luke truly came into his own, becoming a full fledged Jedi Knight, defeating and then saving his father and proving that the Light Side always prevails.

2. Samwise Gamgee: Sam, Frodo's valiant counterpart throughout the Lord of the Rings Trilgoy, and the only reason Frodo wasn't killed in the first movie. Lets face it, if it wasn't for Sam, Frodo would have died upon the first or second time he stared into the camera.

3. Data: The android Data and his search for humanity became the main focus of the Next Generation film quadrology with him discovering emotions, befriending fellow crew members Geordi and Captain Picard and briefly experiencing a twisted version of love. His endeavors to become more human ultimately led him to his death in Nemesis wherein he sacrificed himself to save Captain Picard.

4. Malcolm Reynolds: The witty Captain of Serenity always seemed bitter about his faction's loss during the galaxy's civil war, and that's why I love him. Through all his bitterness, he always came through with his powerful sense of right and wrong and could be relied upon to deliver a great one-liner.

5. Eli: Along with delivering a powerful Biblical message, The Book of Eli introduced us to none other than, Eli, whose determination, faith and fortitude where not to be trifled with. Eli completed his task given to him by God in the fictional post-apocalyptic world, and certainly drew my attention when he decapitated various road thieves and bandits with his signature knife.

6. Batman: Bruce Wayne is a rare example of a powerless superhero. All he has is his wealth and physique to go by. But anyone who's seen any Batman movie or comic knows that that's all he needs! Batman is by far, the greatest DC character to come about, and truly shines in both Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.

7. Captain John Miller: Saving Private Ryan was a true dedication to the American soldier, and Tom Hanks couldn't have portrayed his character of the brave, emotional and stalwart Captain Miller in any better way. While the entire movie pulls my heart strings, Miller's death and final words at the end of the film creates a message everyone should take away from the movie.

8. Rorschach: One of six main characters in the ever popular graphic novel Watchmen, Rorscach with his mercilessness towards evildoers, troubled past and pursuit of justice quickly became the fan favorite of Watchmen and continued to draw my attention during the 2008 movie adaption of the classic graphic novel.

9. William Wallis: Braveheart as he is more commonly known by became a symbol for freedom throughout Scotland, and present day culture. Mel Gibson's performance of the character in the 1995 film Braveheart was superb. I promise, the vast amounts of battles and violence didn't sway me!

10. Beowulf: The ancient mythological hero known as Beowulf has been known to literature and the world for hundreds of years. It's only until recently that Beowulf's epic story has fully been told in the form of a film. And while the movie itself may have portrayed him in a less than heroic fashion, his tale is still one of honor and nobility.

Honorable Mentions:

Jake Sully: Sure he WAS a traitor to his own species, but who doesn't want to be blue and nine feet tall?

The Terminator: I've always enjoyed movies that pertain to a robot's/cyborg's search for humanity, hence Data above and I, Robot below. The Terminator franchise created a great variety of these stories through the last three movies, and the television show.

Edmon Dantes: Yes, technically his motives where fueled more by revenge then the need to perform heroic deeds, but I won't have it! He's a hero!

Del Spooner: I, Robot was a memorable movie, and the character of Detective Spooner with his prejudice towards robots created a wonderful realism and plot line.

Do you think I'm missing anyone? Perhaps you agree wholeheartedly. Either way, feel free to comment below. Also, look for my Countdown of My Top 10 Movie Heroins, followed by my countdown of my favorite villains.

A New Animated Star Wars Series

2010-04-06T09:53:00.001-07:00

According to starwars.com, a new untitled animated Star Wars series is in the works. The website sheds a small amount of info on the upcoming show, mentioning that the creative minds behind both Robot Chicken, and The Daily Show will be the creators of the series.

The website goes on to explain that the show will be a light comedy, however with Robot Chicken's creators, Seth Green and Mathew Seinrech behind the wheel of the new show, I can only assume that the age group that Lucasfilm will be targeting will be more of an adult audience, compared to it's current series, The Clone Wars which is aimed largely at children.

I really have no problem with this however, as long as the show doesn't step on any toes or delays the upcoming Live-Action show.

We'll have to wait and see how the show develops.

The Clone Wars: Season II Finale Trailer

2010-04-05T05:16:00.000-07:00

This season of TCW will be rapping up with an explosive three part story arc, featuring non other than Boba Fett. Though he's still in his early teenager years, he's backed by notorious bounty hunter, Jedi killer, and ex Jedi; Aurra Sing. Along with Sing's newest companions A Klatoonian whose name escapes me, and none other than Bossk, the Trandoshan bounty hunter first seen in The Empire Strikes Back!

This is heating up to be quite interesting. In related TCW news, two upcoming episodes will both feature the Zillo Beast, a massive creature awakened on Malastare's surface. According to Dave Filoni, the series director, the beast is the largest character model created for the television show to date.

Also, the recent post about Bib Fortuna and the Rise of the Dark Falls, was simply an April Fool's Day joke, just in case you didn't surmise that when you read the article.

The Pacific; Opening Sequence

2010-04-03T05:17:00.000-07:00

I was a huge fan of HBO's previous World War II series, Band of Brothers. The mini-series was pure gold! In honor of the epic, new World War II mini-series, The Pacific, produced by Steven Spielburg and Tom Hanks, I've decided to post the show's opening credits here on Memoirs. I simply can't get this song out of my head. Curse you Hans Zimmer!

EU Gems: Bib Fortuna & the Rise of the Dark Falls

2010-04-01T05:18:00.000-07:00

Largely forgotten by the Star Wars community, Bib Fortuna and the Rise of the Dark Falls is certainly an EU Gem, with its large portions of Senatorial discussions regarding the Empire's history and lightsaber fights between Bib Fortuna himself and the disembodied head of Kowakian Monkey-Lizard, Salacious Crumb.

This masterpiece was penned by Derek J. Reda who wrote it in 1984, a year after Return of the Jedi came out. It was unfortunately not published in the United States and was released in limited quantities in the United Kingdom.

The plot line follows; Bib Fortuna, Jabba's right-hand-man from Episode 6 travels to Coruscant where he argues with the Senate over how to stop a group called the 'Dark Falls', who hail from Cularin, from distorting the history of the Galactic Empire.

During these events however he is swallowed by a viper.

And there you have it. One of the best political intrigues Star Wars has spawned! The quote on the back of the book says it all! "Rise of the Dark Falls, The Forgotten EU Masterpiece of Derek J. Reda"

This work of art is truly an EU Gem!

Imperial March Remix

2010-03-31T10:32:00.000-07:00

The music featured in this video was created for the Star Wars PC strategy game Force Commander which came out in March of 2000. I've been dying to find this remix of the Imperial March, and here it is! Thank you 'Danae Mari Skywalker' for finding the music!

New The Clone Wars Movie? What?!?

2010-03-30T12:53:00.000-07:00

Now before you go on a rant about how a 'The Clone Wars' movie shouldn't have been made to begin with, let me explain. This upcoming movie, tentatively titled 'Defenders of the Republic' which is also still rumored by the way, will be made as a start to TCW Season III, and it will stay in it's current medium of television. Yes, that's right, a new TCW made-for-TV movie is in the works. And from the looks of it, it's gonna rock!

Now let me tell you. You're not gonna learn about this on any other site. All the websites that featured this little tidbit of info quickly had it taken down. Apparently Lucasfilm is trying to keep this on the down-low. So huuuuuuush.

The ARC (Advanced Recon Commando) Trooper, a type of clone variant introduced in the original Clone Wars 'micro-series' and subsequent Clone Wars era comics.

Here's the synopsis, or what I remember of it to be more precise.

The story follows a small group of clone troopers, from their origins, to them eventually becoming ARCs. That's all I've got in terms of details, however the promo cover that I briefly saw featured Echo, one of the clones from every one's favorite episode 'Rookies', so it is a possibility that it features him and fellow survivor Fives.

All in all, I think this is very promising. Some of the biggest complaints hurled towards the series is its lack of time to tell stories, so creating an hour and a half to a two hour time slot to tell the story would be spectacular, especially considering the plot and characters involved.

I'm really looking forward to this! The new season will most likely start on the first Friday of October, I'm gonna start counting down the days.

New Firefly Comic!

2010-03-24T15:28:00.000-07:00

That's right, Firefly has finally added another edition to its wonderful collection of comics, with Float Out! This new single-shot issue chronicles three stories of my favorite pilot, Wash prior to his at the hands of Reavers in Serenity. Oops, SPOILER! ;)

Float Out was written by none other than Patton Oswalt, the stand up comedian, best known for his role as the nerdy Spence Olchin in the long lasting sitcom The King Of Queens. Apparently Oswaft is a serious Browncoat (fan of Firefly/Serenity)!

What's even more interesting is the fact that the write up for Float Out mentions two things of note.

(1) That a surprise cameo in the comic will "...leave Serenity fans reeling...".

And (2) It has a reference to Serenity's future?!? What is THAT supposed to mean? Are there any plans for Firefly/Serenity to continue in any way shape or form in the near future? Joss Whedon, the creator of the franchise, did recently have his latest show Dollhouse cancelled, so it is a possibility. But I don't want to get my geeky hopes up... Even though I'm going to. :P

For those of you who have no idea what I've been talking about or what Firefly/Serenity is, visit http://www.serenitymovie.com/. I highly recommend it. Just be sure to watch the show first!

Expanded Universe Gems: Empire 2: Darklighter

2010-03-08T09:53:00.000-08:00

When the Empire series of comics first came about, I was unenthusiastic at most. In my mind, I'd seen countless continuations of Original Trilogy back stories all the way from comics such as the original Marvel series to Shadows of the Empire. It simply seemed that there wasn't much more room to fit all these stories into with the time span between the three original films being only four years.

Never the less, upon first picking up Empire: Darklighter, I was blown away! The art was clean and crisp, the story, which largely concentrated on side characters, fit perfectly with EU continuity and the drama was engrossing! This comic made me truly enjoy the character of Biggs Darklighter, so much so that I instantly rewatched, for the hundredth time mind you, the Battle of Yavin sequence during A New Hope.

Whether you're a die hard Fanboy, or simply enjoy the movies, Darklighter is an anthology that you don't want to miss, and one that I'm confident will be compared to the likes of Dark Empire and Tales of the Jedi.

With it rekindling my love of Star Wars comics, its powerful drama, and wonderful storytelling, Darklighter has earned its title as an EU gem!

Heroes: A Brave New World

2010-03-05T09:52:00.000-08:00

Did Heroes' last season 'Redeem' itself enough have the show renewed for a fifth season? It's a question on many fans of the tv show's minds. Sure, it's been given a title of Brave New World, but other than that, we literally have no idea of the show's outcome.

Since its second season, Heroes has begun to decline, reaching it's lowest point of viewing during it's third volume, Villains. It has continued to spiral downward during its fourth volume, Fugitives, and its most recent volume, Redemption. To put it simply, Heroes has never returned to it's highest amount of viewing such as it's first season, and season 2 opening of 16.93 million viewers. In fact, its latest finale garnered a meager 4.4 million viewers.

My hopes for Heroes began to diminish since season 3's midpoint, specifically at the point where Hiro's mind was reverted to that of a child's. On top of that, I never really took to Fugitives, in fact I was almost excited to see Nathan go! And while Redemption marginally held up to its title, there was one thing that kept bugging me; the carnies.

I can see that in a world inhabited by super-powered people that it might make sense that the people we classify as 'weird' in the real world, would in fact be gifted with a power, but why make them one of the primary focuses of the season? I just couldn't rap my head around this.

To conclude my little rant, I'd definitely like to see Heroes return for another season, especially after the cliff hanger we saw during the last episode of Redemption, which proved that yes, Heroes can still think out of the box. So, I'm crossing my fingers and holding my breath until we hear news, which I'll be sure to post on Memoirs immediately.

What do you think? Should Heroes return for another season?

Memoirs Revamped?

2010-03-03T18:17:00.000-08:00

That's right, I've decided to completely geek out, and let all my nerdy, bizarre interests take to the stage on Memoirs. Yes, I'm both a fan of Star Wars and Star Trek! Could such a thing be possible without creating a quantum flux time slip? Well, simply put; yes.

Furthermore, I've updated Memoirs with plenty of gadgets and pages, it's still a work in progress, but feel free to look around. While the majority of my posts will focus on Star Wars, many of them will be made up by other franchises, such as Star Trek and Serenity. I'm also going to be putting an end to the Weekly Updates section. It was fun while it lasted, but It came off more as a chore to me, and I'd like to enjoy my time writing.

Also, instead of concentrating on the straightforward writing that I've been doing on Memoirs, I've decided to sprinkle some humor around. So brace yourselves, it might get corny.

Lastly I'd like to thank all my followers for simply following and posting comments, you guys rock! Oh yeah; and please, please don't laugh at my new banner. I tried!

Regards,
Alex

Weekly Update (Week 5)

2010-02-13T06:51:00.000-08:00

One of the many influences used in The Clone Wars are the original conceptional drawings for the Star Wars movies, created by the brilliant Ralph McQuarrie. In this image, one of his original drawings for a Coruscant plaza is finally visualized. Taken from The Clone Wars: Duchess of Mandalore.

Trivia: Which newly christened Sith Lord killed Jedi Padawan, Whie Malreaux, during Operation Knightfall?

Quote: "Overwhelming odds, tough target, scant chance of survival- business as usual for Rouge Squadron."- Corran Horn, X-Wing: Rouge Squadron.

News: Karen Traviss recently spoke with Io9.com about her departure from writing Star Wars. In the interview she sheds some light on her reasons for leaving and speculates that her formerly forthcoming Boba Fett novel was cancelled due to conflict with the upcoming Live-Action show.

Answers: The answer to last week's trivia question is, C. Coronet.

Weekly Update (Week 4)

2010-02-05T10:36:00.000-08:00

In a rare moment, Galen Marek (Starkiller) strikes Darth Vader, sending his helmet hurtling from his face. Taken from The Force Unleashed.

Trivia: What is the capital of Corellia? A. Corellia City. B. Kor Vella. C. Coronet.

Quote: "You've come to the right place for a burial."- Montross, Star Wars Bounty Hunter.

News: Star Wars continues to crush the competition as the highest grossing toy property of 2009 accumulating over $408 million in the United States alone!

Answers: The answer to last weeks trivia question is, B. Baccara. Both other characters have appeared in TCW with Thire being showcased in Ambush (#1) and Bly in both Jedi Crash (#13) and Defenders of Peace (#14).

Last week's quote is from Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II. Upon taking the non canon Dark Side path, the spirit of Qu Rahn can be heard uttering this.

Expanded Universe Gems

2010-02-03T11:15:00.000-08:00

In this first installment of EU gems, a new section were I will highlight my favorite Expanded Universe material, I'll be covering one of my favorite EU supplement guides, 'The Wildlife of Star Wars: A Field Guide'.

Published in 2001 and written by Terryl Whitlatch and Bob Carrau, this hardcover comes in at 175 pages with not a single page lacking wonderful full colored illustrations of countless creatures from both the Star Wars movies, and Expanded Universe. A welcome touch is that 'Wildlife' is written from an in-universe perspective, meaning that it's as if the author is actually a denizen and observer of that galaxy far far away...

'Wildlife' features everything from cute creatures like Voorpaks and Blarths to some of the nastiest predators such as the massive Sando Aqua Monster of Naboo and the giant Gorax of Endor. It also showcases some great examples of what typical life is like in Star Wars, with both a pet shop and circus being seen.

With over 9 planets of bizarre animals, Wildlife is a fantastic addition to any Star Wars fan's collection, making it an EU gem!

Weekly Update (Week 3)

2010-01-29T10:47:00.000-08:00

Taken from the RPG supplement guide, Geonosis and the Outer Rim Worlds. This concept is quite strange; an Ewok Jedi.

Trivia: Which one of these clone troopers has yet to appear in The Clone Wars? A. Baccara. B. Thire. C. Bly.

Quote: "For you, the choice is the dark side. Forever will it te your destiny."

News: Wizards of The Coast, the creators of Star Wars Miniatures and the Star Wars Role Playing Game are finishing there Star Wars contract in the upcoming months and are not planning on reinstating the contract.

Answers: The answer to week 2's trivia question is, Coruscant. The quote from last week, "You and I disagree on what makes a good soldier..." is from The Clone Wars episode 'Cloak Of Darkness'.

Weekly Update (Week 2)

2010-01-22T05:00:00.000-08:00

Taken from the classic first-person shooter Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II. The shot depicts Sariss, one of the seven 'Dark Jedi' antagonists in the game. Sariss was later retconned into A New Hope

as one of countless civilians in Mos Eisley.

Trivia: Centax-2 is one of the moons of which Core Worlds planet?

Quote: "You and I disagree on what makes a good soldier..."

News: (1) Geogre Lucas has all but officially confirmed that he will be recreating all six Star Wars movies in a 3-D format that will be brought back to movie theaters everywhere. due to the success of Avatar.

(2) Crosscurrent, the time traveling post Return of the Jedi novel featuring Jedi Academy's Jaden Korr will be hitting book shelves everywhere on January 26th.

Answers: Here is the answer to last weeks trivia question, in the novel, The Last Command, what is the name of Mazzic's ship? Mazzic's ship is the Distant Rainbow.

The quote from last week, "Vengeance isn't becoming in a Jedi, Padawon. Your Master died in vain." was from Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader wherein Jedi Master Roan Shryne and Padawan Olee Starstone had just witnessed the of Olee's master at the hands of Vader.

Introducing: Weekly Segments!

2010-01-13T13:08:00.001-08:00

I've decided to add a new feature to my blog. Each week Memoirs will be updated with an article filled with everything from trivia that will make the biggest Star Wars fans cringe, to obscure quotes that will have your mind buzzing, not to mention news, and a random image which I will elaborate upon each week. I'll kick off the first 'Weekly Update' with the picture below.

Taken from The Clone Wars episode 'Trespass'; I thought this picture captured both the uniqueness and tension of the episode.

Trivia: In the novel, The Last Command, what is the name of Mazzic's ship? Check back next week for the answer, and be sure to post your own answer in the comments section.

Quote: "Vengeance isn't becoming in a Jedi, Padawon. Your Master died in vain." Try your hand at guessing where this quote is from, and be sure to check back next week for the answer.

News: Sue Rostoni was quoted saying that the Imperial Commando series will likely continue with a new author behind the wheel. For those who aren't aware, former Republic Commando author, Karen Traviss, was slated to create a sequel to the new Imperial Commando series but dropped out due to a conflict with plot lines that where being developed in The Clone Wars.

Come back next week for the answers to the trivia and quote sections, more news and a new image!

Dromund Kaas In The Old Republic

2010-01-12T15:33:00.000-08:00

I must admit, when I first learned that the ever popular Knights of the Old Republic video games would be continued in the form of an MMO, I was not very enthusiastic. Seeing how the previous Star Wars MMO (Galaxies) was handled, I didn't have very high hopes, but as more and more information and material is revealed, including a wonderfully visualized trailer, I find myself anticipating this title's release more and more.

One of the aspects that has caught my interest is the variety of Expanded Universe planets that will be featured in the game. Among the previously revealed locales are Nal Hutta (called Hutta here) from the Dark Horse classic, Dark Empire, along with Balmorra from the sequel to Dark Empire, Dark Empire II. Joining into the fray with its first visual appearance in Star Wars is the planet Tython, which was first mentioned in the classic Star Wars RTS, Rebellion.

Both Korribon and Ord Mantell have also been confirmed along with several other planets from the films such as Coruscant and Alderaan.

The latest addition to the ever expanding list of confirmed planets is one very dear to my heart. ;) Dromund Kaas was first seen in Mysteries of the Sith, the expansion pack to what is in my opinion one of the greatest Star Wars video games ever created to date; Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight.

In MotS, you play as Mara Jade who is searching for Kyle Katarn after he mysteriously vanishes while looking for the planet Dromund Kaas. Upon reaching the jungle planet you find Kyle hidden in a Sith temple filled with many ly obstacles. I won't go any farther so as to spoil the last levels, but I will say that I did not expect Dromund Kaas to be in The Old Republic. It was quite a welcome surprise, especially after I saw that the developers would hold true to it's original design from MotS.

With this kind of addition appealing to Fanboys like myself, I must say that I've found a new interest in The Old Republic. Now if only my computer would run it...

The Jedi Exile Revealed!

2009-12-18T08:42:00.000-08:00

The Expanded Universe is populated with many characters that have engrossed fans. From the brilliant Grand Admiral Thrawn to the rouge Jedi Quinlan Vos. Some of the most notable examples are those of customizable characters featured in video games, as is the case with characters such as Kyle Katarn and Darth Revan.

With the two Knights Of The Old Republic titles, players are given the choice of determining the character's name, gender, profession, light side-dark side alignment and appearance. The main character from the first title, Darth Revan has been slightly fleshed out, with a back story developed primarily through source books and the KOTOR comic series. Revan has also been given a canonical gender of male; something we see often in the Star Wars EU with both Jaden Korr and Revan being identified as such.

Recently a large amount of details have been revealed about the Jedi Exile, the main protagonist from the second Knights of the Old Republic game. We know from previous sources that the Jedi Exile is canonically female. Thanks to the Star Wars Miniature game, the Jedi Academy booster pack to be precise, we now get a look at the Exile. (Picture at top of post). In addition, the miniature has red-brown hair, wields a cyan hued lightsaber and is wearing a typical Jedi robe with a white tunic.

Though the picture found on the Exile's card doesn't appear to share a resemblance with any of the female portraits available on Knights of the Old Republic II, It's still nice to have a basis for the character's appearance.

Not to mention the fact that somebody out there is bound to create a computer for the game

that looks like the miniature!

Insider 114 Reveals Titles Of Next Two TCW Episodes!

2009-12-15T18:00:00.000-08:00

Hitting shelves and entering mailboxes is the latest issue of the Official Star Wars magazine #114.

Inside among various layers of interviews and Q&A segments can be found the titles of the next two Star Wars: The Clone Wars episodes, both of which will be broad casted back-to-back on January 1st.

The first episode title given, coming in at number 2.9 is "Grievous Intrigue". Written by Ben Edlund who is most notable for his work on the cult classic television show Firefly as well as work in The Tick, Supernatural and Angel, this episode's summary is as follows; After an ly encounter with a prominent member of the Jedi Council, the Jedi resolve to stop General Grievous once and for all.

This summary rose a question for me; who is the Jedi Council member? At the end of the latest episode, 2.8 "Brain Invaders", a short preview was given for a future episode, which I can only assume is Grievous Intrigue. In the preview a Zabrak Jedi can be seen on a Venator-class Star Destroyer bridge. This Jedi is very similar to Eeth Koth in appearance, but past Expanded Universe sources (Inside the Worlds Of Attack Of The Clones) have stated that he perished in the fighting on Geonosis. Agen Kolar, is alive and well, but does not bear a resemblance to the Jedi seen in the preview nearly as much as Eeth Koth does. Will TCW push aside another bit of EU lore with this next episode? Personally I wouldn't mind either way, but we'll just have to wait and see...

The next episode title given is #2.10 "The Deserter". Written by Carl Ellsworth, the writer of the yet to be released movie remake of Red Dawn, theis episode's summary is as follows; Obi-Wan Kenobi leads a squadron of clone troopers as the search for Grievous intensifies, but who is the mysterious Cut Lawquane?

Be sure to watch The Clone Wars on Friday, January 1st when these questions will be answered! And don't forget to visit http://www.titanmagazines.com/ to sign up for Star Wars Insider magazine!

Leave it to me to write up a blogpost about three paragraphes in a magazine. :)

The Force Unleashed II announced!

2009-12-13T07:50:00.000-08:00

It's official, a continuation of the smash hit Star Wars title The Force Unleashed will be released sometime in 2010.

First announced at this year's Spike TV Video Game Awards, TFU II will, like it's prequel, take place during the 19 year timeline between the two movies Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, and Episode IV: A New Hope.

The trailer shown at the VGAs can be seen here at the game's official website. http://www.unleashed2010.com/.

More info on this story as it develops.

TCW Review: Weapons Factory

2009-11-13T13:31:00.000-08:00

The second episode of a four part arc, Weapons Factory is another solid installment in The Clone Wars' ever expanding arsenal of episodes.

Beginning with the cookie, 'No gift is more precious than trust', Weapons Factory quickly establishes tension between Anakin and young Ahsoka due to Ahsoka believing that Anakin finds her capabilities lacking. However, Anakin's intentions are misinterpretted by Ahsoka. Anakin wants to guarantee Ahsoka's safety, Ahsoka views his attempts to protect her as doubts of her abilities. The foreshadowing in this regard to Revenge Of The Sith was quite straightforward, but was done very well.

In an attempt to destroy Poggle the Lesser's new droid factory, Anakin and Ahsoka are joined by fellow Jedi duo, Luminara Unduli and her Padawan Barriss Offee. An interesting and dynamic relationship is shown between these four characters. Anakin is familiar with both Luminara and Barriss, as we see in his saying that "It's good to see both of you again." This mentioning is a probable reference to the events of, Approaching Storm by Alan Dean Foster, the prequel to Attack Of The Clones. In the novel Anakin and Obi-Wan collaborate with Luminara and Barriss to resolve a border dispute on strategically important Ansion; this story is also referenced in Attack Of The Clones.

Anakin's role in the novel was as a Padawan, so it was interesting to see him interact with Luminara as colleagues rather then there master-apprentice relationship that we saw in Approaching Storm. Throughout Weapons Factory, Ahsoka and Barriss where also on edge, though there relationship could still be seen as friendly.

The animation in The Clone Wars has clearly come a long way. Both the amount of characters onscreen at any given time along with the vast amounts of detail put into everything from facial expressions to dust settling on the floor in the Geonosians tunnels, are great examples of this show's progression. In several scenes, the movement of the clones was reminiscent of the first Battle of Geonosis in Attack Of The Clones; with the soldiers holding there blaster rifles at hip level and simply walking at a slow pace.

The super tanks, which have not yet been given an explicit name, seemed like a mix between the Trade Federation MTTs and the Rebel artillery vehicle seen in Empire At War, the MPTL-2a. They added a sense of dread and malice that we don't normally see conveyed by the Separatist's constant use of comical Battle Droids.

Overall this was a good episode. It was great to see the story mostly centered around Ahsoka, instead of having her as the sassy secondary-character that occasionally gets an interesting scene to herself.

The cookie however could have easily been changed to something pertaining to Anakin's disability to let his loved ones go, a plot line that was begun in the theatrical film and clearly still persists in the form of Ahsoka and Anakin's relationship.

Weapons Factory garners a 3.5/5.

Review of TCW: Republic Heroes

2009-10-29T08:33:00.000-07:00

The Clone Wars has continued to be the main focus of Star Wars as of late. With a reasonably new television show, a toy line, video games, comics and tie-in novels such as Wild Space and No Prisoners ting the attention of Star Wars junkies. Not to mention the countless megabytes of online material from episode guides and web comics, to online video commentary for each episode; all of which can be found at http://www.starwars.com/.

However, there are people who are disappointed with the direction that Star Wars has taken since the prequels were released and even more so now with TCW. I for one, am not one of those people. I love Star Wars. I love every spin-off and tie-in. Therefore I love TCW. And if I couldn't have been more clear, TCW rocks!!!

Bear in mind that I purchased this game for the Nintendo Wii platform. The Clone Wars Republic Heroes is a third person shooter coming in at around $50. Available on all platforms, developed by Krome Studios and when compared to its predecessors, a major leap forward in terms of game play. When I say predecessors I'm referring to the two previous games spawned by Krome Studios, TCW: Lightsaber Duels, and The Force Unleashed, both developed for the Wii. Republic Heroes delivers what it's younger siblings lacked; a well designed engine, fun co-op playability, and in the case of Lightsaber Duels a compelling story.

The game play is solely story mode, with drop in, drop out co-op as an added bonus. Players can choose from either Jedi or clone troopers with a variety of different characters and locales. Though the backdrop changes from planet to planet, the repetitive feeling of swinging from pole to pole, however fun at first, ultimately takes away from the game's overall appeal.

The vast amount of interchangeable characters adds a bit to the fun, allowing you to choose between many of the Jedi featured in the first season of TCW and many of the clone troopers, along with a handful of newer clones such as ARF trooper Boomer, Sergeant Kano, and Private Switch, a clone trooper bred for technical duties and given the nickname 'soft shell' due to the fact that he wears no armor. Examples of this kind of clone can be found in the background of several episodes such as Children of the Force where they can be seen getting smacked by Cad Bane before he takes off in a V-19 Torrent.

With all these new clones, one must beg the question; will any of them appear in season two of TCW? After all there portraits do look like they have been created specifically for the show and the game is supposed to be set inbetween the two seasons.

Republic Heroes spans four different locations, two of which are recognizable to fans of both TCW and the larger Expanded Universe. The story begins on Ryloth, in the city of Resdin, one of the cities mentioned being made into an example by the Separatists in Liberty on Ryloth. Next we see Juma 9, a space station formerly used for mining and now converted into a Republic military outpost. Alzoc III, the home planet of the Talz species who were highlighted in a similar planet in TCW episode Trespass, is featured next. Finally we see the planet Behpour, located in the Chommell Sector, the same sector inhabited by Naboo. I really would have enjoyed seeing more diverse locations, but that can be owed to my ultimate fanboy hope that one day they'll have named all the planets seen in the original Clone Wars micro-series.

Speaking of which, nods to the original show can be found twice in Republic Heroes. The first example are the, Chameleon droids, first featured in Clone Wars Chapter 14, who are seen several times in-game. The second nod comes in the form of dialogue between Kit Fisto and Mace Windu. Upon clearing a room of battle droid foes, Fisto can be heard saying to Mace, "Perhaps the stories are true; that you managed to defeat an entire droid army by yourself". This bit of banter, which had me grinning in fanboyish glee, is a reference to Mace Windu's appearence in Clone Wars Chapter 12, where he single-handedly, and rather comically, obliterated a separatist super-weapon and army.

The dialogue, an increasing hot topic for disgruntled fans is not much different than that of the first season of TCW. You can expect snippy comebacks from Ahsoka and annoying Battle Droid banter. Though I must say that some genuine laughs came in the form of none other than Cad Bane, who makes occasional appearances later on as a rival to the main antagonist of the game, Kul Teska.

All in all The Clone Wars Republic Heroes is a decent game, not comparable to the likes of previous Star Wars titles such as KOTOR or Dark Forces II, but still a fun play for TCW fans. And certainly better than this... http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Wars:_Pit_Droids

I apologize for the length of this first entry. You can look forward to shorter entries such as a reviews of the Star Wars horror novel troopers and The Clone Wars episodes.