Tag: movies

The nerd rage over new Harley Quinn is real

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Over the last few days over social media, I’ve seen Margot Robbie’s leaked images of her portrayal of Harley Quinn called things from a “strung-out hooker” to all sorts of rage that she’s basically not Paul Dini’s rendition of the character.  This is the sort of thing that happens when you know a whole lot of females that cosplay.

Interestingly enough, there was barely a fifth of the same kind of rage when just weeks ago, Jared Leto’s rendition of The Joker was released.  When it comes to nerds, Harley Quinn is one of the epitome pinups of nerd culture as a whole, and basically any attempt to even try and humanize Harley would predictable end up with resistance and rejection outright.

Naturally, nobody really needs to be reminded that most nerd collective hated the initial still of Heath Ledger’s Joker when The Dark Knight was being teased, but after the movie was released, it was a pretty unanimous conclusion that Heath Ledger was absolutely brilliant in the role and portrayal.

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Why I like the Fast and Furious franchise

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I don’t even know where to begin talking about Furious7.  Except that I enjoyed it, and I had more than one case of the feels admittedly, watching it; whether it was from the farewell piecemealed together for Paul Walker and his character, or the repeated monologues spouted by Vin Diesel about the importance of family.

Sure, it was a completely absurd movie, as every single one in the franchise was, and there was no length too far for the action sequences to go just a little bit more over the top than the one before it.  Who cares about the logic of how like a Somalian mercenary terrorist with a troupe of very American-sounding mercs manages to get a helicopter armed to the teeth with an accompanying Predator drone into Los Angeles airspace without alerting everyone in the city until it starts firing upon Toretto & Co.  Who cares about Kurt Russell basically being Nick Fury with SHIELD behind him?  Where does Dominic Toretto seem to house his endless supply of classic muscle cars that he just ends up destroying one after another?

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BEST WORST HOLIDAY

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Ahh, it’s that time of the year when I can wake up on a Monday morning, and not feel the anxious feeling of knowing that I have a finite amount of time to brush my teeth, get dressed, let the dog out, and get out on the road, before a very tiny window of time that separates a 45-minute commute from a 60+ minute commute.

For it is Confederate Memorial Day observed in the great state of Georgia, and I do not have to work today.

This is kind of like the feeling of watching your favorite sports team’s arch-rivals losing to a third party.  After your favorite sports team has already lost for the day.

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When feminism ruins good

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There’s a movie coming out this week called The Fault in Our Stars.  A brief synopsis is that it’s the story of a teenage girl (Hazel) with a terminal illness who meets a teenage boy (Augustus) at a support group who immediately takes a liking to her, despite the fact that Hazel feels insecure with herself due to her cancer and the fact that she has to always carry an oxygen tank around with her everywhere as a result.  As their relationship blossoms, Hazel is reluctant to fully let Augustus into her world, because she feels that as she is terminally ill, she doesn’t want to burden anyone with the pain of her eventual death.  Undeterred, Augustus pursues her heart, because pain is supposedly inevitable, and there’s no sense in trying to avoid it at the cost of living your life.

In other words, it’s a heartfelt romantic plot that is just about guaranteed to make the vast majority of viewers cry.  It’s also based on a true story, which makes it all the more soulful and beautiful in a sense.  But for all intents and purposes, it has the makings of a good movie that will undoubtedly make people feel sadness, but the overlaying message will be one that of happiness.

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Resident Evil film casting fails

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When the film adaptation of Resident Evil came out in 2002, I could easily say that I was pleased. Everyone knows the stigma of failure that is typically expected that of video game-inspired movies, but RE, in my opinion, did a great job of using the game series as inspiration, but for the most part, going in their own direction with a story. All characters were original, but the concept was the same, almost as if it were feasible that this story could have very easily occurred during the events of the game. Nods to the series were given throughout the film, be it through little things, like the design of the transport train, as well as more blatant things, like the inclusion of a Licker as the “boss” of the movie.

Resident Evil made a decent flick, because it wasn’t trying to be the exact game, portrayed in film.

I also had the hugest crush on Milla Jovovich, until I heard her speak in the director’s commentary.

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Disney’s Million Dollar Spoiler Alert

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Sure, it’s a nice story, interesting concept, and a legitimately good, plausible idea.  But it would have been an even better one, had the real, actual results amounted to any actual success.

SPOILER ALERT: the two Indian guys that Million Dollar Arm is about didn’t amount to anything in professional baseball.  Neither of them advanced beyond the low minor leagues, and for all intents and purposes are no longer pitching professionally; Dinesh Patel flamed out in 2010, and Rinku Singh may or may not still be pitching, but not for anyone in the United States, and hasn’t since 2012.

Sure, baseball is a beautiful and wonderful game, and it is often hard to not romanticize the analogies and the metaphors that the game provides, which makes it easy for there to be a demand to make movies about the sport.  Regardless, that kind of realistic information isn’t going to stop Hollywood, or Disney from making a film to exploit the story of how such results came to fruition, without actually getting to that part.

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I side with Jared

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Long story short: Actor Jared Padalecki (Supernatural) tweets that the death of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman on account of heroin overdose is stupid and insinuates that it shouldn’t really be classified as a tragedy because it did it unto himself.  Twitter sheep explode at Padalecki and make him have to defend himself.

I am not a fan of Philip Seymour Hoffman, nor will I bother to pretend like I was, and/or that he was the greatest actor ever.  Frankly, I think the vast majority of outlets and who are bemoaning his untimely demise could say similarly too, but in order to sound relevant and in-the-know, it’s necessary to stretch the truth just a little bit.  He’s been in movies that I’ve enjoyed sure, but seeing Philip Seymour Hoffman’s name on a starring list has never compelled me to need to see something at all.  I heard about the news of his death prior to the Super Bowl and frankly didn’t care, because in the grand spectrum of my little world, the existence of Philip Seymour Hoffman is completely inconsequential.

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