Beards and Jackets

Rarely a film franchise goes by without a few bumps in the road, entities that come along with the possible threat that their very existence may tarnish all those that came before them. In recent years Hollywood has been on a bit of a roll when it comes to not only releasing remakes but, more importantly, sequels. It’s one thing to re market something for a new generation, it’s another all together to keep a well known one going; especially when it already has an established fan base.

Last night (or more accurately, this morning) I attended the midnight screening of Terminator Salvation, the fourth film in the franchise. It was an interesting event, to be honest, because something happened that I didn’t expect: there were people in “costume.” I use apostrophes because to call them actual costumes would be a disgrace to all the nerds out there who actually put time and effort into their own.

Now, I’ve been to a lot of midnight movie premieres and I’ve seen a lot of people dress up for said occasions. When I attended “Star Wars: Episode III” there were plenty of people dressed up as Jedi, Darth Vader, etc. “X-Men III: The Last Stand” brought out those who wanted to be Wolverine and/or other X-Men. “Terminator Salvation”, on the other hand, brought out a bunch of people who entered the theater wearing aluminum foil wrapped around themselves. It was rather sad.

However, that’s not important. What is important is if the movie was any good. Read more…

Movies

I am not a comic book fan, let me get that out of the way first. This is not to say that I do not enjoy comic books or that I do not have respect for the art form. I do. I’ve just never been able to get into them. I’ve never been able to get myself to pay for them issue to issue, to stay constant with them and to invest my time and money into them. Although, what I can say is that I have always been fascinated by their mythology.

I enjoy the characters, the story lines and most of all their struggles. I certainly feel that while they are stories about humans with superpowers (and even those without) they are more or less stories about people not unlike you or I. They deal with problems, both emotional and physical, that test them to their very limits everyday.

Of course, superheroes are fictional. However, the question is always asked: what if they were real? What if superheroes really existed in the real world? Read more…

Movies