Smokkee's 2014 Oscar Picks

Hello, WORLD!! Smokkee here, thankfully. This is my first post of 2014 on any of my blogs. Had a little health scare in January and I'm just now starting to feel close to 100% again. I'm good though.

We're less than a week away from the 86th annual Academy Awards ceremony. This year's nominees are among one of the toughest batches I've seen in recent years. Besides the Best Supporting Actress award, which I think is essentially won already, most of these awards are fair game for all who were nominated. Lemme break down who I think has the best shots at each of the major awards.

BEST PICTURE: Spike Jonze's HER

Of the 9 films nominated, only four (AMERICAN HUSTLE, GRAVITY, 12 YEARS A SLAVE, THE WOLF OF WALL STREET) had any major exposure. It's a shame because three other nominees (HER, NEBRASKA, DALLAS BUYERS CLUB) were just terrific. That leaves two (CAPTAIN PHILLIPS, PHILOMENA) that I believe shouldn't have been nominated except they each both had incredible performances: Barkhad Abdi as the pirates 'Captain' in PHILLIPS (which I felt outdid the great Tom Hanks' own performance) and Judi Dench as the eponymous PHILOMENA. Sidenote: 2 outta every 3 movies nominated this year is based on a true story. I don't think I've seen that before but I'm getting older, forgetting alot.

Who wins?  12 YEARS and DBC are good enough to win but unfortunately due to the gravity of their subject matter, I doubt either has a serious shot. AMERICAN HUSTLE is clearly the people's champ right now but GRAVITY may just snatch the award from it. With that said, I feel the Oscar should go to HER. It's a timely movie that's just as funny as it is accurate. Also it's the one movie on this list that everybody can relate to easily without any hangups. Think about it.


BEST ACTRESS: Amy Adams - American Hustle
Considering that every nominee has won an Academy Award accept Amy Adams, that could make her turn as a beautiful con artist in AMERICAN HUSTLE an Oscar winning one. Could, not should. The only serious threat to Adams' win is Cate Blanchett, who almost single-handedly made BLUE JASMINE a must see film. Judi Dench was equally wonderful as PHILOMENA though I doubt she wins this award because of the lack of awareness about it, another reason why I think Adams may eek out this win. To be honest, although I did like Sandra Bullock in GRAVITY, I liked the two strong female leads from AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY so much I felt like Julia Roberts should have gotten this nomination instead of Bullock and of course she as another Oscar winner also could have canceled out her A:OC costar Meryl Steep's nomination. 


BEST ACTOR: Leonardo DiCaprio - THE WOLF OF WALL STREET

This year is the year Leo DiCaprio gets his Oscar. TWOWS was fantastic only because of Leo. His embodiment of 80s greed was the heartbeat of this whole movie. I really wasn't that impressed with the movie when I first seen it but I'll chalk that off to the pneumonia I was diagnosed with 2 days later. Even then I noticed that the movies energy flowed from not around,  DiCaprio. I just watched it again recently and now feel like it's the little sister to Scorese's GOODFELLAS; same underlying theme sans the violence. Now, Christian Bale was great in AH but he didn't carry his movie like Leo did. Chiwetel Ejiofor COULD win for 12 YEARS because it was one hell of a performance... but yeah right!! Hollywood don't have the guts to give it to him (I wouldn't be mad if they proved me wrong here though). Matthew McConaughey was great in a gutsy role but got outshined in DALLAS BUYERS CLUB. The only real serious threat to Leo is Bruce Dern in a career defining role in NEBRASKA. The Academy could reward Dern here for it. 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Jennifer Lawrence - AMERICAN HUSTLE
This is the easiest award winner to pick. Sally Hawkins was OK as BLUE JASMINE's sister but not award winning great. Ditto June Squibb as Dern's long suffering wife in NEBRASKA. Doesn't seem like they had to stretch any acting chops for those roles. And while Julia Roberts was Best Actress level terrific in A:OC and Lupita Nyong'o made everybody take notice of her as the lusted-after slave Patsey in 12 YEARS, neither will win. Nyong'o for the same reason Ejiofor won't win the Best Actor Oscar for the same movie. Robert's A:OC was great but it touches on some extremely taboo subjects. I doubt if the Academy will reward the terrific performances from it but who knows. That only leaves one real nominee and it just so happens that she's Hollywood's current 'IT' girl. My only knock against J Law winning this award is she really wasn't in the movie long enough, in my opinion, to have 'supported' this movie.




BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Jared Leto - DALLAS BUYERS CLUB
If you read my review for CAPTAIN PHILLIPS, you'll see I LOVED Barkhad Abdi's role as the leader of the pirates who hijack Phillips cargo ship. I was extreme happy to see he got nominated. He won't win though, unfortunately. Neither will Michael Fassbender (whom I have no doubt will win an Oscar within the next three years or so; he's that great) for 12 YEARS. Bradley Cooper and Jonah Hill's noms are mind boggling to say the least. Not because they are bad performances but I can certainly think of better last year. Somebody whom I feel should have been nominated was Will Forte for his role as the Dern's son in NEBRASKA. Another nominee, one that would have been even more shocking than both of Jonah Hill's nominations, is Andrew Dice Clay who played the husband to Hawkin's character in BLUE JASMINE. It wouldn't have mattered though. This year's best supporting actress was actually a man! Jared Leto as Rayon in DALLAS BUYERS CLUB was probably the gutsiest performance all year. And the Academy will reward it as such, I promise.


DIRECTOR: Alfonso Cuaron - GRAVITY

David O Russell may be the favorite here with his AMERICAN HUSTLE entry. Alexander Payne's NEBRASKA touched a lot of people. Martin Scorsese gave us his best film since THE DEPARTED (some would argue GOOFELLAS but I digress) in TWOWS. Steve McQueen COULD win with his 12 YEARS but (stop me if you've heard this) it won't win because of the subject matter. Besides all of that, I feel that Alfonso Cuaron's tale of a doomed space mission should win this Award. It was one of the cinematic marvels of 2013 and even though it was set in space, it essentially boils down to a human study; about how we can lose, and then find, our way again. That's what I got from it, at least. 


And now for some quick goes at some of the other awards:

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: FROZEN, which also wins the BEST MUSIC/ ORIGINAL SONG Oscar for 'Let It Go'. THE WIND RISES should win though. SN: Why wasn't EPIC nominated?

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: HER, easily. It was the most original film of the year, after all.

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: 12 YEARS at least gets one award. This is it.

PRODUCTION DESIGN: GRAVITY. Space ain't never looked this good before.



BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: Denmark's THE HUNT. Very powerful film with a universal message.






BEST DOCUMENTARY: Here, I'm gonna go with my personal choice, the documentary about backup singers called 20 FEET FROM STARDOM. Besides the other choices were too similar to each other to really stand out (except for CUTIE AND THE BOXER, which essentially is about a long term marriage). If you're asking, DIRTY WARS is the best of the rest. OAN: I can't believe Lisa Fischer ('How Can I Ease The Pain?') still looks and sounds good after all these years! She's one of the backup singers featured in 20FFS.

Lisa Fischer not just backup singing w/Mick Jagger at a Rolling Stones concert in 2013.

There you have it, WORLD. I've made my choices and these are my final answers. Am I right? Of course I am!! But we'll just have to wait til this Sunday before it's official. Later, WORLD.

10 Directors Whose Movies Will Never Be Remade

Hello, WORLD!!

  Smokkee here. I been kinda quiet on the movie review side but I haven't stopped writing. I finally feel like I reached the halfway point to finishing my first book of short stories, 'Is There A Third Option?'. Anyway, lemme got to why I decided to write this non-review post. If you're familiar with any of my Smokkee's WORLD blogs, you know I start every post with that one lone sentence at the top, "Hello, WORLD!". I been saying it so long when I wake up in the morning, I can't remember how long ago I started saying it. So naturally, I felt it's the best way to introduce something that I've wrote. Well this is one post, given the topic, that I think I might have started just a little bit different. I might have started this one like "Well, I'm almost sure they'd never have to worry...."

The reason this post even came about is the fact that Spike Lee is remaking Park Chan-wook's unclassifiable movie OLDBOY. It is one of the most unique movies I've ever seen and I'm totally interested in seeing Spike's version...just to see how Spike makes it his own or even if it's remotely possible to do that. I doubt either is possible, really. I can't even figure out what genre to put it in. Is it gangster? Hell yeah! Horror? Well, even after the umpteenth viewing the ending still gives my chills. Romance? There's a love story in here that I don't see how I can explain without giving away the movie, ruining the end, or short circuiting my mind which is still trying to compute what the ending is telling me. I get it but I don't think I want to get it, feel me. 

With that said, and one of my choices for this post ( Park Chan-wook, obviously) disqualified from this discussion, here's the top 10 directors that never have to worry about any of their films being remade.

10) Spike Lee

Had to include him since he's the guy that kicked Chan-wook off the list. But think about it: can you really see SCHOOL DAZE remade? Right, me neither. Of course there may be another film based on Malcolm X but will it capture the essence of the former Malcolm Little like Spike's version? Hell no, it won't. Besides, I think if Spike hears that somebody is even thinking about remaking, say, DO THE RIGHT THING, he would blow gasket unlike any he already has. Speaking of which....

9) Quentin Tarantino

If Spike reads this list, coming behind this 'n' word loving director would have him blow another gasket. But thinking about it, I can see JUNGLE FEVER remade before anything Quentin has directed. PULP FICTION started a whole legion of filmmakers using the disjointed story telling style but none even come close to the greatness that is this movie. Not one. JACKIE BROWN, a film made to pay homage to blackpolition movies, turned those on it's ear with an involving style that I don't think any director alive today can mimic. I'm not gonna even mention DJANGO UNCHAINED or INGLORIOUS BASTERDS. These movies are boardline tactless to most people. Any director attempting to remake these movies is committing career suicide. Seriously. Only a man like Quentin can get away with it and I feel bad for any director that wanna prove me wrong... 


8) Martin Scorsese:

GOODFELLAS single handedly reinvented the gangster film genre, CASINO was a genre buster as well. What really made me consider Scorsese for this list is TAXI DRIVER, one of the most complicated movies I've ever watched and Travis Bickle maybe the most complicated movie 'hero' ever. So complicated, this movie deserves a blog post of it's own (coming soon, I guess). His SHUTTER ISLAND is one of the best mind fucks of recent history and it too is also worthy of it's own blog post to discuss the ending only. I'm not gonna even bring up his take on Jesus Christ but you see my point here. No director would put out such a film even though directors have way more artistic freedom and the studios are more open-minded than they were when THE LAST TEMPTATION was released in the 1980s. What's interesting here is Scorsese himself has a couple of remakes under his belt too, 1991's CAPE FEAR and 2006's Best Picture Oscar winning THE DEPARTED.


7) M Night Shyamalan / Christopher Nolan

The one director on this list that I am the least fond of, there's no arguing that his first movie, THE SIXTH SENSE, changed the thriller game much like 1995's THE USUAL SUSPECTS did. The famous plot twist
here has been duplicated so many times, a remake would be overkill. Shymalan's career takes a hit with each movie that came after that original movie, which surprisingly still holds up. I hated to include him but nobody will remake any of his movies so yeah he deserves a spot here. But it's a spot that he has to share with Nolan, who is quickly becoming one of my favorite directors working today. It's kinda fitting that he shares this spot with Shyamalan; with the exception of the first two films in the Dark Knight Trilogy, Nolan's movies
all have a perverse twist to them as well. The ending of MEMENTO is haunting if you truly think about it and given how many people don't quite get it, yes I think it will get a future blog post of it's own or it will share one with the not-quite-similar but not-too-different SHUTTER ISLAND. Can you imagine somebody tackling a remake of THE PRESTIGE? Or INCEPTION? No? Neither can I, thankfully.


6) Frances Ford Coppola: THE GODFATHER trilogy has defined mafia movies from the time the first one was released in the early 1970s to this very day. Every mafia movie that has came out since is indebted to one of, if not all three, of these masterpieces. Who's gonna attempt to remake any of these classics? Nobody. Ain't nobody that stupid. His THE CONVERSATION, released between GF 1 and 2, is another classic and way more harder to find a genre for. One thing it has in common with the GFs is it is as equally un-remakable. If you seen the film then you know star Gene Hackmans descent into madness is almost unparallelled, partly because we're not quite sure he is mad. Then you have the ultimate war movie APOCALYPSE NOW. Imitated often, never quite duplicated and almost impossible to remake.  



5) Stanley Kubrick: When you think of directors whose movies can never be remade, you MUST add Stan Kubrick to this list. His take on Stephen King's THE SHINING was remade but that was remade from the book, not Kubrick insane vision. His CLOCKWORK ORANGE could be remade, I suppose, but if it is you'll still have Kubrick's version playing in your head. Trust me. His remake of the taboo touching LOLITA is the definitive version. Jeremy Irons starred in a remake from the source material but Kubrick's vision danced in my head the whole time I watched it.


4) David Cronenberg: Cronenberg, like Kubrick, has his own defining touch of film making. You can almost tell you're looking at a Cronenberg movie just by looking at it. Almost every director on this list is like that really, which makes remakes almost impossible. Cronenberg's THE FLY, HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, DEAD RINGERS, VIDEODROME, and EASTERN PROMISES all have his signature creepiness coursing through their veins. I can't think of a director that can bring the same energy to any of these movies if a remake were in the works.


3) Lars Von Triers: One of the most interesting directing techniques of recent memory is the Dogme 95, which basically avoids using any real special effects and chooses to accentuate the acting chops of the actors involved as well as the script of the movie in question. Lars Von Triers is one of the directors that fhelped start this movement. Nevermind that MELANCHOLIA is the most beautiful end of the world movie I've ever seen. Nobody is gonna remake this movie as depressing/uplifting as this story is (it's one of my newest favorite movies, BTW). Nevermind that his THE IDIOTS is an insane (sorry) look at being insane on purpose or as politically incorrect as possible. Nevermind that his gangsta film DOGVILLE doesn't even resemble a gangsta movie, thanks to the Dogme 95 style it was shot in, even when it goes totally gangsta at the end. Take a look at a trailer for his upcoming movie NYMPHOMANIACS. Tell me you see this movie being remade. I'll tell you you're lying.



2) Wes Anderson: Think 'good clean quirkiness'. That's what Wes goes for and that's what he delivers. From RUSHMORE to MOONRISE KINGDOMS he has managed to make lighthearted rom-coms almost as sublime as they are touching. His FANTASTIC MR FOX is a kids movie that's NOT for kids & THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS boasts one of the weirdest families cinema has ever seen. Unremakable is one of the words that come to mind.



1) David Lynch: BLUE VELVET? Untouchable. INLAND EMPIRE? Indescribable. MULHOLLAND DRIVE, one of my favorite movies of all time? Undefinable. Hell, if I can find one person who's seen this movie to agree with me on what this movie is about, I'd be happy with that! Hands down, Lynch is the most untouchable director of my generation. His movies make sense only after multiple viewings. I can only imagine a director tasked with trying to remake one of these movies sitting in a screening room trying to figure out what the hell is going on first before he even attempts to rewrite the scripts.

Right On 'About Time '!!

Hello, WORLD! Smokkee here. I've been holding off this
review for a few days now but can't put it off any longer. Why? Not really a long story but...lemme just get this review started first.

Not that this unique British movie About Time isn't a great movie, it's fantastic really. It's also kind of hard to catorgoize. I guess it's a love story at it's core but then it kind of does this complete spin away from that initial story line to address other types of love. I know I might be a bit confusing here but bear with me.

Tim's face when he hears the family secret the first time.

About Time opens with slim, lanky, and awkward teenager Tim starting his narration duties introducing us to his family and their traditions, including a family gathering at the family's summer home, and the movie begins during the year his life changes for ever. Usually just hearing that line only induces a groan but in Tim's case, I think you gotta make an exception. By the way Tim is played by Domhnall Gleeson, whom I was unfamiliar with but would've been familiar with if I'd really paid attention to the Harry Potter series. Domhnall does bear a resemblance to Brendon Gleeson, whom I've learned is his father.  On Tim's 21st birthday, his father (Bill Nighy, lovable here even if his acting like an asshole) tells him the family secret: the men of the family can time travel. All they have to do, Mr Lake says, is find a dark place, think of a time that's like to go back to, close their hands and they're off. Some of the funniest little bits in this movie is watching him find a dark spot to use to correct his missteps. 

After the initial shock of hearing this, and the initial shock of finding out it's actually true by going back to a New Year's party where he's too shy to kiss the girl next to him (managing to kiss her this time), Tim is overjoyed. After the initial warnings of using his powers for monetary gain, Tim's first course of action is to find himself a girl, something that doesn't come too easy to overly awkward teens. He doesn't have to look very far since his sister Kit Kat's drop dead gorgeous friend is spending the summer with them. 

Tim's face when he uses the family secret the first time.

Tim doesn't make a move on her til the end of her stay and she rejects him, saying he should have asked her when she first got there. Tim naturally goes back to the past and tries to do just that. Here's where the first unexpected move comes in. He gets rejected again. Now if he knew anything about women, he would have known that all he had to do is go back and actually talk to her instead just expressing how much he adores her. The movie lets Tim take this initial reaction as she doesn't want him and he just moves on. 


Tim moves in with a playwright friend of his father in London named Harry (Tom Hollander) while he's practicing law. and it's here that he eventually meets Mary (Rachel McAdams, who has been more attractive to me here than anywhere else I've seen her and here she's almost seems middle-aged believe it or not) at a blind blind dating site. Yes, a blind blind dating site and if you think about it, the idea is genius. It's love at first site when they do finally see each other but thanks to a time travel to aid Harry's latest play avoid a disastrous opening night, he some how manages to unmeet Mary. 

I won't describe any more of this movie from this point on. I've only described to you maybe the first 20 or 30 minutes. Of course at this point I expected this movie to be about Tim's efforts to re-meet Mary but I was wrong there. This issue is resolved fairly quickly too. Any time a movie can throw you through a loop with something you're not expecting is cause for celebration, especially in a day and age where we've basically exhausted every genre available. See, this movie goes from telling one type of love story to several, including what I feel is the best love story of them all: the love of living a life worth living. The acting is great but as Bill Nighy really stands out; he owns every scene he's in. I also feel like I fell in love of McAdam's frumpy Mary right along with Tim. She just has this down to earth quality here that I find extremely attractive. Speaking of attractive, London looks absolutely gorgeous. 

Another thing this movie did for me was it made me really think about how precious time is. We really don't have a lot of it to start with and the simply fact is a lot of us waste it by doing absolutely nothing at times when some of everything can be done. I'm definitely guilty of this myself, especially since I saw this movie last Wednesday and I'm just getting around to actually writing this review.    

Avoid this movie if you don't like British accents. Everybody else is gonna love this movie, lol.
Seriously if you want to see a great love story see this movie.

A+

'Captain Phillips' Deserves a Promotion!

Hello, WORLD!! Smokkee here. I saw Tom Hanks latest movie, 'Captain Phillips', this past Wednesday. I wasn't totally shocked that it was great, but I can say I didn't expect it. It earns an 'A', easy, but it wasn't as thought provoking as the other movie I screened this week, 'About Time', so I'll keep this one brief so I can go focus on that one.


'Captain Phillips' tales the incredible story of Captain Richard Phillips, captain of the Maersk Alabama, a US container ship. It's set to deliver some goods in Somali, which is notorious for pirate activity. Of course you know that that's exactly what happens: the ship gets hijacked naturally. There wouldn't be a tale without that happening.

We're introduced to these 'pirates' early and they're nothing like Jack Sparrow. They're more like the grown up version of those kids we see on those "Just $1.00 a day can help feed.." commercials and they're looking like they haven't really changed much from those days. They're the native Somalians who work hard enough as fisherman and other odd jobs to still not have much to live off of who're presented with an opportunity of a lifetime for them: big bucks for finding a ship worth hijacking. All of these guys jump at the chance. It was interesting to see that these characters, for all of their impoverish looks, are actually tech savvy. Those selected to aid the would be pirates rush off to find the lone container ship that separates itself from the rest of the ships, which they scoped out their radars. One tells ultra slim Somalian Muse (Barkhad Abdi) that he better not get in his way. The surprise here Abdi, he who looks slow on the up-think at times but is no where near as naive or as fragile as he appears. From this point on, this movie gets intense.

I'm not gonna get into to much detail about what happens after the first attempted hijacking. It's one of the best scenes in the movie because you really get a sense of who Phillips, and Muse, are. It also sets the stage for a global version of chess that some of these players ain't ranked high enough to play.

As for the acting, Hanks here is flawless. I would say he carries this movie because he's the one lone American we see the most of, even though there's gotta be at least 30-40 crew members on deck. I should add that I should've known Hanks would be flawless here; he thrive's as the everyman against all kinds of insurmountable odds (Cast Away, Philadelphia, Saving Private Ryan, and of course Forrest Gump). An Oscar nod would not be undeserved so no shock if he gets one. But as I said earlier, Abdi is the real surprise, more than holding his own against Hanks' Phillips in a battle that won't turn out as either expects.

I'm sorry if I haven't gave you enough info to decide if you want to see this movie or not. I know I didn't want to see it at all. I didn't think I would be entertained. I was wrong. A tense movie with a great share of comedic moments you may or may not hate yourself for laughing at. I know I felt like I shoulda suppressed a few chuckles. But this is one of the most intense movies I've seen all year. Definitely worth a viewing.

A  


 

Why 'Superior Spider-Man' Writer Dan Slott Is The Vince Gilligan of Comic Books

Hello, WORLD!! Smokke here again with another confession: I was a geek when I was younger. Since I'm being honest, I'm still sorta in geek mode but we're all a bit geeky these days, aren't we? The way some people fawn over TV shows like The Walking Dead, Hell On Wheels, The Simpsons (my personal favorite), or classic TV shows and characters like Star Trek and Dr Who, or any of the millions of lame-ass reality TV shows proves that. But right now I'm geeking out over the geekiest of all topics: comics.

The main reason I've been actually reading these nerdgasms again is because of the death of one of my favorite heroes of all time: Peter Parker, the Amazing Spider-Man....sorta. Writer Dan Slott, the master minded behind the last 50 + issues of the Amazing Spider-Man, felt like Spidey needed a make over. A lot of people disagreed, even going as far as stupidly making death threats to Slott's life.

For the uninitiated, as of issue 700 of the Dan Slott-helmed Amazing Spider-Man (the last one in the series) the Spider-Man we all knew and loved is no more. But there's still a Spidey running around and he's still the original Peter Parker bodywise... but this new version of Spidey is none other than Dr Octopus, who came up with the brilliant idea to switch his dying body with that of his arch nemesis. And it worked, but as Peter (in Doc Ock's body) was dying, he forced Spidey-Ock (SpOck) to see his memories via some kind of mental connection they had established thanks to that body swap. And doing that showed Ock why Peter was Spidey in the 1st place. So there's still a Spidey saving New York because SpOck then vowed he would carry on Parker's legacy.



Still with me so far? OK.

The Amazing Spidey may have died but according to the man formerly known as Otto Octavius, the new Spidey would be better than the first one, a 'superior' Spider Man and there's now a new Spider-Man series called 'Superior Spider Man' detailing this Spidey's crusade against crime.

18 issues into this new series and the anger from fans who were pissed this even happened (myself included) has turned into something else entirely, an addiction to one of the most memorable comic book storylines I've ever read. Ever! This young series has already had TONS of WTF?!!?!?! moments including issue #9. I won't mention anything about these previous issues because you MUST check them out to even believe them, with #9 probably being one of the most depressing comic books I've ever read. It has these... moments
worthy of their own blog posts. Trust me. These early issues establish a fast tempo and a storyline that gave the reader a sense of hope that Peter could somehow revive from the dead and get his body back but all of that hope is muted by the end of the ninth issue, just the way Slott intended.   

From issue 10 on, all bets were off and the latter issues got even more intense. Why? The element of surprise. See even though Ock has taken over Parker's body and is actually trying to be a hero, he still has a villain's mentality and he applies that to his crime fighting. This Spidey ain't the friendly-neighborhood guy you grew up with. This Spidey has no problem killing, even shooting one villain in the head at point blank range. What else unhero like has this Spidey done? Well, how about hiring henchmen, even calling them 'Minions'? Or what about have the current mayor of Spidey's New York, former Daily Bugle editor in chief and another Spider Man nemesis J Jonah Jameson, FINALLY show support for Spidey only to have SpOck blackmail him into giving him his own headquarters and spoiling that rare peace between them? And the funny part is everybody and I do mean EVERYBODY knows this isn't gonna be permanent, despite what Dan Slott, the mastermind behind the Superior series, has said. Peter Parker will come back somehow.

How? Who knows? The fact that it doesn't even matter how at this point is proof that Slott is a genius at storytelling. We all want our original Spidey back. That hasn't changed. What has changed is we're in no rush for him to get back. Is that really the case? Maybe, or maybe we don't want to see SpOck gone just yet. My preference is that both Spidey's coexist at the same time. Why not? We already have Scarlet Spider, a Peter Parker clone, running around too and he's already clashed with the new Spidey. And thanks to the events of Marvel's huge company wide Summer crossover series The Age Of Ultron, the time stream itself has been broken and the current issues of Superior Spidey have him fighting the Spider Man from the year 2099. The one thing that is irking me is all of this that has transpired is all just undercards to a main event Slott has been setting up since day 1: Dr Octopus (as Spidey) vs the Green Goblin, a Goblin who may or may not be the original, Norman Osborne. Another future story line has Octavius battling the former Spider Man suit that turned out to be a parasitic alien, Venom, who is currently using Parker's high school friend/bully Flash Thompson as it's host. One more storyline has Dr Octopus along with the Indestructable Hulk and the all 'new' X-Men, which is a joke in itself since these are the original X Men who've been brought to the future because they may be able to stop their own future selves' actions (I know ??????, right?), fighting a villain named Dr Octopus. Yeah. Its getting crazier.

What's crazier is the world Peter Parker will have to deal with once he does return. Superior Spidey has done so much damage to the already fragile life of Peter Parker and the image of Spider Man that maybe Parker is better off dead. He's alienated himself from his friends, particularly the former Mrs Parker, Mary Jane. Recently he's gotten Peter fired from his job at Horizon Labs. He's even has his hero allies like his teammates the Avengers, who have him on 'probation' following a very brutal televised beating of two d-list criminals, raising there eyebrow at him. None more dangerous for Otto than Police Chief Yuri Watanabe who knows Peter is Spidey, knows there's something not quite right bout this Spidey, and is actively investigating what the change behind this Spidey is all about.

Which brings me to another great aspect of this series. The other shoe hasn't dropped yet. Otto's plan working, to some extent, is one thing. It's very interesting to see Otto face the same challenges that Peter faced, easily overcoming some like getting proactive on crime as Spider-Man, failing with typical Parker flare with some like Parker's love life. The other thing is somebody is bound to find out that this is Dr Octopus. He may be in a hero's body now but he's still a comic book villain; no comic book villain succeeds for long. What happens when the truth comes out? What happens if that truth comes out and it's our beloved Petey back in the Red and Blue costume? Fireworks, and storylines galore, for sure.    
 
Yeah I'll admit that when I first heard this idea, I hated it. Spidey is one of my favorite characters in all of fiction. For him to go through this is crazy but crazier still is Slott himself has got to be a bigger fan of Spidey than I am. The history Slott has turned over and over and reworked into this current series is incredible. Also the similarities between the two characters, Peter and Otto, have been made quite clear thanks to Slott's plotting. One was bullied, you say? Well, which one? He's also a genius? Could you get a little bit more specific? The one that lost his parents? Well, Peter's died but Otto's parents....  It's genius how all of it comes into perspective, all the while still telling a fresh story that never seems to let up on the surprises as well as really highlight what being Spider Man means. Slott's characterization also gives the world a Spidey I know a lot of people actually wanted for a long time: a take no prisoner type of hero. Maybe not how everybody expected but that's what we got. He's saved the day numerous times so far but everybody, and once again I do mean EVERYBODY, knows that Otto's downfall is coming.

I'll give you a few moments to gather all what I just said. Got it? Good. Now go read the most fascinating story since....IDK.

Actually, duh! Yeah, I do.


The only thing I can even come up with that can even compare to how exciting this book has been is the tale of a certain chemistry teacher who finds out he has cancer so he starts cooking meth to leave behind for his family to be financially stable after he's gone.

Sound familiar? It just won the Emmy for Outstanding Drama series this year.

Yep, I'm talking about Breaking Bad. There is no denying that AMC's revolutionary show is fascinating TV. Each week there's something of a sense of dread that creeps up on you for no reason whatsoever some of the times but often it's most certainly warranted. Bryan Cranston's antihero Walter White is the most original character we've met in a long time. We love him but we shouldn't. He's not a good guy. He started in the meth business because he wanted to support his family but as the show went on, we've learned that's not quite the case, is it? Some of the things he has done has not only jeopardized his family but cost him a member or 2 maybe. I won't spoil nothing for the uninitated, all 2 or 3 of you, but you've got one week to cram 5 1/2 seasons into before next Sunday's series finale. Be forewarned: you're probably gonna need a doctor before you make it to Season 4. It's that intense.

What 'Breaking Bad' creator Vince Gilligan has done has been phenomenal. This TV show may be coming to a close but the legacy of what it was able to achieve will be talked about for years. I believe that a great story isn't about what happens to what characters. It's about caring for all of the characters themselves, even the villains. If we didn't care, we wouldn't watch. We love Walter White; he's just not a hero and he's not a role model. He's a liar, a killer, a drug dealer, and he's a manipulator but we care about him. Why? I have no idea. His wife, Skylar, has done stuff we don't like but we're not against her either. Her sister Marie and her DEA agent husband Hank, one of Walt's nemesis, aren't bad people either. Jesse, Walt's former student turned partner in meth selling? Lovably dense. One thing all of them have in common is we hope they make it through the series end alive, which if you've been paying attention definitely is not gonna happen now. Over the last 2nd half of the 2 part Season 5, particularly the 'Ozymandias' episode, we've seen Walter stripped down to his bare essence. What we have left is disheartening not because he become a monster but because we understand why he become a monster. Couple that with the fact that he started off just like any normal person would and you could see how we got to this point. And even though Walter has done too much for us to assume he'll be redeemed by Sunday's series finale, aren't we asking for that anyway? We want to see him walk away from this ordeal alive, He certainly doesn't deserve that kinda happy ending but we're gonna be glued to the TV sets regardless just to see for ourselves.

It's kinda the same thing with Otto. I'd love to see if this will make him a super hero when things do return to normal but he doesn't deserve to live after all he's done. Believe me, for all the good Otto as Spider Man he still hasn't redeemed himself for all the wrong that he's done. Just 50 issues before the swap, he tried to destroy the earth! What he's done is made us like him despite his less than righteous actions. We're starting to love the guy that killed Spider-Man. That's about as ludicrous as loving a high school chemistry teacher who turns into drug kingpin. Or any other villains, when you think about it.
 Either we're starting to root for the bad guys more or shows like 'Breaking Bad' and books like 'Superior Spider-Man' are doing a damn good job on blurring that once clear line between hero and villain. I've never been so amped up for a series finale in my life and at the same time, I wish it wasn't THE END of Walter's tale. I bet I'm gonna feel the same way when SSM ends too.

Til that day then. In the meantime, I'm definitely gonna stay tuned, WORLD. Dueces.

DON JON: JERSEY? SURE. BUT...

Hello, WORLD!! Smokkee, back again after another screening. The movie I saw the other night maybe pokes fun at Jersey Shore and the guido mentality. I'm not sure myself, having never watched an episode. I would suspect based on the people you run across in this movie that maybe, just maybe, they're a little more likable than what I assumed. I can also say that this movie is my SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK of this year, which was my 500 DAYS OF SUMMER (another movie starring Gordon-Leavitt) of 2012. What I mean by that is these three romantic comedies, the one movie genre that makes me cringe each and every time, are not cringe inducing. Also they were the best romantic comedies of their respective years.

First time director Joseph Gordon-Leavitt and his HitRecord Productions gives us a movie that starts off with some of the most memorable moments of recent pop culture history. Read that as 'the sexiest'. If this opening montage is to be taken at face value, then sex, with all of its images and implications, is one of the biggest influencers of the people that we became. It certainly shaped Gordon-Leavitt's character. He stars as the title character DON JON, a guy who has anger issues, objectifies women, and seems to just drift through life one sexcapade after another, all the while keeping an impeccably clean apartment to boot. And that's his whole story, at first. Jon Martello, nicknamed Don because his success with the ladies is on par with that of legendary lover Don Juan, would be considered the typical ladies man except for one thing: he doesn't like ladies. No, he's not a homosexual. He's more of a, what, solosexual? Or is it mono sexual? Whatever.

Jon explains in the early goings of this film that for him, real life sex pales in comparison to the sex he sees in porn. He finds himself turning to porn religiously, sometimes even with that night's conquest still asleep in his bed.

Speaking of religion, Jon is definitely a devout Catholic, going to confession and giving very descriptive details of his sins for penence each week with his family. His father, Jon Sr, is played by Tony Danza almost as an older version of the Don himself. You can certainly see the apple hasn't fell that far from the tree. Youll see early on that his father is also a piece of work. Casting Danza in such a role blindsided me but Danza totally pulls it off. His mother, Angela (Glenne Headly, beautiful but underused) is one of those mothers that dote on their kids no matter what kind of oafish behavior they display, more than likely a side effect of marrying an oaf herself. And I found it extremely satisfying that Jon's sister, Monica (Brie Larson) is one of the most interesting people in this movie even though she says less than 5 lines during the whole movie. The looks she give whenever she does decide to take her eyes off of her cellphone, are priceless.       

Jon's nights are filled with hanging out with his friends (Rob Brown and Jeremy Luke) at clubs looking for 10s or extremely beautiful women. One night he meets Barbera (Scarlett Johansson) and even though he fails to score with her that night, he manages to track her down and starts to date her exclusively. She seems pretty wholesome, making Jon wait for sex until she feels they've known each other long enough. Oh, and they've hung out together with his and her friends. Oh yeah, and until she meets his family and vice versa. He doesn't want to wait but he does, partially because she has this particular talent that I don't want to even ruin for you. That said, she eventually becomes the object of his masturbation fantasies until they do finally hook up. Then, as you'd expect, he's right back to his porn. Barbera actually catches him looking at some porn one day, something she finds disgusting and he swears he doesn't need it. He swears it off but old habits are hard to break.   

Jon is at least attempting to get somewhere further in life than where he's at now. He takes night classes and it's at school that he meets Ester (Julianne Moore). She's...different, to say the least. And troubled, as she sometimes unexpectedly cries at random times. And very outspoken, even questioning Jon on his taste in porn when she catches him looking at some on his phone.

If you think you know where this movie is going, you probably do. I did. I also thoroughly enjoyed everything about it despite that fact. I found it interesting that there are no antagonist in this movie, per se. Or any over the top caricatures, which is what I expected. Gordon-Leavitt delivers us a movie that takes a closer look at a type of guido and shows that guidos are not as bad as people make them out to be. They've just been influenced by the wrong images, mentality. And if they meet the right person, even that can change.
Go see this movie, trust me.

A+   

Dueces, WORLD!

INSIDIOUS CHAPTER 2: Announcing The New Horror Kings. Who SAW ThisComing?

Hello, WORLD! Smokke here. Finally, I can say I've seen a spooky horror flick in 2013 and it was the last

movie I thought it would be. INSIDIOUS, Chapter 1 I suppose, was a decent horror film but way over rated to me. It had one truly terrifying moment. You know which scene I'm talking about. Tip toe thru the tulips... The ending works only because it didn't cheat to get to that last scene. It doesn't save the whole movie but its enough to make it a modern cult classic. I:C1 introduced the Lambert family: the father Josh (Patrick Wilson, a frequent actor used by director James Wan), mother Renee (Rose Byrne) and their sons Dalton (Ty Simpkins) and Foster (Andrew Astor). Josh and Dalton had a secret: they can travel into what is called 'The Further'. 'The Further' is later revealed as one realm for the dead. Dalton went to far into it and Josh had to go in to get him back. Dalton made it back OK. Josh...

If you haven't seen the first chapter, maybe you should see it before you see this one. The only reason I suggest this is so you can see for yourself how much Chapter 2 improves on the original. Chapter 2 picks up right where Chapter 1 ends after a flashback to young Josh's childhood during the time when it is first discovered that Josh can travel to 'The Further' and a psychic named Elise (Lin Shaye) hypnotizes young Josh to take way his ability to travel there (which she unlocks for the elder Josh in Chapter 1). We get a sense that there's something wrong with Josh early. WE (those of us who saw Chapter 1) know what's wrong but the family still needs to be convinced. It isn't until the Lamberts realize there ordeal isn't over quite yet that they start to get a better understanding of what's going on here.

The original demon is back and explained.

What else can I say besides I loved this movie! I loved the fact that Wan and cowriter Leigh Wannell (who also stars in this movie as part of a comic relief duo who worked for Elise) took time to explore the mythology they established in Chapter 1 and expand on it in detail here. I loved the fact that this horror movie got horrific and terrifying and stayed horrific and I'm more than thrilled that the backstory for the original's demon got explored and was just as terrifying as it should have been. Wan's other movie released this year, THE CONJURING, served as a good reminder why we should be paying attention to this guy's movies. I:C2 says that James Wan is the new king of horror and I doubt anybody takes this title from him anytime soon, something that the SAW series implied but could never fully back up. I'm ready for Chapter 3 of this series right now. Hell, I'm ready for the whole damn book!

A+     

Dueces WORLD!