Trailer Park #2

Welcome back to the Trailer Park, where I look at the trailers piling up in my Google Reader, pass them on to you, and give you my thoughts.

Give 'Em Hell, Malone

This flick looks like a blast and a half. I love a lot of the people in it and I LVOE NOIR so I'm hoping this gets enough exposure at Cannes to get a wide-ish release.



GRADE: A

GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra

I can't decide if this looks good or not. Dennis Quaid and Marlon Wayans are a plus. A bomb that just seems to put moss on things is a minus. Of course, I thought that Transformers didn't have much of a chance of succeeding and I loved it, so, based on this trailer, I might give it a shot.

G.I. JOE trailer in HD


GRADE: B

Julie & Julia

Meryl Streep plays Julia Child finding her identity in France. Amy Adams plays Julie Powell finding her identity through Julia Child finding her identity in France. Phil Wrighthouse plays intrigued moviegoer who finds that he is oddly attracted to a) Meryl Streep in any role she ever plays ever and b) Amy Adams with disturbingly short hair. All kidding aside, the foodie in my and my appreciation for both leads will let me put the schlock this might have in it aside.



GRADE: A-


Alright, I was hoping to post one more, but time has snuck up on me and I must be off. More coming soon, as I'm done with the college business and off to unemployment land. So, have fun, do good things and be well.

www.twitter.com/philwrighthouse
philwrighthouse.blogspot.com
philattheolympics.blogspot.com (I don't update it anymore, but it's awesome just the same)
http://philwrighthouse.blogspot.com
/www.givememyremote.com (search for "Philboy" to see all of my posts.)

Oscar Quest '09 Begins

So, this morning, in the early hours, the nominations for the 2009 Academy Awards were announced. As usual, I have begun a quest to watch all of the films in all of the major categories by the beginning of the ceremony on February 22.

That's right. I have a month. Here, ladies and germs, are the movies I'll have to watch by then.

The Visitor
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Revolutionary Road
Rachel Getting Married
Changeling
Frozen River
The Reader
Vicky Christina Barcelona
Bolt
Wall-E
Happy-Go-Lucky
In Bruges

14 movies. 30 days. It begins soon...and it will all be documented, in detail, on this blog and on twitter.

www.twitter.com/philwrighthouse
philwrighthouse.blogspot.com
philattheolympics.blogspot.com (I don't update it anymore, but it's awesome just the same)
http://philwrighthouse.blogspot.com/
www.givememyremote.com (search for "Philboy" to see all of my posts.)

My New TV Schedule, with Witty Commentary- Sunday

Hello, sports fans. Or should I say TV fans, as this post is all about my TV schedule and how much it has changed from the beginning of the season to now. Shows have gone by the wayside, been relegated to a possible DVD catch-up, or been lauded as some of the best shows on TV. Plus, new shows are being thrust upon me in the coming weeks, so I need to sort it all out. Where better to do it than right here on Phil's American Life. I'll be doing this day by day, sorting it out gradually throughout the week.

SUNDAY

Family Guy- I still love this show, I don't care what anyone says.
American Dad- Again, I still really dig this show. It's a careless 22 minutes, without the commercials.
The United States of Tara- This is a new show created by Diablo Cody (Juno) and produced by Steven Speilberg. A show about multiple personalities. The pilot has been up for free online, I just havent watched it yet.
Flight of the Conchords-One of the funniest shows on television. The pilot for this gem is up at Funny or Die.

True Blood and Dexter are done for the season. But, let me say that both of those shows were outstanding and definitely will make up end of the season list.

There was nothing on Sundays that I had to give up on. No, I'm afraid tomorrow, though, you will get to hear one of my tirades against a once-beloved TV show that is over and done with. That's all coming up tomorrow...or should I say later today.

www.twitter.com/philwrighthouse
philwrighthouse.blogspot.com
philattheolympics.blogspot.com (I don't update it anymore, but it's awesome just the same)
http://philwrighthouse.blogspot.com
www.givememyremote.com (search for "Philboy" to see all of my posts.)

Trailer Park

Another edition of Trailer Park, where I take a look at some of the latest trailers that have come out and grade them. Let's get started, kids...

CRANK 2: HIGH VOLTAGE

Crank was a great little action flick that came out a couple of years ago where Jason Statham (my vote to play Jack Bauer's long lost cousin in the movie) plays a man who must keep his adrenaline up to complete a mission unless he dies. It seemed, though, at the end of the first film, that he was dead...



...apparently not. This trailer has everything you could want in a red band trailer, which means NSFW, kids. Dwight Yokam slapping a hooker's ass, a lot of curse words, crap blowing up, Amy Smart looking hot, and so much more.

This trailer got me really REALLY excited for this movie which is supposed to come out April 17 of this year.

GRADE: A

G-FORCE

I have no idea what G-Force...let's see...



...cue Jonas Brothers song.

To be honest, I have a thing for kids movies. Still, as a 21 year old. I know, it's kinda sad. But, this seems a little unoriginal and ridiculous, doesn't it? Anyway, it looks alright and the awesome cast of voices (Jon Favreau, Tracy Morgan) and live actioneers (Zach Galifanakis, Will Arnett, Bill Nighy) might make for some fun times. The trailer kind of left me luke warm though. We'll see more when G-Force unleashes its adorableness on us July 24 of this year.

GRADE: B
Note: this film could have EASILY gotten a higher grade, but it received an automatic half-grade demotion for using "Don'tcha".

TWO LOVERS

This is, according to him, Joaquin Phoenix's last movie. A romance with him and Gwenyth Paltrow? Might have wanted to leave on something better. But, alas, Paltrow earned my geek love after perfecting Pepper Potts in Iron Man, so, let's give it a shot.



I just can't get into movies like Two Lovers. Too bad for this poor schmuck that he has to decide between two gorgeous women. And the filmmakers want me to, somehow, sympathize with him. I was given nothing in this trailer that made me want to do that...or see this when it comes out February 13 of this year.

GRADE: B-
It was a pretty trailer, but the movie just doesn't look appealing at all. I hope that Phoenix is lying about quitting movies for a music career, because I would hate for him to go out on this.

STREET FIGHTER: THE LEGEND OF CHUN-LI

If you've kept up with movies or video games since you were a kid, you know a couple of things.

1) The first Street Fighter film was made in 1994 and is generally considered to be a GIANT piece of horsecrap.

2) Street Fighter is a legendary gaming series that has, in a way, been dormant on the next gen consoles. And...

3) Chun Li was always one of the hottest video game characters around.

This films seeks to restart a franchise that never really started to begin with and hopefully spawn some pretty sweet movies. Let's check it out...





So, it's in Chinese. Whatever. While a lot of video game geeks will be up in arms about not being an entire Street Fighter movie, with the whole cast of characters, I would like for them to also thing about how they're geekgasming over the reported Avengers flick. That film will not be possible without starting successful franchises like Iron Man, Hulk, and Captain America not to mention the introduction of Nick Fury into the film's universe. I don't know exactly that that is what they're doing here, but I think it's a good plan. Don't waste your money on a big budget picture based on a concept that you KNOW failed once before you find out if people will see cutie Kristen Kruek as Chun-Li.

Also, keep in mind it's an origin story and, as we've seen in this past year, just because we're seeing the beginnings of a character doesn't mean we won't see some of their cohorts along the way.

As far as the trailer goes, though, it was pretty generic. I would have liked a bit more dialogue, which gives me pause to think that Chun-Li has a crappy script.

GRADE: B
I'm on the fence about this flick still, but this trailer took away some of my misgivings.

Well, that's it for this edition of the Trailer Park. Be back soon!

www.twitter.com/philwrighthouse
philwrighthouse.blogspot.com
philattheolympics.blogspot.com (I don't update it anymore, but it's awesome just the same)
http://philwrighthouse.blogspot.com/
www.givememyremote.com (search for "Philboy" to see all of my posts.)

It's a Moral Conundrum

Ahh, it's officially Christmas. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays to you and yours. I'm sitting here with writer's block, trying to decide whether I should

a) Finish Bringing Down the House
b) Watch Arrested Development
c) Go to Bed

Thoughts, anyone?

There will be a Christmas post tomorrow night, for sure, replete with photos and stories from Christmas 2008. Recognize.

www.twitter.com/philwrighthouse
philwrighthouse.blogspot.com
philattheolympics.blogspot.com (I don't update it anymore, but it's awesome just the same)
http://philwrighthouse.blogspot.com
www.givememyremote.com (search for "Philboy" to see all of my posts.)

Instant Product Review

So, I'm working the overnight shift right now, even though I haven't seen a soul in hours and told myself I was going to read a lot but haven't.

By the way, in another installment of "What Phil's Reading"

Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich is the true(ish) story of the MIT 6, six students who, with the help of some older investors and predecessors, developed a way to win at Blackjack...guaranteed. I wish I could explain it, but it all has to do with the way cards are stacked together.

They brought a team aspect to counting cards, something which had, before, been just something for gambling addicts who thought they could score really quickly.

I'm about halfway through the book right now. It eventually became the movie 21, but, from everything I've heard, due to it being untrue to the real story and being a crappy movie, it should be avoided at all costs.

Well, on to why I posted. I went to get a bottle of water and out of the machine came my regular bottle of Dasani...

...and also got a new beverage...Dasani Plus Refresh+Revive w/ Vitamin B13 + Vitamin B6 + Vitamin B12+ Chromium (which I didn't think was good for you, but whatever) Kiwi Strawberry flavor

So, I figured I would give you, my blogging audience, my first reaction to this new beverage.

Here we go.

Honestly, it's not bad. It's like a flat, watered down fruit punch, which is what a lot of these flavored waters taste like, other than Vitamin Water which is just pure awesome.

According to the back, this bottle has 25% of all of those vitamins for the rest of my day. Which means I just have to...well...eat normally, I guess. Then, Dasani does me the favor of comparing how much of everything is in their water as opposed to "Unfortified Water Beverages"

What, beverages like, oh, I don't know...DASANI? No crap water doesn't have anything in it. That's why I, acting as a hypothetical yuppie consumer, decided to buy this, since I'm just living too much of an on-the-go lifestyle to deal with hydration that isn't flavored and "fortified".

That's all for now. Only one half-hour left and then a few hours of sleep are up ahead.

www.twitter.com/philwrighthouse
philwrighthouse.blogspot.com
philattheolympics.blogspot.com (I don't update it anymore, but it's awesome just the same)
www.givememyremote.com (search for "Philboy" to see all of my posts.)

Thoughts on...Hancock

So, today, I found myself, after a delicious Fazoli's lunch with KittyMarie, Husband and Fuller, with a dilemma. Do I feed my Madden addiction even more...

...or watch Hancock, which was coming on BTV, the local movie channel here at Purdue. I went with the latter because I didn't feel like getting my ass handed to me again until later tonight, after I got my studying done.

Hancock for those who don't know, is the story of...well...Hancock, played by Will Smith, who is a superhero who doesn't care about saving people. He's the only one of his kind and he therefore has become a misanthrope, hating humanity and not caring about the way he is perceived in the public. Enter Jason Bateman, who plays the PR expert who actually wants to save the world and sees Hancock as the perfect way to do that.

When it was coming out last summer I was really looking forward to this for a number of reasons...

1) Jason Bateman. I love the guy, anything he's in. Hell, I'm halfway tempted to watch Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium because he's in it.
2) Peter Berg. This guy has directed some killer movies. The Rundown. Friday Night Lights (He also came up with the kickass TV version) The Kingdom. And, one of the most underrated films ever Very Bad Things.
3) Will Smith. Yeah, I still like him. Sue me.
4) A different take on a superhero story. I'm such a movie geek and a comic book geek that when something new is proposed, I'm sure to at least give it a try.

But, alas, I was disappointed by the film, to say the least. It took a really weird shift halfway through and then never really followed through on it. It felt like maybe 20 minutes of the movie was missing somewhere and, while all of the questions were answered, I would have cared a whole lot more if the lost time had been in there somewhere.

I'll put the spoiler below if anyone cares Highlight it if you want to know.

Charlize Theron plays Bateman's wife. But, she is also a superhero who is fatefully matched with Hancock. They've been together for thousands of years.

So, in the middle of this comedic take on a superhero, all of a sudden, things take a really weird and serious turn.

I think the reason I and so many people didn't respond as well to the movie was that we were not expecting this twist and shift in tone. It was jarring. You couldn't respect the second half of the movie because you felt like you had been hit by a truck.

But, alas, on today's second viewing, I felt a whole lot better about the flick. Sure, I still wish the twist was developed a little bit more after it was dropped on us, but, honestly, the movie works.

So, what's the moral of the story? Watch Hancock again, if you have already. And if you haven't, check it out with this in mind: don't go in with anything in mind about what's going to happen. Just let it happen. I hope you'll be glad you did.