Expelled Grey Matter

Ant-Man was far from one of my favorite Marvel movies.  I thought of it as Deadpool lite, as the Ryan Reynolds film was already being talked up at the time Paul Rudd's superhero hit the big screen.  It felt like Marvel introduced Ant-Man in an attempt to jump on the humorous anti-hero bandwagon, and maybe try to do an end-run like Deep Space 9 did with Babylon 5 .  For me, the character was barely interesting.  I believe a typical Marvel cameo was thrown in for no reason (something that they seem to have been avoiding in recent films), but largely it felt like it had nothing to do with the larger story they were trying to (sporadically) tell.  That was until Ant-Man became the cameo, showing up to lend his aid to his favorite star-spangled hero in Captain America: Civil War .  Here Ant-Man revealed his power to grow in both directions, and was more interesting in the few minutes of screen time he had than in the entire solo movie.  It didn't hel...

Test audiences.  Just have to love them.  Drag in random people off the street, a number of whom think magic is Satanic, nudity will make degenerates of our children and that the louder the movie is, the better.  Unfortunately, the opinions of these random people result in major changes in movies, or in completed films never seeing the light of day.  Such was the fate of Nothing Lasts Forever .  In all honesty I cannot understand why executives would drag in tests audiences for this.  It's a small budget art film by former Saturday Night Live  writer Tom Schiller, paying tribute to the Golden Age of Hollywood while taking some jabs at people who think that art happens by osmosis.  It's amusing, cinema fans would love it, and once it gets over some initial silliness it is quite enjoyable.  However, no one would mistake this for a mainstream box office film, even with Bill Murray making an appearance. Adam Beckett (Zach Galligan) wants d...

I recently read an article on Cracked that stated that no matter how you feel about Paul W. S. Anderson's films he has a knack of filming spooky corridors.  So, of course, as I finally reach the end of the Resident Evil series, I find myself looking at corridors, hallways and passageways.  And, lo and behold, that laser corridor from the first movie shows up once again. This leaves me tempted to speak about the passage of time between the first and final movie.  About the twists and turns through which this corridor has led us.  I guess I could say I have been in it for the long hall. But that would leave me negating the fact that, as good as this is for the end of this expensive (and successful) string of b-movies, that reaching the end of the line once again exposed a number of the frustrations that have popped up throughout the entire series.  On top of that there are plenty of problems this time around as well, not least that it looks like it was edi...

It may come as a surprise that "nerd rage" is not really anything new.  It didn't really get a name until recent years, but it is definitely a thing that has affected film franchises (and definitely book series and comic book franchises) for decades.  One of the worst cases in the past was when Sean Connery decided to call it quits on playing James Bond. Connery started getting sick of the character while filming Thunderball , and things only got worse with all the publicity surrounding You Only Live Twice .  Though offered an outrageous amount of money to return for On Her Majesty's Secret Service , Connery walked, and the search for a new Bond was on.  Eventually that search resulted in casting an Australian car salesman and model named George Lazenby. Lazenby had absolutely no acting experience, and largely bluffed his way into the audition.  Still, his dedication resulted in him landing the role and a seven-movie deal.  Unfortunately, the nerd ra...