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...

Every director has their starting point, and often it is a labor of love.  Rarely a masterpiece, and Bad Taste definitely isn't, but typically a budding film maker will learn a lot about what they can do and can't do, and many ways to overcome the latter.  It's that one film that you make on weekends with your friends, most of you playing multiple roles and taking on many roles on and off the camera.  And, if you are in New Zealand, you may just find yourself getting some government funds and a pat on the back even if what you are making is a violent alien invasion comedy.  Bad Taste took four years to make.  In that time, one of the cast members got married, left the production, got divorced and returned.  Hairstyles, sock colors and other continuity errors pop up.  The actor playing the lead villain passed away.  Ultimately, the result was a movie that laid the foundation for director Peter Jackson to make the movie Braindead (released in...

I sometimes do not know who is trying to kill the Star Wars franchise faster: Disney, who currently owns Lucasfilm and the rights to the series, or its so-called fans.  When I say Disney, I don't mean the usual complaints that people have of politically correcting the series; I loved The Last Jedi , and am happy to defend it both from those who have a knee-jerk reaction whenever they see a movie has a female lead and the rest who get upset because their fantasies they had playing with toys 40 years ago never made it to screen. But Disney really needs to figure out what it wants to do with this series, and with the anthology movies it wants (or wanted) to produce alongside the main saga.  What I loved most about The Last Jedi and Rogue One is that, even though they fit within the timeline that was retconned by the prequels and Lucasfilm, they still went in directions that were not expected.  One of the main complaints with The Force Awakens   was that it took no...

Fake news is one of those buzzwords for our modern times.  Both ends of the political spectrum use it both when there is actual fake news and when one side wants to discredit the other without going through the lengthy process of providing facts to back up their claims.  Opinion polls with loaded questions are used to not gauge public opinion but rather to guide those polled into responding a certain way so that agendas can be pushed.  And, as usual, we are most afraid of what those dirty Russians might be up to, possibly manipulating everything from behind the scenes. It's something that is a reflection of our internet age.  The previous generation wrings its hand and dreams of the good old days when news was news and everyone gave everything to us straight.  If it wasn't for those evil computers and the armies of hackers that are trying to control every aspect of our life, things would go back to the way they were, and everyone would be happy again. H...