Jim Says:”Kiss me, you’re drunkish!”
Entertainment
I love the Winter Olympics, but this year they were all but ruined for me by NBC. It started with what I thought was terrible commentary during the Opening Ceremonies. From Meredith Viera’s advice to “Google” the cyrillic alphabet, to Matt Lauer’s smug, and often insulting, political analysis of every single country as they entered the arena. Strangely, I’m unable to find any video of it on the web. However, it was also noted by Mary McNamara in the L.A. Times.
In short, NBC have been terrible guests. Impolite to our hosts, insulting to the athletes, and harping on the Olympic ring malfunction during the opening ceremonies. (As well as reporting it as “news” after the fact.)
The banality of the commentary was highlighted by Meredith Viera explaining what we were watching, in the most literal of senses. It was reminiscent of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s commentary on the “Conan the Barbarian” DVD.
As my regular visitor(s) know, I love movies. Extra love for movies shot in my hometown of Pittsburgh. A few of the greats…
Innocent Blood: Great John Landis comedy/horror film in the same vein as American Werewolf In London. Not only does Innocent Blood have a great plot, memorable characters and show off the city in a great way, but the vampires in it are actual blood sucking killers. Not sparkly little emo idiots in dire need of a good ass kicking. Fun movie all the way through.
Striking Distance a fun Bruce Willis vehicle that has some wonderful cinematography a decent plot with a few forgivable problems, but easily makes up for it with the characters and plot twists. Great movie to eat popcorn by.
She’s Out of My League:Great date movie. This romantic comedy features the classic “Boy finds girl, boy loses girl, girl finds boy, boy forgets girl, boy remembers girl, girls dies in a tragic blimp accident over the Orange Bowl on New Year’s Day.” Or something like that. Fun flick.
I wold be remiss if I didn’t also mention Zack & Miri Make a Porno. Kevin Smith delivers another fun ride with this comedy set, and filmed in, Monroeville. Laugh out loud funny. ‘Nuff said.
However, the number of stinkballs being filmed in my beloved city is growing. The inspiration for this post came from watching Unstoppable aka Unwatchable. So here’s the deal. A train gets away while its engineer steps off to sign some autographs or something, and begins a journey through Wester Pennsylvania at a high rate of speed while pulling several cars of toxic, highly explosive, zombie chemicals, and ONE grain car (it’s important). Along the way, we encounter plot holes you could drive a train.. well you get the idea. I’m no engineer, no expert on trains larger than HO scale, nor have I ever attempted to stop an actual train. But, you don’t need to be a rocket surgeon to figure out how to stop this one. Denzel, please start reading these scripts before signing anything. (Seriously, dude. You’re better than this. Leave that crap for Wesley Snipes.)
Anyway, I’m sure I’ll be chiming in on this more from time to time. Meanwhile, enjoy.
Jim Says; “See you next Wednesday.”
As part of my love of independent movies, and loathing of modern Hollywood, I wanted to share my friend Zeke’s film, “Night of the Little Dead” with the world.
Also check out Zeke’s film “Dracula’s Daughter vs the Space Brain” available in the iTunes store.
Jim Says: “It’s much better than Cats!”
In the course of my day, I encounter a lot of interesting people with cool stories to tell. My new friend Tabitha is in an upcoming independent film that I am very eager to see.
Truth or Dare
(trailer)
I love independent cinema and have a disdain for modern Hollywood that borders on blood lust. For example, I’d like to see Michael Bay killed in a very small, uncinematic explosion. I’d like to hit George Lucas over the head with Steven Spielberg for what they did to Indiana Jones. If it wasn’t for Miramax, most of the movies I like might never get made. (I’m looking at you, Kevin Smith, and giving the Buddy Christ thumbs up.)
I’ll be posting more on this subject in the future as it is something I’m passionate about and would someday like to write my own film. Something along the lines of “The Legend of 1900” meets the “Tao of Steve”. OK, I’ll probably write something more along the lines of “Police Academy” meets “American Pie: Band Camp”, but at least it will be mine.
Jim Says:”You’re never really done for, as long as you’ve got a good story and someone to tell it to.” (The Legend of 1900)
