Had another fantastic day in the city. Spent too much money, which always makes me feel guilty. But then, I remembered the words of my mother, who always had this to say to me after a day of fun and frivolity in Edmonton: "You work hard. You've got to treat yourself every once in a while."
And treat myself I did!
Finally got to see Grindhouse. Now, I know, I'm not one for scary movies. But hey, it was the latest from Robert Rodreiguez and Quentin Tarintino, so that deserved my money. And besides, from what I've been reading, this whole thing was set up as a theatrical experience. I really don't think this'll have the same impact on DVD.
As we all know, the film is a double feature. Rodriguiz gives us the zombie film Planet Terror and Tarintino gives us the car chase/slasher film Death Proof. I kind of like Tarintino's film more, mainly because I was raised on car chase movies like Cannonball Run and Smokey and the Bandit. Critics are right. Death Proof has a great car chase.
But the entire 3-hour experience reminds me of the first Rodriguiz/Tarintino collaberation, From Dusk Til Dawn. You know how the first half of that film is kind of a moody, psychological thriller, and then the last half turns into that crazy-ass stuff with vampires?
Well, Grindhouse is like those two halves split into two films. Rodriguiz gives us crazy-ass stuff with zombies, and Tarintino gives us the moody, psychological thriller stuff.
And the fake trailers in between...my God. Too bad we're not going to get a sequel now. I really want to see Rob Zombie's Werewolf Women of the SS.
but it's just 3 really entertaining hours. 3.5 nibs.
Actually, I just finished watching the DVD I bought: Hellboy: Sword of Storms.
As we all know, with DVD having exploded like it did, so did the market for straight-to-DVD animated films. Actually, I like to use the anime term: OVA. Hellboy: Sword of Storms is the first in a series of Hellboy OVA.
Now, I don't run out and buy a lot of OVA films. But two factors made Hellboy: Sword of Storms worth checking out.
- Rather than some cheaply made spin-off, this was done with the co-operation and creative input of Hellboy's creator Mike Mignola, and writer-director of the live-action Hellboy movie (and the Oscar-nominated Pan's Labyrinth) Guillermo del Toro.
- Supervising director Tad Stones has been keeping a really good blog about the making of the series that I'm kind of addicted to reading.
Anyway, Hellboy: Sword of Stroms is really good. A pair of Japanese demons are on the warpath, and Hellboy gets zapped back to ancient Japan, where he's stuck on a odyssey to stop them.
It was really good...very entertaining. And it'll tide us over until the second live-action movie comes out next year!
In case you're curious, the second OVA, Hellboy: Blood and Iron comes out in June.
American OVA: it's not just for Disney sequels any more!
Also grabbed some new Star Wars action figures for the collection.
I'll admit, I don't buy as many Star Wars figures as I once did. When I first started, I said that I'd limit myself to just my favourite characters. And now, I pretty much do have all my favourite characters. Unless they come out with a new Darth Vader varient that I figure I really, really need, then there's really not much for me.
And then today, in Toys R Us, I stumbled across something I read about but hadn't seen on the shelves yet. The Star Wars Comic Packs.
These 2-packs of figures contain 2 Star Wars action figures, as they appeared in the Star Wars comic books! And each pack comes with the issue of the comic book that inspired that look.
I got the Darth Vader/Rebel Soldier 2-pack, with issue #1 of the Star Wars: A New Hope comic book adaptation, and the Chewbacca/Han Solo disguised as a Stormtrooper 2-pack, with issue #3 of the Star Wars: A New Hope comic book adaptation.
They're really cool. I wonder how those Marvel comic book artists back in 1977 came up with these designs. Darth Vader's got beady red eyes, the Stormtrooper armour has light blue highlights, and Chewbacca looks fairly teddy-bear like.
But they're great new additions to my collection!
No comments:
Post a Comment