Fishing in the Discount Bin - Transformers

Here we go again on Fishing in the Discount Bin.  Watching movies and blogging about them.  What more could one ask for?  Today, we do Transformers.  This is in my notes at June 10, 2018.

All The Times I've Bought Star Wars: Episode X -- The Disney Era

Many years ago, I wrote a series of blog entries entitled All The Times I've Bought Star Wars, which details, well, all the times I've bought Star Wars on home media.  I figured it was finally time to add a couple new chapters, focusing on the Blu-Rays, and this new Disney era.  So here we go now with the Disney era.  

It was on a chilly autumn day in 2012.  I was just lounging at home, after work, watching some mindless daytime television, when my computer beeped with a Facebook message.  I took a look to see it was from a work contact.  The message read, “Disney just bought Star Wars.  Episode VII in 2015.”

I began googling in earnest, and soon learned the complete details.  Yup, George Lucas had decided to retire, and sold his company Lucasfilm to Disney for around $4 billion.  Legendary producer Kathleen Kennedy had just been hired on as the new president of Lucasfilm.  The crown jewel in the Lucasfilm empire is, of course, Star Wars, and Disney announced their first Lucasfilm production would be Episode VII in 2015.  

I whipped out my phone and texted the news to my best friend and huge Star Wars fan.  “Disney just bought Star Wars.  Episode VII in 2015.” 

And we are now in the midst of the new Disney era of Star Wars.  Of course, Disney made some controversial moves in the beginning.  Right away, they canceled the beloved animated series The Clone Wars to make way for their new animated TV productions.  But, they are starting to come around, as The Clone Wars will soon be coming back for a final, loose-end-tying-up season.  

Fishing in the Discount Bin - The Mask

Here we go again on Fishing in the Discount Bin, where I watch a movie and blog about it.  Today, I'm re-watching the 1994 epic The Mask.  This is originally in my notes at May 21, 2018.

All The Times I've Bought Star Wars: Episode IX -- It's New, It's Blu

Many many years ago, I wrote a series of blog entries entitled All The Times I Bought Star Wars.  The title is pretty self-explanatory.  I went through my closet and DVD shelf and chronicled...well, all the times I bought Star Wars.  I ended with the cryptic message that Star Wars would probably be soon released on Blu-Ray, and I could probably write another chapter about buying it on the format.

I’ve got the official Star Wars app on my smartphone, and one feature on it that I enjoy is “On This Day in Star Wars History.”  It showed up in the app not too long ago that we’ve just passed the seventh anniversary of the Star Wars Blu-Ray release.  A few days later, it showed up in my Facebook memories that it was the seventh anniversary of the courier delivering it to me from Amazon.  So with all that popping up in my social media feeds, I figured it was finally time to go back and add that new chapter.  Hell, as we’re currently in the Disney era of Star Wars, I could probably even add a second chapter about buying the new films.  

So let’s get to it, shall we?

Just Another Trip to the City

Well, holiday blockbuster season is about to ramp up, and that means trips to the city are probably about to become more frequent, as I head in to see the latest crop of superhero films.  As was the case this past Saturday, when I popped into town to see Venom.

I'd been hearing tales of a Venom movie ever since the Internet was new, and of course, the question always was, "How can you do a Venom movie without Spider-Man?"  The short version, for those not comic-savvy, Venom is pretty much the evil twin of Spider-Man.  Then, when he started becoming popular, he switched to the side of the angels and became a hero...the darker, more violent version of Spider-Man.  So, for years, the fans have said that the best way to do a Venom movie is, you'd have to introduce him in a Spider-Man film as the villain.  But, that's not what they did. 

Eddie Brock is on top of the world.  He's a much beloved cable news investigative reporter, engaged to be married.  But then, he goes to far in an interview with billionaire industrialist Carlton Drake, and Brock loses it all.  A few months later, when Brock is at rock bottom, he's contacted by one of Drake's top scientists.  Turns out one of Drake's space probes came back with alien life...symbiots, that require a human host to live.  And Drake's raking up quite the body count looking for suitable hosts.  Brock goes into Drake's lab to investigate, and winds up bonding with one of the symbiots.  Calling itself Venom, Brock and Venom soon form an uneasy alliance to take down Drake and stop a forthcoming invasion of symbiots. 

I will admit it, the film was a lot more lighthearted than I expected.  Brock and Venom get a kind of buddy cop thing going, and their banter is hilarious.  Venom is quick to violence, and despite being a bad-ass reporter, Brock is deeply apologetic when trying to reign in Venom.  Some great physical comedy, too. 

That being said, it really offers nothing new in the way of superhero films.  The plot is pretty cookie-cutter.  Venom's sudden love of humanity and decision to help Brock save the world seems pretty abrupt.  And when your hero and villain can both turn into CGI blobs, the climactic battle turns into one big blobby mess. 

But I came out of the theatre smiling.  I liked it.  3 out of 4 Nibs.  Full review on the website.

Other than that, not much more to write home about.  I needed underwear, so I bought some.  Found pants in my size on sale, so I bought some.  I need shirts, too, but I couldn't find any.  3XL used to be such a common size when I ballooned to it a few years ago, but now, it seems to be sold out wherever I go.  Oh, well.  Another reason to lose weight, just so I can start buying clothes again.

When I got home and wrote up my Venom review for the website, I tossed Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom into the Blu-Ray player.  I caught a bit of it on TV as part of a Thanksgiving marathon a week ago, and I'd been wanting to revisit the whole thing.  I really wish Steven Spielberg and George Lucas would quit apologizing for it.  For years, they've apologized for how dark it is and how different it is from the other Indiana Jones films, but you know what?  I love it.  It came out when I was seven years old, and it was my first entrance into the world of Indiana Jones.

Man, I remember watching the "making of" TV special back in the day.  To film the famous mine car chase, they actually modified a regular 35mm still camera to hold movie film so they could fit it to a car and have it chase the models through their set.  When they had the Indiana Jones exhibit at Telus World of Science a few years ago, they actually had one of the mine car models used for filming that chase.  Very cool. 

In fact, the very first comic book I owned was the comic book adaptation of Temple of Doom.  I had issues 2 and 3 of Marvel's three-issue mini-series.  Not until I finally rented it on VHS a couple years later did I get to see how the movie begins. 

And that led me down a rabbit hole of comic book adaptations of popular films.  Around the same time I had the Temple of Doom comic book adaptation, I also had the one for The Muppets Take Manhattan.  Somewhere, back home in storage, I still have the comic book adaptations of The Transformers: The Movie and the first two live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles films. 

I wonder if comic book adaptations are still a thing.  I think the Star Wars films still get them.  And with all the superhero films these days, a comic book adaptation would be the easiest, most obvious piece of tie-in merch.  I'd got to my old comic book store in West Edmonton Mall - Comic King - but I think it's not there anymore.  The West Edmonton Mall casino is in the same part of the mall, and the casino recently claimed all that space to expand.  I still remember that store's original name -- Graphic Fantasy. 

And, that was that.  My latest day in the city.  Just a quick trip in and out.  Really, not much to write home about. 

Fishing in the Discount Bin - Black Panther

And here we are again, it's Fishing in the Discount Bin.  I watch a movie and blog about it.  Just that simple.  Today, we're looking at one of the biggest films of 2018, Black Panther.  This was originally in my notes at May 20, 2018.

Fishing in the Discount Bin - Ghost World

Here we go again on Fishing in the Discount Bin, where I watch a movie and blog about it.  I think you've figured out the formula by now.  This time out, we're watching the 2001 indie classic Ghost World.  This is in my notes at May 20, 2018.