Long Weekend Panic

I don't know what's come over me.  Driving into the city in the past few months has been so...anxiety-inducing.  My car could use some new tires, so that worries me.  I have a laundry list of things that I've been told need to be fixed on my car, but I don't know if they're genuine problems, or just the standard up-selling that happens when you get your oil changed.  And let's not forget the growing popularity of traffic cams.  Every time I speed up to get through a yellow light, I spend the next day in the fetal position wondering if a ticket's going to come through the mail.  Yesterday, I saw the bright flash of a photo radar cam.  Was it for me?  It was a 60 zone and I was doing about 63...is that enough to set them off?

And don't get me started when winter comes, and you add snow-covered streets to the mix.  I used to be more calm about all this but something switched in my brain, and now I'm not. 

But with all that in mind, the long weekend is here, and I always felt that a long weekend is wasted if I don't get out and do something.  And I'm pretty sure I haven't been all the way down to my beloved West Edmonton Mall since February.  Suck it up, soldier, we're going to the Mall.

I was also reluctant to head into the Mall because, well, I work in radio, and for the civilians out there, you don't make a lot of money in radio.  Finances have been tight as of late, and when you don't have much money, malls make you feel really, really bad.  So much you want, but so little you can afford.  However, in the past, I've been able to justify a financial cheat day if I buy at least one thing I genuinely need.  And I was in need of a new vacuum cleaner filter.

With filter in hand, I started browsing the other sections of Wal-Mart.  I found myself in the bathroom accessories section.  On her last couple of visits, my mother found my bathroom to be somewhat cluttered.  You can purchase these special shelving units that are designed to fit over top of the toilet to clean up such clutter.  And Wal-Mart finally had them, and on sale.  So, of course I got one.

I always feel so manly when I put together furniture. On the parents' last couple of visits, Mom said I need one of these over-the-toilet shelving units to get my bathroom organized. Wal-Mart had them on sale today.

A photo posted by Mark Cappis (@chaosinabox) on May 16, 2015 at 5:49pm PDT

From there, it was traversing the city streets to West Edmonton Mall.  I felt like I needed to go to West Edmonton Mall to see something for myself.  West Edmonton Mall has finally brought their whale statue out of storage.

The brief history:  a popular landmark in West Edmonton Mall was a fountain that featured a life-sized statue of a Right Whale.  Well, it's head is life-sized, and made to look like it's surfacing.  And you could go inside and check it out.  It used to be in front of Victoria's Secret, but when when Victoria's Secret came to the mall 5 years ago, they wanted the space to construct a waiting area for bored husbands and boyfriends.  So the statue was yanked out, the fountain filled in, and some comfy sofas went in.

At the time, West Edmonton Mall said it would be brought back once a new location in the Mall could be found.  I wondered what was taking so long, and a couple of years ago, I even wrote an e-mail to the Mall's management asking.  Wrote a blog entry about it, which a colleague of mine at an Edmonton radio station shared on the air, and it was my most-read blog entry for a while.   About a month ago, West Edmonton Mall finally brought the whale out of storage and unceremoniously dumped it in its new location:  in front of Sears.  They say it's going to be the centerpiece of a new interactive exhibit.  As long as it's in a fountain again, I'll be happy.  That was always my fondest memory of the whale:  looking down on it from the second level, and you could see all the coins littering the bottom.  My Dad once remarked that, to collect them all, it would probably be easier to drain the fountain then sweep them all up.

The stories are true! He's back!

A photo posted by Mark Cappis (@chaosinabox) on May 16, 2015 at 12:00pm PDT

After that, did a little more browsing.  Of course I had to head to HMV.  Always feel kind of sad when I leave HMV but I do NOT have any new Blu-Rays or DVDs.  Granted, there are always a couple of classics I see that I'd like to add to my collection, but since I know that's my greatest addiction, and with tight finances, I start asking myself questions about how much I genuinely need another movie for my collection.  More new movies definitely get moved to the bottom of the list.

But then, over browsing in Chapters, I did succumb to temptation and pick up a new graphic novel.  Always loved Disney's movie version of The Rocketeer, but I've never read the original Dave Stevens comics.  Skimming the graphic novels section, I noticed that the Dave Stevens originals were just released in a shiny new trade paperback.  I figured the $20 would be more than worth it. 

And you know the formula to these blog entries by now.  No trip to West Edmonton Mall is complete without going to see a movie.  I figured I would go see Mad Max: Fury Road.  Mad Max is one of those embarrassing gaps in my personal film history.  Besides fuzzy memories of watching Beyond Thunderdome on TV when I was a kid, I haven't seen any of them.  But with phenomenally good reviews and some insane-looking trailers, I figured it would be worth checking out.

Our hero Max is captured by a gang to essentially be used as an unwilling blood donor.  This gang is led by Immortan Joe, who has fashioned a cult around himself.  When one of Immortan Joe's top drivers, the Imperator Furiosa, goes rogue and tries to smuggle Immortan Joe's harem of unwilling wives to safety, Max soon gets swept up in the battle and helps Furiousa and the women on their race to safety.  And what results is an insane car chase across the desert. 

I found this movie to be really, really, good.  From what I gather, Mad Max has always been a man of few words, and Tom Hardy does pretty good doing just that.  Charlize Theron is easily Max's equal as Furiosa, a woman who's done terrible things and hopes this one act will offer some form of redemption.  And the car chases are thrilling, and exciting and just very, very good.  My main quibble is that there's so many car chases, that it wears you down after a bit. 

I give it 3 out of 4 nibs.  The complete review is on my website. 

And with that, my day in the city was at an end.  I decided to take the long way home, and make a side trip to Spruce Grove for supper at Carls Jr.  Yeah, it's been around for about a year now, but it still has the novelty of being new.  Not a lot of Carls Jrs in this part of Canada yet, and taking the long way out to Spruce Grove just gets me out of the city quicker.  I decided to sample their El Diablo Burger.  Deep friend jalapenos on a burger.  That was...interesting. 

I started heading for home, my favourite podcasts playing on my car stereo.  Something has been done for the long weekend, so I can spend the rest of it curled up in the fetal position, waiting for traffic tickets to arrive.  To date, none have, but who knows?  This may be the first.

Long Weekend Targ

Happy May Long Weekend!  As the song says, “Ain’t nothing better in the world you know/Than lying in the Sun with the radio.”  And in this day and age, stuff that radio with podcats!  Preferably, mine!  What rants and ramblings do I have in Episode 8.09: My Biggest Fan Takes Batteries:

• More obsessing about Shomi.  Yes, I reactivated my account to try the Apple TV app.
• Geeking out about these lovely new collectables known as the ReAction figures
• Reflections on the old Star Wars: Droids cartoon

And, perhaps the biggest bit in the show.  I offer up my reactions to the biggest movie trailer that was released this week.  Yes, I rant about the Jem and the Holograms trailer.

Head over to the podcast site to give it a listen!

And subscribe in iTunes!

The Jem and the Holograms Trailer

"I'm a white male, age 18-49.  Everyone listens to me, not matter how dumb my suggestions are." - Homer Simpson

I used to be an avid reader of ToyFare magazine.  About 10 years ago, I remember reading an interview with Hasbro's brand manager for Transformers.  He said that Hasbro's corporate strategy for Transformers was to reboot it every 5 years or so, so it'd always be fresh for the next batch of kids growing up.  When the first Michael Bay Transformers movie came along, I went into the theatre with that mentality:  this is not my Transformers, but a reboot for the next generation.  And with that mentality, I found it more acceptable than most Transformers fans did.

The global success of Transformers taught Hasbro a very important lesson:  thanks to many of their brands having been successful media franchises back in the 1980s, those franchises grew up to be very valuable intellectual properties.  Adults raised on those toys and cartoons were now introducing them to their kids.  They could get two whole generations.  Transformers sequels, new cartoons, and new toys came out in droves.  G.I. Joe was next.  It all led to Hasbro launching their own TV network - the Hub - and its most unexpected juggernaut, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. 

For content for their new TV network, Hasbro dipped into their archives and dug out many of their classic cartoons from the 1980s.  That led to another unexpected hit...reruns of Jem and the Holograms.  I won't say too much.  My blog entry on when I binge-watched the entire series on Netflix a few months ago says it all.  But let it be known that I still believe Jem and the Holograms is the greatest thing Hasbro produced in the 1980s.  It is so mired in the fads and trends of the time.  It is the ultimate 1980s time capsule.  It is cheezy.  It is campy.  It is truly truly truly outrageous.

And it has become another valued intellectual property for Hasbro.

A live-action movie version was announced over a year ago.  Within months of its announcement came the announcement that production had wrapped.  This film has already been sitting on the shelf for over a year.  Directing it is John M. Chu, veteran of such modern-day movie musicals as a couple of the Step Up films and Justin Beiber concert film Never Say Never.  And, he developed a good working relationship with Hasbro, having done G.I. Joe: Retaliation.

But still, what from the classic cartoon would remain?  Would we still have a sentient AI be the source of Jem's transformations?  Would there still be high adventure as the Holograms and the Misfits battle for pop chart supremacy?  Would there still be music videos?

This film was flying so under the radar, that even blurry scans from magazines became huge news.  But now, we have a trailer   We have a trailer for a live-action Jem movie.




This trailer came out back on Tuesday.  I've watched it about a dozen times now.  And I can't.  Stop.  Laughing.

Am I angry and disappointed that Synergy isn't a sentient AI and the world's most powerful holographic projection system?  Yes.

Am I disappointed that there's no Misfits there, causing trouble? Yes.

Am I upset that it doesn't feature the classic theme song?  Yes.

But I can't.  Stop.  Laughing.

Does the plot look cliched as hell?  Yes.

Does it look like a made-for-the-Disney-channel TV movie?   Yes.

But I can't.  Stop.  Laughing.

Why am I laughing?  Because we now live in a world where they've made a Jem movie.  The beloved toys of my youth are no longer treasured memories.  They're valued intellectual properties.  They're brands to be exploited.   The only way such a thing could ever reach this position is if my generation became grown-ups and started running the world.

Guess what?  We are.

And the crazy thing is, we're responsible adults.  The reason this is cliched and looks like a made-for-the-Disney-channel TV movie is because we started thinking, "Well, this is what the kids are into these days, so this is the only way it'll ever get made."  We couldn't go all Guardians of the Galaxy and embrace the absurdities of the franchise because we stood up and said, "Think of the children." 

This is it!  We're adults!  We are the runners of the world!  We have reached the age where we
have the power to do whatever we want to make this the world we want!

And we used that power not to make the Jem movie we want, but the Jem reboot we think our kids want. 

Jem and the Holograms comes out on October 23. 

Fishing in the Discount Bin - X-Men: First Class

Continuing to plow through the X-Men franchise here on Fishing in the Discount Bin, my weekly blog about a movie I own.  We get to the reboot of the franchise, X-Men: First Class.  This appears in my notes at June 30, 2014.

Batman vs. Robin Review

Well, with a busy week done, I got to tackle my "to-watch" pile of new Blu-Rays, and right at the top was the latest DC Universe Original Movie

Batman vs. Robin

Directed by Jay Olivia

Starring the voices of Jason O'Mara, Stuart Allan, Sean Maher, Jeremy Sisto, Grey Griffin, Kevin Conroy, and "Weird Al" Yankovic

Backstory:  As I've blogged before, I'm starting to grow bored with the DC Universe Original movies.  What once was a great project to bring life to some classic DC properties has now become, "Hey!  What was that New 52 storyline that sold really well last year?  Let's just do that!"  And the fact that this one is a sequel to Son of Batman, which I found disappointing.  For those who don't remember Son of Batman introduced the latest Robin, Damien Wayne, the long lost son of Bruce Wayne and Talia Al Guhl.  Kept secret from Batman, and raised by his grandfather Ra's Al Guhl to be the deadliest member of the League of Assassins, but soon reunited with his father and set loose on the streets of Gotham.  But rather than analyze the dynamic of Batman's figurative son becoming his literal son, it was just another Robin origin story.  The New 52 storyline this draws from is Night of the Owls, which introduced an interesting new villain for Batman:  The Court of Owls, a secret society that has controlled Gotham City from the shadows for centuries, and the Talons, their chief assassins.  So...yeah.  Expectations were low going in.

Plot:  Young Damien Wayne is growing frustrated.  Bruce Wayne is keeping him cooped up in Wayne Manor, as he's reluctant to reveal to the world that he now has a son.  The growing tensions lead to Damien frequently going out on his own as Robin, and he soon encounters another vigilante named Talon.  Talon professes to be a fan of Batman's work, but knows that Batman hinders himself by refusing to kill.  Talon, however, feels the ends justifies the means, and wants to help Robin meet his full potential.  Meanwhile, Batman's latest case brings up some startling evidence.  The Court of Owls, long considered to be a myth, may actually be real, and Batman is being set up for a confrontation with them.  It's soon learned that Robin is pawn in the war between Batman and Talon, and soon Robin must choose a side.  Will Batman and Robin actually fight each other to the death?

What I Liked:  Well, this did resolve one of my biggest letdowns with Son of Batman, and that is Bruce and Damien Wayne actually developing some kind of father/son relationship.  A good chunk of the movie is about Batman/Bruce Wayne actually, finally accepting Damien as his son, and it's good to see that play out.  Talon is an interesting villain, as he is kind of a dark reflection of Batman, and a warning as to what Damien could grow up to be.  And the voice acting is starting to grow on me.  It's fun seeing Kevin Conroy (THE voice of Batman) put in a cameo as Thomas Wayne in a flashback.  And Weird Al!  Holy moly, Weird Al as the Dollmaker!  I had no freaking idea Weird Al could get so...creepy. 

What I Didn't Like:  Secret societies have been done.  And the titular Batman vs. Robin fight is way too brief. 

Final Verdict:  A step up from Son of Batman, but still can't shake the "been there, done that" hanging over this franchise. 

3 Nibs

Bonus Features:  The typical bonuses.  A featurette on the Court of Owls.  A featurette on Talon.  A running commentary with the director.  A bunch of bonus cartoons from the DC Animated Universe (even a Bugs Bunny cartoon!)  And a sneak preview of the next film, Justice League:  Gods and Monsters. 

Sunday's Targ Day!

Well, it’s nothing but superhero news and various ramblings on this week’s episode of The Targ, hence the title, Episode 8.08: Make Mine Superheroes.  What do I ramble about?  Well….

• I do something I haven’t done in ages!  I fire up my digital voice recorder and offer my thoughts on Avengers: Age of Ultron as the credits roll in the theatres!
• From there, the news about the epic cast of Captain America: Civil War
• An update on DC’s TV universe, with the upcoming Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl TV series.

I also begin lamenting shutting down my Shomi account…as they finally launch an Apple TV app.  Is this a game changer in Canada’s upstart streaming video services?
And that’s what I ramble about on this week’s Targ!

Head to the main site and have a listen!

Fishing in the Discount Bin - X-Men Origins: Wolverine

It's time for Fishing in the Discount Bin once again, where I blog about one of the many, many movies I own.  I'm heading through the X-Men franchise right now, and we arrive at the first of the Wolverine solo films X-Men Origins: Wolverine.  This is originally in my notes at June 29, 2014.

Standing in Line for Episode I

Well, it's Star Wars Day.  I've blogged in the past that I'm not a big fan of Star Wars Day.  I mean, I'm all for setting aside a day to celebrate your fandom, but I don't like the way the day was decided by a lame pun.  But, this year, I'm getting caught up in it a little bit.  It probably has a lot to do with the residual good vibes from the phenomenal The Force Awakens trailer from a few weeks ago.  But this time, I decided to act on those good vibes.

I decided to finally try and get a copy of the Camrose Canadian that interviewed me about standing in line for Episode I. 

A couple days after standing in line for my tickets, a few of my Camrose compatriots sent me an e-mail saying, "Dude!  They interview you on the front page of the Camrose Canadian!"  And I was like, "Dude!  Send me a copy!"  But they never did.  16 years on, I knew my chances of getting a copy were pretty slim, but I figured I should try.  I sent an e-mail to the Camrose Canadian explaining the situation, and they were very kind enough to dip into their archives, find a copy, and send me a scan. 

So here I am on the front page of the Camrose Canadian!

"Augustana student Mark Cappis made the journey from Entwistle to secure some seats.  'When it opens, I want to see it with all my friends.  I just wanted to make sure I got my tickets,' he said." 

That may seem a little corny in retrospect, but it was true.  Episode I came out as my college career came to an end.  Graduation was just the week before.  For the final year, all me and my friends were talking about and analyzing were all the rumorus and trailer for Episode I.  Where else were we going to see The Phantom Menace other than Camrose? 

For those who don't know the history, Episode I was one of the first major Hollywood blockbusters where they sold advance tickets.  The film came out on May 19, but tickets went on sale one week earlier, May 12, at 1PM Alberta time.  So, with that in mind, and me having already moved home with the end of the school year, I got it in my head that I'd be heading down to Camrose on May 12 to wait in line for tickets. 

On May 12, I was up at the crack of dawn.  I hopped into my (parents') car and made the 2-hour drive down to Camrose.  I arrived at the Duggan Mall at 9AM....

...and I was already third in line.  Damn it!  But still, I settled in, and started waiting for 1PM.

The article mentions "another fan, with a boom box, [who] began playing the Star Wars soundtrack just as ticket sales began."  That was my friend Arlo.  He had just bought the Episode I soundtrack a few weeks before, so we were cranking that up.  It was pure coincidence that the CD came back around to the beginning and started playing Duel of the Fates just as the clerk announced, "The box office is open!  Tickets are now on sale!"

My biggest memory is how woefully ill-prepared we were for sitting in line.  We brought, like, nothing to do.  I think someone eventually ran down to the dollar store and got a deck of cards.  My biggest regret was that I forgot my copy of Star Wars Trivia Pursuit, which I had just gotten for Christmas.  I had planned to bring it so we could play while we waited, but I didn't realize until I was coming through Nisku that I'd forgotten it at home. 

1PM came, the tickets went on sale, and there I was, third in line, and got my tickets.  I vaguely remember talking to the reporter.  Word got through the line that I'd come all the way from the exotic land of Entwistle, and they wanted to know, "Why?"  I don't remember the rest of the day...I probably had lunch and went home.

"But Mark," you may be saying, "I've heard you tell this story before, and you always told me you stood in line for 8 hours.  9AM to 1PM is just 4 hours!"  The 8 hours standing in line came the next week...the day the film actually came out.  We'd all decided we'd be going to the 7PM show, and we arrived at the Duggan Mall at 11AM to get in line.  But, the movie theatre wouldn't let people line up from 7PM show until 4PM, so it was more, "5 hours hanging out in the mall, and then three hours standing in line."  When they started letting us line up for the 7PM show, then was first in line, and when the theatre opened, I remember sprinting in just so I could say I was first.

Coming out was a different story.  I remember thorougly loving it at the time.  But the horrified looks on my friends' faces told a different story.  "Was that awesome or what?" I remember exclaiming.  "Yeah...that was certainly...something," they said.  My revulsion to Episode I wasn't as instant as most.  I still don't think it's that bad.  However, I'm not as gushing as my original movie review that I blogged that night.

But what I'll always remember are those days leading up to the film.  The standing in line.  As I said, we had all just graduated.  This was pretty much our grad party...our last hurrah.  And those memories will always outshine Episode I. 

Sunday's Targ Day!

Well, gang, it’s the start of a brand new week, so that means it’s time for a whole new episode of The Targ!  Kinda didn’t know what to talk about this week, but I think I got a show together.  In Episode 8.07: 1999 All Over Again, I ramble about

• News on the Avatar sequels and Jurassic World
• Some of the problems I ran into with Shomi
• Some Star Wars news, as I share the latest developments on the Star Wars Anthology spinoff films
• And, some happy reminiscing about standing in line for hours on end for Episode I.

All this and more on this week’s episode!

Head over to the main page to give it a listen!

Fishing in the Discount Bin - X-Men: The Last Stand

Here we are again on Fishing in the Discount Bin, my blogging/ranting about a movie I own.  We're continuing to march through the X-Men franchise with X-Men: The Last Stand.  This is originally in my notes at June 28, 2014.

Time for a New Targ!

A new week is here, and that means another episode of U62: The Targ to tickle your earbuds!  Not much tickling, though, as there’s a lot of complaining and grousing in Episode 8.06: Lower Levels Love Me.  What do I complain about today?

• Blu-rays that won’t play!  Darn you, technology, for not working!
• A Spider-Man animated film franchise!  Are we going to get Spider-Man oversaturation?

But then, the complaining ends!  What good stuff do I applaud?

• Marvel’s Daredevil series on Netflix is so good, you guys.
• West Edmonton Mall has brought back the whale!

All this and more on the latest Targ!

Check it on the main site!

Fishing in the Discount Bin - X2

 Welcome to Fishing in the Discount Bin, where I watch one of the many movies I own and blog about it.  Today, we're continuing our voyage through the X-Men franchise with X2.  This pops up in my notes at June 28, 2014.

Small Town Movies

When I first moved to the Westlock/Barrhead region two years ago, I was surprised and elated when I discovered that Barrhead has a movie theatre...the Roxy.  Much like grain elevators, the small town movie theatre is another hallmark of small town life that seems to be fading away.  It's so easy to head on into the city to catch a movie the day it comes out.  Why wait a week or two for it to makes its way to your town?  But I kept saying that I must catch a movie at the Roxy.  It's part of my community, and I love the movies, so why not?

So it may seem kind of strange that, after two years, the one movie that come to the Roxy that finally made me check it out was Disney's live-action Cinderella.  But it in a way, it makes sense.  It seems that my memories of small town movie theatres tend to involved Disney movies.

Where I grew up, the closest small town with a movie theatre was Drayton Valley.  They had a one-screen movie theatre...the Cardium.  Despite being the closest, didn't see a lot of movies at the Cardium growing up.  The last movie I remember seeing there was The Lion King.  For those who don't remember The Lion King's release history, it came out in the summer of 1994.  And then, in a stroke of marketing brilliance, Disney pulled it out of theatres at the end of the summer, and re-released it at Christmas of 1994.  When it came to the Cardium over Christmas vacation, my sister and a couple of her friends really wanted to go see it again.  I had just gotten my driver's license, and Mom no doubt wanted a few hours of peace and quiet over the Christmas break, so Mom said, "Would you take them?"  So I did.  The big selling point for that re-release was they were showing an entire musical number from Disney's next animated epic, Pocahontas, before the film, so I got to see Colors of the Wind on the big screen.  I remember it as being a nice theatre. 

The Cardium closed in the mid-00s, but the name lives on.  The Cardium is now the name of Drayton's 4-screen cineplex that replaced the original. 

When it comes to small town, one-screen movie theatres, the one I have the most memories of is the Bailey Theatre.  The main movie theatre in Camrose, and within walking distance of the college, so of course a movie-loving college student wound up spending a lot of time there.  My best friend and I, being of similar movie tastes, spent a lot of Friday nights there seeing the newest offering.  Being a couple of animation geeks, I remember going to see Anastasia on opening night, and my friend and I spent the whole film critiquing and analyzing the animation.

About the only movie that I saw at the Bailey myself was The Little Mermaid.  Disney re-released it in 1997 in the hopes of crushing Anastasia at the box office, and I leaped at the chance to see it on the big screen.  Going by myself meant I could sit in the balcony.  I always thought that a balcony in a movie theatre was a Hollywood invention.  I only ever saw it in movies and on TV until I got to the Bailey.  My best friend -- being from the Camrose area and seeing movies at the Bailey all his life -- always insisted on sitting front row centre.  But that night, on my own at The Little Mermaid, I got to sit front row centre...in the balcony.  No wonder Siskel and Ebert loved sitting there so much. 

Christmas 1997 wound up being a pivotal year for the Bailey, for that's when their competition, the shiny new 5-screen Duggan Cinemas opened up.  That's the only time I ever engaged in any student journalism, outside my radio-show-plugging opinion column.  My best friend was editor of the school paper, and one night, while we were hanging out as he worked to put the next issue to bed, we began speculating as to what the Duggan Cinemas might do to the Bailey.  So we called up the managers of both theatres, got quotes, and put together a story on Camrose's upcoming "theatre war." 

But we knew the Bailey's days were numbered.  The last movie we saw there was Lost in Space, which opened in April of 1998.  After that was final exams, and I was home for summer.  When I came back to Camrose for the next semester in the fall of 1998, the Bailey was closed.

That being said, the Bailey's doing pretty well for itself these days.  It's been restored to its 1940s art deco glory, and is now Camrose's premiere live entertainment venue. 

So it was time to create new memories of the small town one-screen movie theatre by heading out to the Roxy.  I went into the theatre, and remarked at how similar the lobbies of these small town theatres are.  The lobby is smaller and more intimate that what you'd find in the big city.  The box office is right there as soon as you get in.  I paid for my ticket, and right next to the box office is the small concession counter.  As I've blogged before, I don't eat at the movies that much anymore, because I tend to go right after a meal.  The Roxy in Barrhead was no different, as I'd just had supper at the A&W down the street.  But I've been assured that the Roxy makes really good popcorn. 

I was pleasantly surprised to see that they have a cry room...a nice addition that more movie theatres should have.  This is the soundproof booth where parents can take fussy babies to they don't interrupt the show.  Don't worry, from inside, they can still see the screen, and there's speakers that have the movie's sound turned to a lower volume for the little one. 

I went inside, and it was like going back to the Cardium.  Laid out in the very same way.  Large speakers hanging off the wall, instead of being built into the wall like most big city theatres.  I thought about going front row centre like my best friend would insist back in the Bailey, but I instead went for my usual selection of somewhere in the middle.  I noticed the Roxy also has a stage, so like the Bailey, I imagine it must have been a multi-purpose theatre that hosted live events in its 50 year history. 

That being said, how was Cinderella?  "Magical" is a good way to describe it.  It manages to capture all the magic and charm of the original Disney animated film, with a few new wrinkles.  Cate Blanchett manages to flesh out the Wicked Stepmother more, as we see her actively scheming and plotting to improve her station in life.  And Helena Bonham Carter brings just the right blend of flighty and mystical to the Fairy Godmother.

The bad?  Well, it is Cinderella, and they don't deviate too far from the original text, so the plot really doesn't offer up anything new.  And I still have the same question I've always had about Cinderella:  "Wouldn't glass slippers be horribly uncomfortable and impractical?"  But still, I had fun.  3 Nibs, and the full review is up on the website.

Although, on the drive home, I think I finally figured out another question I've always had about Cinderella.  And that question was, "How weird must her feet be if those glass slippers fit her and only her?"  But it occurred to me:  since they are magical, obviously they magically re-size themselves to not fit unless it's Cinderella.  Brilliant! 

Oh, and it also started with the animated short film Frozen Fever, a nice little expansion of the Frozen universe. 

All in all, it was a good evening, and the Roxy can truly stand as one of the greatest of the small town movie theatres. 

New Targ is Here!

A brand new week means a brand new episode of U62: The Targ!  And I needed to do an episode this week, because there’s lots of good stuff to talk about.  Especially the trailers!  So many good trailers!

• Hear my thoughts about the trailers for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Batman v Superman, Ant-Man, and Terminator Genisys!
• We’ve got another installment of Mark Tastes Random Things.  This time, hear me chow down on Tim Hortons Nutella donut, and I extoll the joys of Nutella!
• And, because unboxing videos are all the rage, I even do an unboxing.  A friend of mine bought me a present online from China, so I tear open the package and find out what he sent me.

All this and more in Episode 8.05: 7 Days in the Making!

Head to the main site to download it!

The Other Big Trailers This Week

Well, when I originally jotted this down on Friday morning, it was only dedicated to the trailers for Ant-Man and Terminator.  But then, we were all kinda surprised when Warner Brothers decided to release the first teaser for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

See, the original plan was they showed the "teaser for a teaser" on Wednesday night, premiere the trailer at a special event at select IMAX theatres on Monday, with the trailer officially going online on Tuesday.  But, it got leaked to the Internet on Thursday night, forcing WB's hand and giving it an official release on Friday night.

Obstensibly a sequel to Man of Steel, Dawn of Justice was quickly handed the task of establishing the DC Cinematic Universe.  So not only does a rebooted Batman show up, we're also going to get Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Cyborg, leading to the origins of the Justice League.

Of course, there was much outcry over the casting of Ben Affleck as Batman, but I think Affleck is a good enough actor to pull it off.  Assisting Affleck is Jeremy Irons as the new Alfred.  Rounding out our Justice League is Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Jason Momoa as Aquaman, and Ray Fisher as Cyborg.

Returning from Man of Steel is Henry Cavill as Superman, Amy Adams as Lois Lane, and Laurence Fishburne as Perry White.  Rounding out the Superman universe is Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor. 

So...how does it look?



Huh.  Well...yeah.  I'm not diggin' it.  I'm not liking Gritty Superman vs Darth Vader Batman.

I know that they're trying to take from the beloved Frank Miller graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns.  But that had a whole different set-up to their epic fight.  Batman and Superman were the only two superheros left.  Superman became a total government sell-out, and Batman was still sticking up for the little guy.  It was the clash of ideologies.  Granted, they could be going for that in Batman v Superman.  Batman could see that he has to stand up for the common person after Superman and Zod's godlike battle that utterly destroyed Metropolis in Man of Steel.

But still...in this film, Superman is just starting out.  In The Dark Knight Returns, it was at the relative end of Batman and Superman's superhero careers.  No doubt their relationship had become that of colleagues who tolerated each other and got along, but eventually started getting on each others' nerves after 50 years of the same ol' crap.  Do you really want them to start out that way?

Or maybe I'm just tired of gritty Batman.  Christopher Nolan did it so well in his Dark Knight trilogy, that we were ready for a new direction, and this isn't new enough.  Hell, they even rip off a shot from The Dark Knight Rises in that trailer, of Batman from behind, on top of the bridge, his cape flowing in the wind.

Perhaps a co-worker said it best.  We all loved the Star Wars trailer so much, that anything else by comparison is going to seem underwhelming for the next little bit.

But I love Batman.  I love Superman.  And I'm upset that this trailer has me going "meh."

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice hits theatres on March 25, 2016.

My original trailer rants follow.

---

Before the new Star Wars trailer came along and blew our minds, there were a couple other trailers that come out earlier this week that I wanted to ramble about a bit.  First up, the new trailer for Ant-Man:



I'm still feeling kind of "meh" towards Ant-Man.  I mean, a hero with a supersuit?  Battling a villain with a similar supersuit?  Didn't Marvel already make this movie in Iron Man?  My original complaint of "generic superhero film" still stands.

Although, there are some clever bits.  I chuckled at the whole "I need you to break into a place and steal some stuff" gag.  And the end bit with the train was cute.  But I'm still going..."meh."

Meanwhile, we also got the new trailer for the big Terminator reboot, Terminator Genisys.

 


Now this one has me a little more sold on Terminator Genisys.  I complained that the first trailer had a whole "been there, done that" feeling to it, as we saw the Terminator running around battling a liquid metal Terminator.  But now that we're getting more into the plot and we're seeing what's going on, and that John Connor himself is now a Terminator of some kind...now I'm getting more intrigued.  Might be going to see this one after all.

Both Ant-Man and Terminator Genisys come out in July.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Teaser #2

I keep saying I'm not going to get excited.  No matter how tantalizing all the new pictures and rumours from the set look, I can't help but have flashbacks to late-1998/early-1999 when I was also this excited.  Picking apart the trailers, pouring over every bit of information that was released, only to be greeted with...the prequels.

"Never again," I said.  "I'm done with this franchise.  It's only going to hurt me again."

But then, yesterday, with some downtime at work, I found myself doing this.

A photo posted by Mark Cappis (@chaosinabox) on Apr 16, 2015 at 9:59am PDT

Yesterday was the launch of Star Wars Celebration, aka the official Star Wars convention.  It kicked off with a special panel dedicated to the new film, The Force Awakens, and while there was no official announcement, it was heavily rumoured that the new teaser would be premiering at that panel.

I tried to get engrossed in the panel, but I kept getting distracted.  I was at work, after all.  So I missed a few things.  Like the revelation that the desert planet we've been seeing so far isn't the familiar location of Tatooine, but a new planet called Jakku.

They talked to the guys who built the droids.  The rolled out R2-D2, they rolled out that new bowling ball droid BB-8, which amazed the crowd by a being a practical puppet and not CGI.  The elaborated that they thought BB-8 would have to be done with CGI, but Disney CEO Bob Iger new of a robotics company that could pull it off.

They brought out the new cast members, who sadly couldn't say too much about their parts.  John Boyega, who plays Finn, the Stormtrooper in all the teasers, told a story (and did a great Harrison Ford impression) about asking Harrison Ford to sign one of his Han Solo action figures on the set one day.

They brought out a platoon of the new Stormtroopers, and then they brought out...the originals.  Mark Hamill.  Carrie Fisher.  Anthony Daniels.  Peter Mayhew.  It was them.  The original cast.  Back again.  And now...now I was truly getting excited.

More so than the prequels, they really seem to be playing up the nostalgia angle this time out.  They are working very hard to maintain the esthetic and the ideals of the original trilogy.  This looks and feels more like Star Wars than the prequels did.  The prequels played up the icons of the original trilogy, but this...this really is trying to evoke more than the icons...the feelings behind them.

Once the new and the original cast members gathered on stage for a photo op, it was time.  They promised us one last thing before they wrapped up.  And yes, it was the new trailer.  I could hear down the hall a co-worker of mine was also watching it, so I ran into his office to watch it with someone.




At the end of the trailer, we lost our collective minds.  We laughed.  We cheered.  We hugged.  You'd think we were watching the Moon landing on TV or something.  Everything about it...just felt right. 

I'm trying not to get excited.  Really, I'm not.  I've been down this road before.  But with the John Williams music, and the visuals, and how it's everything from the original trilogy but new, I can't help but think...I've come home.

According to my countdown app, Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens in 245 days. 

Fishing in the Discount Bin - X-Men

Here we go again on Fishing in the Discount Bin, one of my weekly viewings of a movie I own, then ranting about it.  This time out, I'm going to plow through the X-Men franchise, so we're starting at the start, 2000's X-Men.  I originally watched this and wrote it on June 22, 2014.

Sunday Means New Targ Day!

And we're back! After a week off for Easter, and we're here and podcasting once again! This time, I bring you Episode 8.04: Only a Tribute. What are this week's rambles?

• Star Wars has been released on digital platforms! Is it worth buying again? Will I buy it again?
• The Doctor Who speech! Whenever someone points to the Doctor Who button on my parka, and asks, "Who's that?" I launch into this speech about Doctor Who
• And upon the passing of James Best, some reminiscing about watching The Dukes of Hazzard when I was a kid.

All this, and more, on this week's episode of U62: The Targ!

Download at the main site!

Fishing in the Discount Bin - Run Lola Run

Here we are again, on Fishing in the Discount Bin, when I watch one of the movies I own, and blog about it, because that's how empty my life is.  Today, we get to the late-1990s cult classic Run Lola Run.  This pops up in my notes at June 1, 2014.

Fishing in the Discount Bin - Father Goose

Welcome back to Fishing in the Discount Bin, my weekly viewing of something in my movie collection.  Doing a true classic now.  From 1964, it's Father Goose.  This shows up in my notes at May 25, 2014.

Got a Targ For You

 

 I've only just started the podcast up again, and already I'm taking unexplained absences. Sorry there was no show last week. I had to put in some overtime at work and then family came to visit. But I'm back! And I've brought Episode 8.03: Secret Origins.

• I once again wade into the "music or no" debate on the podcast, going into the secret origins of the podcast.
• Recapping the Marvel news of the week, as there's been a lot of new about their films.
• Sharing my general thoughts on the Hobbit trilogy, as my Blu-Rays arrived the other day.

But the big thing is doing another installment of Mark Tastes Random Things. I had a friend visit Japan back in the summer, and he brought me back some legendary Japanese Kit Kats. They'd been sitting in the back of my fridge since July, so if this is uploaded, I didn't die.

Head over to the main site to give it a download!

Fishing in the Discount Bin - Spider-Man 3

Here we are again with Fishing in the Discount Bin, my weekly viewing of a movie I own, and ranting about that movie.  We're closing out Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy with Spider-Man 3.  This pops up in my notes at May 24, 2014.

Superspies Unite!

It looks like 2015 is going to be a good year for the superspy genre.  We just had Kingsman: The Secret Service, which had a good time embracing and lampooning the cliches of the genre.  And I thought it was pretty darn good.  This Christmas, we get the original superspy, James Bond, returning in Spectre.  And this summer, two pretty sharp looking films in the genre.

The first up is The Man from U.N.C.L.E.  Based on the classic 1960s TV series of the same name (which was created with input from James Bond's creator, Ian Flemming), it follows the secret agency UNCLE, a multi-national task force established to take down threats to the entire world.  The primary threat:  THRUSH, a ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule the world.

Our heroes are the dashing and heroic CIA agent Napoleon Solo, and the enigmatic KGB agent Illya Kuryakin.  Of course, as this show was released in the 1960s, at the height of the Cold War, depicting the CIA and the KGB working together was quite groundbreaking.

This new movie version had been in development for quite some time.  Guy Ritchie, who brought us the legendary British crime films Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, and also the Robert Downy Jr Sherlock Holmes films, is directing.  Solo is played by the current big screen Superman, Henry Cavill.  His partner Kuryakin is played by the current big screen Lone Ranger, Armie Hammer.

Here's the trailer!



I'm digging this trailer.  Given the now kinda dated premise, it was a good idea to set it in 1963.  Looks like with Solo and Kuryakin they're going with a "buddy cop" formula, depicting them as professional rivals who are forced to work together.  And is just me, or does the American accent/voice that Cavill adopts for Solo make him sound kinda like Christopher Reeve?  (Cavill is British, in case you didn't know.)

The Man from UNCLE comes out on August 14.

---

Also coming out this summer, Tom Cruise gives us the latest installment in his Mission: Impossible franchise.  Man o man, can you believe this franchise has almost been going for 20 years?  The first one came out way back in 1996....

As I've blogged before, the Mission: Impossible franchise is one I want to like, but I always find the films kind of lacking.  I remember enjoying the hell out of the first two when I first saw them, but I barely remember them.  I have yet to see the third one, although I'm curious to see what JJ Abrams' reboot was like, because I'm one of the few trekkies who thought he did a good job rebooting Star Trek.  But I did enjoy Ghost Protocol, mainly because I adore the work of director Brad Bird.

This fifth installment has been given the title Rogue Nation, and to direct it, Cruise recruited Christopher McQuarrie, no doubt because they had a good working relationship on Jack Reacher.  And trying to forge some continuity in this series, it looks like the IMF team is made up of agents from previous films, such as Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, and Jeremy Renner.

The trailer gave us our first glimpse of the plot, which involves Ethan Hunt and his team trying to take down the Syndicate.  In the original TV series, "the Syndicate" was just the catch-all term for organized crime rings.  But for the film, looks like they've been rebooted into an evil IMF...the THRUSH to IMF's UNCLE. 

Trailer ho!




Yeah, looks like it has this franchise's one defining characteristic:  Tom Cruise doing crazy stunts.  And I find it kinda weird that they music they use is a remixed bubblegum pop tune by a Disney kid.  And Alec Baldwin is in it!  Again, as I've blogged before, I find it tough to take him seriously anymore after his years on 30 Rock. 

As with the rest of the franchise, I want to like this but...meh.  It was originally supposed to come out this Christmas, but got moved up to this summer out of a fear that it would get crushed between the new James Bond and Star Wars films.  Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is go see it on July 31. 

What I've Been Watching on Netflix

I've been wanting to sit down and jot this down for a while...just some capsule reviews of the  half-a-dozen or so films I've watched on Netflix recently.

The Three Musketeers

A few years ago, I remember first watching the trailer for a new movie version of The Three Musketeers by the creative team behind the Resident Evil films.  I watched that trailer and though, "This looks so ridiculous and over the top...I must see it."  It was one of the first titles I looked up on Netflix.

And I was not disappointed.  It was ridiculous and over the top, but not so much that it got goofy.  Don't get me wrong, it was pretty ridiculous.  Milday de Winter becomes some kind of 17th Century Black Widow.  And steampunk airships.  Dear God.  Steampunk airships.  I can't believe they actually rip off the climax of The Wrath of Khan.  Replace starships and a nebula with steampunk airships and a storm cloud.

It's got a phenomenal cast, too.  Because it's the Resident Evil team, Milla Jovovich is Milday de Winter.  Christoph Waltz is perfectly cartoonishly villianous as Cardinal Richelu, with TV's Hannibal Mads Mikkelson making the perfect henchman in Rochefort.  Ray Stevenson kicks butt as Porthos, Luke Evans (Bard in the Hobbit films) is an upstanding Aramis, and James Cordon, aka that guy from those Doctor Who episodes, is the perfect comic relief as the Musketeers' servant, Planchett.

I found this one to be delightfully entertaining.  Perfect for a rainy afternoon. 

Total Recall

When I saw the first trailers for the 2012 remake of Total Recall, something about the whole endeavour seemed off to me.  Paul Verhoeven's late-1980s grit and grime was such a part of the look and feel of the original, that this remake looked a little too slick and polished for my tastes.  And that feeling just kind of hung over the whole film.

Don't get me wrong, I found the new dystopia they created rather interesting.  Rather than Mars, it now takes place on a post-apocalyptic Earth.  After the ravages of war, only two regions on Earth remain livable:  the United Federation of Britain, which is the remains of Europe, and the Colony, which is the remains of Australia.  Travel between the two is possible via the Lift, a massive elevator that travels through the Earth's core. Rather than a rebellion fighting against the corporations that control Mars, it's the Colony fighting for independence from the UFB. 

Other than that, the story beats match up so closely with the original, you really start to wonder why they bothered with a remake.  There's an epic battle on an elevator.  There's a three-breasted hooker.  And yes, in the midsection, there's a fake-out where they try to convince Quaid that this is all a dream. 

Another thing that I liked was they beefed up the role of Quaid's wife, played by Sharon Stone in the original, and Kate Beckinsale in this remake.  Rather than kind of disappearing when Quaid's adventure begins, she actually becomes the leader of the agents hunting Quaid down, taking on the Kurtwood Smith role from the original.  It was a great way to keep her present for most of the film.

Yeah...it just kind of devolved into generic sci-fi action.  Good, but the original's still better.

Black Rain

This one piqued my interest when I saw it.  Many years ago when I was in Japan, this was a film talked about and discussed by my Japanese co-workers, as they found that, to gaijin like myself, it was their first exposure to "everyday" Japanese culture.  (i.e. not filtered through anime and Godzilla films).  That, and for my first few months, it seemed to be on NHK constantly.  It's also accredited to introducing the Yakuza - the Japanese mafia - to North American pop culture.

Michael Douglas plays Nick Conklin, a typical burnt out New York City police detective, currently up on corruption charges.  One day, he witnesses a murder in his local watering hole, and catches the Japanese man who did it.  Turns out this murderer is Sato, a high ranking Yakuza lieutenant,  and Conklin witnessed a Yakuza hit.  In order to get out of town for a few days, Conklin gets the job of escorting Sato back to Osaka for trial.  But, the Yakuza swindle this gaijin detective into releasing Sato to them.  Looking to save face (and, since he was on corruption charges, there's already accusations that the Yakuza bribed him), Conklin decides to stick around in Osaka and help the Osaka Police Department re-capture Sato. 

This is such a run-of-the-mill 1980s cop film, that the Osaka location doesn't do much to spice things up.  They try to play off rule-breaking Conklin and the by-the-book Osaka PD as being a culture clash, but no, it's the same "buddy cop" clash you've seen in every cop film.  I was expecting more culture clash, but no.  I was hoping for more from director Ridley Scott.  Yes, this is the same Ridley Scott who gave us Alien, Blade Runner and Gladiator.

Men in Black 3

When I saw those first trailers for Men in Black 3, I'm sure I wasn't the only one who thought, "Really?  It's been 10 years since the last one...are people actually clamoring for this?"  And I also remember reading about it's trouble production.  They started filming without a finished screenplay.  It's been known to happen with these big blockbusters...but in making Men in Black 3, an incomplete script turned out to be such a big problem that they actually shut down filming for a few months to get it done.  But still, fond memories of the first two made me decide to check it out.

A brutal alien mercenary named Boris breaks out of the Men in Black's maximum security prison on the Moon, and since Agent K put him away 40 years ago, Boris swears vengeance.  Upon hearing this news, Agent K grows unusually despondent, and Agent J gets concerned.  When Agent J shows up at MiB HQ the next day, he receives quite a shock.  Turns out Agent K was killed in action 40 years ago, trying to apprehend Boris.  But Agent J remembers history playing out differently.  The only conclusion they reach is that Boris must have gone back in time and teamed up his younger self to kill K.  The only solution:  Agent J must go back in time and team up with the young Agent K to set the timeline right.

Of course, the joy in this is Josh Brolin playing the young Agent K.  With some make-up prosthetics and careful mimicry of Tommy Lee Jones' southern drawl, he is a young Tommy Lee Jones!  This does kind of become Agent K's origin story, as he goes from the freewheeling young man to the stoic, gruff agent we all know and love. 

There's some great new concepts, too, such as Griffin, an alien that K and J team up with in the past.  His people exist in five dimensions, allowing Griffin to see all possible timelines and advise K and J as to what they need to do to save the future.  Griffin also provides a movie-ending gag that's as good as the epic camera pull-back that ended the first movie.  Boris is a great alien, too, who seems to be nothing but a mass of scorpions masquerading as a human.

And the score!  Danny Elfman really delivers.  The first Men in Black film got Elfman his first Oscar nomination, and he's having a ball revisiting these themes.  

Very clever, a lot of fun, and a worthy addition to the Men in Black franchise.

Unstoppable

I like trains.  But, they don't make a lot of movies about them.  So, when the 2010 film Unstoppable came along, all about trains, I was mildly curious.  Unstoppable has also become a sad note in film history, as it is the final film from legendary action director Tony Scott (Top Gun, Days of Thunder, True Romance) before his tragic suicide in 2012. 

Denzel Washington is Frank Barnes, a well-respected veteran train engineer.  Chris Pine is rookie conductor Will Colson, and they're thrown into their first job together.  But, some idiot yard engineers accidentally leave a train full of volatile chemicals idling, and the breaks fail, and we've got a runaway train.  The first half of the film is Barnes and Colson trying to beat the runaway train to a siding so they can safely get out of its way, while the railroad company tries a variety of half-assed schemes to stop it.  The second half, with Barnes and Colson now behind the runaway train, this puts them in a unique position to try and sneak up behind it, hitch on, and slam on the breaks to stop it. 

Washington and Pine are good together, as they do the typical seasoned veteran/rookie bickering.  And Rosario Dawson shows up, and she's pretty good too, as the yardmaster who tries to stop the train, and is the lone voice of common sense in these films as all the stuffed shirts attempt their half-assed, face-saving train-stopping plans. 

Great cast, some great train action scenes, and you've got Denzel and Captain Kirk.  It's nothing groundbreaking, but it's a pretty enjoyable film. 

Fishing in the Discount Bin - Spider-Man 2.1

He we are again with Fishing in the Discount Bin, as I watch a tasty treat of a film on home media, and then blog about, because what else am I going to do on Sunday afternoons?  Watch sportsball?  I'm going through Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy right now, and we get to the extended edition of the best one, Spider-Man 2.  This is in my original notes at May 18, 2014.  

New Week, New Podcast!

As I’ve been saying for quite a while now, as much as I’m usually down on Daylight Savings Time, I’m thrilled that it’s now light out later!  I can go home from work in the daylight!  And it’s a good feeling that I’m trying to hang onto.

As such, in this week’s podcast, Episode 8.02: Springy Weather, things kind of got away from me as I found I had lots to ramble about.  Some of my ramblings:

• In honour of Pi Day, I tell a little story on how knowing math recently won me fabulous prizes!
• Throw a little love to Shout! Factory and their recent home media releases
• Recapping the Star Wars news of the past week
• The creation of cinematic universes, including the announcements of Valiant and Ghostbusters universes
• An installment of Mark Tastes Random Things on the Shamrock Shake
• And an update on the music yes/music no debate.

All this and more in this week’s episode of U62: The Targ!

Head over to the main site to listen streaming or download it!

Fishing in the Discount Bin - Spider-Man

Here we go again with Fishing in the Discount Bin, where I watch one of the many movies I own, and ramble about it.  We're going to start on Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy now, kicking off with the appropriately titled Spider-Man.  This shows up in my notes at May 17, 2014.

The Targ Returns Again! For the Eighth Time!

Well, now that I’ve rebuilt the website, I guess it’s time to start generating content, and what better way to do that than by bringing back the podcast?

Episode 8.01: Back and Catching Up continues the proud tradition I do on every first podcast back from a hiatus, and that’s begin by explaining the hiatus!  Then I take you around the website and all the awesome rebuilding I did, and then ramble about all the things that happened while I was gone, such as:

• “Weird Al” Yankovic releasing his album Mandatory Fun and talking a lot like he was retiring.
• Marvel Studio’s announcement of Phase III of their Cinematic Universe, and the fact that they got Spider-Man back!
• And general reaction to the Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer

Plus, I have an important lesson for you, the listeners, so give it a listen!

Head over to the main site to listen streaming or download it!

A Website Reborn

Well, gang, my hard work for the past few months is finally done.  Well, done to the point where I think it's ready for public consumption.

My I present my newly rebuilt and redesigned website, Chaos in a Box.com! 

My website had been due for an overhaul for quite some time now.  As much as I liked how it looked, my knowledge of HTML peaked in 2003, and it was starting to look it.  And every time I wanted to update it or revise it, I found myself dusting off my old copy of Microsoft Front Page and having to write a new webpage from scratch.

Besides, I never really finished my last rebuild 9 years ago, leaving it a mess of dead links spread across three servers.  It would all get very messy if you started clicking around too much. 

So I started thinking about doing a rebuild about a year ago.  Rather than always having to build a webpage from scratch, I started looking at all the DIY web designers that are out there now.  Having read the reviews, and chatting with friends that are more knowledgeable than me, it looked like WordPress was the way to go.  I had one of those more knowledgeable friends install WordPress on my server for me, and I was off to rebuild my website!

Then I kinda got bored with that and finally opened a Netflix account.

But then, as 2015 started, my employers realized I had two weeks of leftover vacation time from last year.  And they really wanted me to get it off the books.  With two weeks off, I figured this would be the perfect time to just sit down in front of my computer and get it done.  Once I tweaked the settings in WordPress and got a layout and design I liked, it just a ton of cutting and pasting as I copied all my old webpages, and pasted them into WordPress's templates. 

I put in almost full workdays, taking breaks occasionally to enjoy some sunshine, eat, and watch episodes of Jem on Netflix.  It was a lot of cutting and pasting.  But at the end, I had some statistics:  248 podcasts, 188 movie reviews, and 348 entries in my original blog were all copied over. 

It's all there now.  It's searchable.  You can dig it all up.  The best thing I discovered about WordPress was its embedded MP3 player, so you can now easily listen to my podcasts in your browser. 

When I did my last rebuild 9 years ago, a friend of mine was sad that I dumped all my movie reviews prior to 2004.  So, just for him, I found all my older movie reviews in my archives, and my movie reviews section is complete once again, all the way back to when I started doing them in 1998!  The first movie I reviewed was the first American Godzilla film, in case you're curious.  And re-reading those early reviews, I'm almost embarrassed at how much I loved LOVED LOVED The Phantom Menace when it first came out. 

My original blog is there as well, but I buried it a little bit.  I mean, I haven't updated it in 9 years, so there's no reason for it to be so front and centre.  Besides, back then, I had no qualms whatsoever about naming names and calling out people who pissed me off.  I did have instructors at NAIT who pulled me aside and said, "Gee, Mark, if you keep saying stuff like that online, you're going to find it really difficult to find a job," and I do know of at least one job the blog cost me.  Reading it again all these years later, I'm a touch embarrassed at it all.  But I can't help but remember how passionate I was back then...how serious I was about my writing.  I really remember posting my articles on Sunday night, and getting excited e-mails from my friends on Monday morning telling me  how awesome my article was and how amazing a writer I was.

So, for those reasons, I kept it.  However, some articles are "special editions," where names have finally been changed to cover my own ass protect the innocent.  And besides, as I observed when I first attempted this rebuild a year ago, most of this stuff has been online now for 10 years or more.  If it was going to come back and bite me in the butt, it would have by now.  (The one incident I mentioned happened a mere month after I posted it.) 

It's all there for the world to see.  As Dinobot said with his dying words, my tale is told to those who ask, the ill deeds with the good, so that I may be judged accordingly.  Head on over to chaosinabox.com, and read my tale.

Oh, and as promised, my first new content at the website, my review of Kingsman: The Secret Service. 

Fishing in the Discount Bin - The Animatrix

Here we are on Fishing in the Discount Bin once again.  Not quite done with The Matrix franchise yet, as we still have to tackle it's universe-expanding anime spinoff The Animatrix.  This pops up in my notes at May 10, 2014.

Halfway's Far Enough

I was facing a dilemma.  I wanted to go see Kingsman: The Secret Sevice, but at my usual theatre in West Edmonton Mall, it was only playing in Ultra AVX.  For those who don't know, Ultra AVX is currently one of Cineplex's premium theatre experiences.  You get the maximum allowable screen size without going IMAX, the most state-of-the-art sound systems, assigned seating, more comfortable chairs...and $3 more on the movie ticket.

Yeah, I'm cheap enough that the extra $3 is enough to give me pause.  If I'm going to see a movie in 3D, I'll spring for it, because the assigned seating assures you a good seat.  But for a regular ol' 2D movie?  Ehh....

And then I remembered I don't always have to go to West Edmonton Mall.  As much as I love browsing in that cathedral to consumerism, it's not always required.  Hell, whenever I drive into Edmonton, I always drive by Cineplex's North Edmonton theatre.  It's a good theatre, I've seen lots of movies there, and most of the shops I wanted to check out where there on the north side anyway.  And the North Edmonton theatre was showing Kingsman in a regular ol' theatre.  I was only going halfway this time...to the north side!

On the north side is the Best Buy I usually blow money in, and I had $7.99 left on my last Christmas gift card.  $7.99 is just enough for one Blu-Ray out of the discount bin, and I knew what I was going to get....

Today's Blu-Ray acquisition. Had just enough left on the last Christmas gift card, and it was due for an upgrade to Blu anyway.

A photo posted by Mark Cappis (@chaosinabox) on Feb 28, 2015 at 3:09pm PST

Independence Day is one of my favourite films.  Hands down, you will never find better popcorn entertainment.  And I was due for the Blu-Ray upgrade anyway.  Sadly, the Blu-Ray didn't include the extended edition that was on the DVD, so I guess I'll be hanging onto my DVD a little longer.  Oh, let's be honest, I never throw away any DVDs.  I love movies too much, in all their formats.

But it wasn't just oldies, had to pick up the hot new release of the day, Disney's Big Hero 6.  Like many a geek, I believe that superheros and animation are a genre and a medium made for each other.  And when Disney bought Marvel, we were all a tingle at the prospect of a Disney animated Marvel Cinematic Universe.  Big Hero 6 drew its inspiration from a short-lived Marvel comic from about 10 years ago.  Some people were upset that it wasn't an official Marvel production with the Marvel logo up front and everything, but Marvel admitted that Big Hero 6 was so below their radar on what to adapt that they just kind of gave it to Disney and said, "Do with it as you will." 

Anyway, when I saw it back in November, I had a great time with it.  And, because The Lego Movie got snubbed, it managed to nab the Oscar for Best Animated Film, too.  Could always use more Oscar winners in the library. 

Quick bite of lunch, and I was off to the theatre!  Here's why I do like going to catch movies at West Edmonton Mall.  When I'm ridiculously early, I can go browse and entertain myself.  But North Edmonton is in a power centre.  And as most critics of power centres will tell you, they are not very pedestrian friendly.  I got a good parking spot near the theatre, but then I had no desire to walk all the way across a frigid parking lot to check out some of the stores.  So I wound up going to the theatre early.  I mean, I'm usually at a theatre early to get good seats, but this is early even for me.

I typically don't eat at the movies anymore, because I mostly go to weekend matinees these days, and since it's right after lunch, I'm not hungry.  But I ate this time because, hey, I'm ridiculously early and standing in line at the snack counter is something to do.  And then I went into the theatre.  Getting there super-early is good because then you can pick the good seats, and you can open your loud, crinkly candy wrappers without bothering anyone, but I looked at my watch, and I had 40 minutes until showtime.

At least I was finally able to get onto the Timeplay server and get that working on my phone.  I have a friend in Vancouver, and they've had Timeplay at their theatres for a while now, and he loves it.  They only rolled it out to Edmonton theatres this past summer.  You've got the special app on your smartphone, and then, during the pre-show at the theatre, Timeplay comes up and you can play interactive trivia games and win stuff.  My friend in Vancouver tells me he's won free popcorn and such, but out here, all they ever seem to offer for prizes are SCENE points.  It's weird.  I've been convinced to sign up for dozens of rewards programs (so much so that I now carry a second wallet just for all the rewards cards), I go to see so many movies, but Cineplex's SCENE is the one rewards program I haven't signed up for.

Anyway, even though I got Timeplay working, I didn't play.  Why?  Because they flash your name on the leaderboard up on the big screen, and I'm actually pretty self-conscious about seeing my name up in lights.  Strange given my day job, right? 

So, I was getting pretty jazzed to see Kingsman.  It was essentially James Bond from the creators of Kick-Ass.  If they could skewer the tropes of the superspy genre the same they did the superhero genre, then I knew it was going to be a good time.  I was shocked when my Mom said she wanted to go see it, because Colin Firth, star of a hundred rom-coms, is one of the stars. 

Eggsy is a kid in London who's been in and out of trouble with the law for most of his life.  Seeking to avoid a prison sentence, Eggsy calls on one of his deceased father's old colleagues, Harry Hart, to bail him out.  Harry sees potential in the boy, and reveals that he and Eggsy's father are members of a top-secret spy agency called Kingsman, and that Eggsy has what it takes to be an agent.  Eggsy begins his basic training, while Harry goes off on his latest case, investigating the tech billionaire Richmond Valentine, who's been brokering secret deals with world's richest and most powerful, and throwing those who don't go along with his scheme into his private prison.  Soon, it's Harry and Eggsy on the case, hunting down Valentine before he can destroy the world.

I enjoyed it.  As expected, just like Kick-Ass, it was very profane, very bloody, and very self-referential.  That being said, it had the same problem as Kick-Ass, in that the creators have too much love for the formula they're lampooning to stray too far from it. 

I give it a solid 3 nibs.  Go check it out!

Normally, this is where I'd post the link to the complete review on my website, but I am so close to finishing rebuilding my website, that I'm going to hang onto it, and it'll be the first content when my rebuilt website goes live. 

And from there, it was just a nice, leisurely drive home.  Since I didn't have as far to drive home, I was home a lot earlier than I thought I'd be, and still managed to enjoy a lot of my evening.  And, most importantly, I save $3 on a movie.