Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull May 24, 2008
Posted by Joe in : Entertainment, Uncategorized , add a comment
I figured I’d finally get around to updating NJTechie with a review of Indiana Jones 4.
In his latest adventure, Indy is caught up chasing a mysterious crystal skull that our old friend Ox (Professor Oxley) managed to stumble upon. Shortly after, Ox goes crazy, tries returning the skull to a mythological city made completely out of gold, and is later captured by the KGB.
The movie is very Indy-esque; equipped with WAM BAM sound effects for kicks and punches and the same general theme/color of the original films. The movie really holds true to the originals, for the most part.
As an aging actor, Harrison Ford surprisngly looks very similar to the earlier iterations of Indiana Jones. He has a lot of great action sequences and does take jabs at his age (as do the other cast members).
On a scale of 1 to 10, I’d say this movie is about an 8. The actors were fantastic, the movie had great sound and visuals, and the story is about the only thing preventing it from getting a perfect 10 from me.
I won’t give anything away about the story, other than the fact that this mysterious crystal skull is oh so much more than a crystal skull. A twist you wouldn’t have expected from an Indiana Jones movie, for sure.
After seeing the movie, I’m not so sure that the plan to create more sequels starring Shia LeBeouf is such a good idea, but only time will tell. Without Harrison driving the film, it just won’t be Indiana Jones anymore, or, well, it will be, but… yeah, you’ll just have to see the film to understand that.
The Quality of Modern Music December 29, 2007
Posted by Joe in : Entertainment , add a commentDepending on how long you’ve been around (remember records…?), you might have witnessed a decay in audio quality over the years. Ask a teenager if CD quality audio is as good as it gets, and they wouldn’t know any better. Someone who has grown up with other audio formats, however, can tell a different story: today’s music is loud and bland, unlike music that used to come on records and 8-tracks.
Why is this? For lack of better words, ignorance. Rolling Stone has an article all about why our audio quality has slowly degraded over the years and tells us what we’re missing out on.
Click on that Rolling Stone link to read about the decline in audio fidelty. Then get angry!
Aliens Versus Predator: Requiem (Reviewed!) December 27, 2007
Posted by Joe in : Entertainment , add a commentIf you are a fan of the Aliens franchise, Predator franchise, or, like me, both, than you were probably falling out of your chair when you first heard they were making an Aliens vs Predator movie. Yeah, me too. Too bad it wasn’t so great, right? Cheap and limited story, terrible actors, and not enough, well, Aliens versus Predator! Not to mention, everyone really, really wanted Aliens and Predators running rampant through the streets; not hidden away in a pyramid thousands of feet beneath the surface in the North Pole. Boring!
Hellboy II: The Golden Army Trailer. Wow. December 25, 2007
Posted by Joe in : Entertainment , add a commentYou’d better just head on over to IGN and watch the Hellboy II: The Golden Army trailer - right now.
If you liked Hellboy, I think you’re going to love Hellboy II. The masterful creatures created under the influence of everyone’s favorite horror/fantasy directory, Guillermo del Toro, really shine in this trailer. Even with a realtively low budget, the monsters and effects involved here are extraordinary.
If you saw Pan’s Labyrinth (a fantasy by del Toro), you’ll see some similarties in The Golden Army creatures to those of the Labyrinth. Not a bad thing at all; they were fantastic, and in Hellboy II, Guillermo looks to really push the creative envelope. Hellboy won’t be dueling with just one or two baddies this time around, and it all looks to be very exciting. Can’t wait to see it.
Christian Bale Neogtiating Terminator 4 December 2, 2007
Posted by Joe in : Entertainment , add a commentWhat better actor to play John Connor or the Terminator than a beefed up Christian Bale?
After seeing what he can do with his body in American Psycho, and with all the different roles he’s played (The Prestige, Rescue Dawn, American Psycho, The Machinist), its clear he’d be a win for either role. This is exciting news for the new line of Terminator films. Three sequels are planned now that spawn the war against the machines. Terminator 4 is to be called Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins. Bit of a silly name; should have kept it simple. Either way, doesn’t affect the movie itself, right?
Feel free to head on over to Yahoo to read more about Christian Bale and Terminator 4.
Dorney Park and Wild Water Kingdom August 10, 2007
Posted by Joe in : Entertainment , add a commentMy girlfriend and I recently went to Dorney Park. Its a 2 hour drive from our house but friends said it was worthwhile. We live right down the road from Six Flags Great Adventure here in NJ, which also has a water park (Hurricane Harbor). In search of something new, away we went to Dorney Park.
We bought discounted tickets from Acme for $27 a piece. That was a bargain since its good for both parks. Unfortunately, we only went to one.
Wild Water Kingdom, to be frank, sucked. Let’s just call it Calm Dribble Pond. The slides sucked. They were slow, lines were long, and there wasn’t much variety. The two lazy rivers were packed with people and had way too many waterfalls making it not so lazy. You also had to wait in line to get in the lazy river. What the hell is that?
But my biggest gripe? Chairs. There were maybe 100 chairs available for laying out and leaving your towel, sunblock, etc. for easily 500-1,000 people. Maybe more. Rediculous. We ended up having to leave our things on the grass behind the main wave pool. Oh, and they advertise their huge wave pool (millions of gallons, blah blah) on their website, but when you get there, it’s divided in two sections, and one of the sections is closed off. Needless to say, everyone gets crammed into one half of the wave pool. Lame.
So, after sweating our asses off waiting in line for the lazy river for about a half hour in 100 degree heat, we decided to go home. Screw Dorney Park and Steel Force and all the rest. Not a good experience. There wasn’t even 1/10th enough seating if you wanted to buy food in the water park. Are you supposed to eat it standing up? I don’t understand what the problem with chairs is for Dorney Park.
I’ll upload a few pictures I snapped (later today) of everyone sitting on grass and the 80 or so chairs there were available by the wave pool. Quite amusing.
The New Incredible Hulk July 30, 2007
Posted by Joe in : Entertainment , add a commentIf you haven’t heard, there’s another Incredible Hulk in the works, due out in summer of 2008.
This one completely starts fresh with its own version of the Hulk’s story. It should share little in common with the previous Ang Lee attempt at bringing Hulk to the big screen.
Concept art of the Hulk’s face was released at ComicCon this year and you can check it out at firstshowing.net.
This movie looks promising. First and foremost, you have Edward Norton playing Bruce Banner. In addition to playing Bruce/Hulk, Edward also rewrote the original script to the movie to make it his own. This way, I imagine he’ll be able to play the part to the best of his ability since it truly is his part.
I’ve always loved the Hulk, but the 2003 Ang Lee movie debut just plain sucked. It had potential, but it was overall too bland and without wit. Eric Bana did not live up to his potential, and the Hulk’s CGI was a bit too cartoonish. Here’s hoping this new iteration will really live up to the fans’ hopes.
