New Spider

Tobey Maguire no longer will don Spider-Man's red and blue costume.
Relatively unheard of, 26 year old actor Andrew Garfield (The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus) is the new Peter Parker/Spidey.
I've never been a fan of the Spider-Man films, partly because I always thought Maguire was wrongly cast to play Spider-Man. He may have nailed nerdy Parker down, but I never believed he was strong enough in wearing the suit.
Maybe this Garfield will be convincing enough to make me want to see the next installment in the Spider-Man films (Out in July 2012.).

http://www.deadline.com/2010/07/soni-pictures-selects-new-spider-man/

Cyrus the Riot... Not!

The Verdict:

MAYBE SEE...

REVIEW:

Cyrus is an awkward little movie, filled with awkward characters and an awkward plot.

It centers on a loser named John (John C. Reilly, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant) who is forced to go to a party by his ex-wife (Katherine Keener, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Hamlet 2 ) in hopes of un-depressing him (he's still hung up after 6 years, that she left him). At the party, John gets drunk and makes a fool of himself. Enter Molly (Marisa Tomei, My Cousin Vinny), the beautiful girl who shows him sympathy and surprisingly ends up hooking up with him at the end of the night. The mismatched couple begin to get serious fast and just when John thinks his life is going good again, enter Cyrus, Molly's twenty-something year old adult son (Jonah Hill, Superbad) Cyrus is an overly eccentric young man who is the ultimate mama's boy who shares a superglue tight bond with Molly (who he calls her by just that). Cyrus is immediately threatened by John's relationship with Molly and vows to take John out of the picture. John catches on to Cyrus' distaste of him and the two try to comedically battle over who will end up with Molly in the end.

This adult comedy is anything but laughs galore.

You'll chuckle here and there if anything (Although in my auditorium a few people were guffawing it up. At what, I don't know.).

The trailer shows most of the best parts and gives you a sense of the whole movie in less than 5 minutes.

I was really tempted to walk out but somehow I made it through to the end (which ended as awkwardly as the entire film was).

See if you're a Tomei fan (as I did)--- she was the star--- and made this awkward film a little more bearable.

~Trailer:

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1810066021/trailer

*Stars:

John C. Reilly, Marisa Tomei, Jonah Hill, Catherine Keener

~Director:

Jay and Mark Duplass

~Music:

Michael Andrews

~Rating:

R

~How Long:

1 hr. 32 mins.

~Opening:

6/18/2010

F1: Lewis Hamilton still exempt from rules

The European GP in Valencia was a farce. In short, Lewis Hamilton overtook the safety car after it came out, and was penalized with a drive-through penalty twenty laps later.

Hamilton and his defenders insist the rules were applied properly. Given the ham-handed way the FIA writes its rules, that may well be so, but passing the safety car like Hamilton did is appalling. Not only is it dangerous to the driver and the track marshals, but it shows a total disregard of the rules. In Alonso's words, even a child knows you can't pass the safety car like that. Had, say, Kamui Kobayashi pulled a stunt like that, he would have been disqualified and probably had his racing license taken away from him. Not so with the golden boy.

Having done what he did, Hamilton was given a drive-through penalty, so late in the race that it didn't affect his standing. Whether the penalty was technically correct or not, here's what I can't accept. The stewards knew fully well that nearly all other drivers had suffered from the safety car except Hamilton. They knew that they were giving Hamilton a penalty that wouldn't affect his race at all, and they still gave it. So in effect, they are fully consciously rewarding Hamilton for breaking the rules. And this is a sport?

In Malaysia, Hamilton blatantly broke the rules by weaving in front of Renault's Vitaly Petrov. It's not a huge exaggeration to say that again, even a child knows that's against the rules. All Hamilton got was a "warning", or in other words, nothing. In the Chinese GP he nearly crashed into Sebastian Vettel in the pit lane, resulting in, again, a "warning". More on that one later. Now he overtakes the safety car and again, nothing. Does he really have a blank cheque to do anything on the track now?

I'll just quote the Runoff Area's Twitter feed; after stewarding like this, F1 satire is dead. How do you make fun of this stuff?

Jonah's Spell

The Verdict:

GO SEE!

REVIEW:

 Jonah Hex put a spell on me.
I loved every minute of the comic book based movie.

Guns? Check. Good bad guys? Check. Megan Fox? Check.

Being a fan of the Western genre, may have had a lot to do why this film excited me so much.

Of all the comic book movies of summer 2010 so far (Iron Man 2 , The Losers) I declare Jonah Hex the winner.

Hex is different and daring.

Josh Brolin (W., No Country for Old Men) plays the badass, scar faced, super fast gunslinger Jonah Hex who can talk to the dead. Hex is hell bent on avenging the murder of his wife and child by villian Quentin Turnbull--- played excellently by John Malkovitch (Being John Malkovitch, Ripley's Game) and his crazed, blood thirty, tattooed faced side kick Burke (an actor to look out for, Michael Fassbender, Inglorious Basterds).

Sexpot Megan Fox (Transformers series, Jennifer's Body) is Hex's prostitute love interest who does surprisingly more than just service men. She's quick with a gun and helps Hex out when things get stickier than what he can even handle.

The film takes place during the period of the American Civil War, so there are horses, railroads and lots of open space giving the movie a real Western feel.

The backdrop may sound boring but it somehow works along with the plot and solid cast to make Jonah Hex a cool action (and Western) film.

~Trailer:
http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1810080165/trailer

*Stars:
Josh Brolin, Megan Fox, John Malkovitch, Michael Fassbender

~Director:
Jimmy Hayward

~Music:
Marco Beltrami and Mastodon

~Rating:
PG-13
*But there is enough violence to make it on the verge of R-Restricted

~How Long:
84 mins.

~Opening:
6/18/2010

Kung Fu Kid Wonder

The Verdict:

GO SEE!

REVIEW:

Jaden Smith (Pursuit of Happyness, The Day the Earth Stood Still) is the next big "it" kid. His outstanding performance in The Karate Kid remake (produced by his parents megastar Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith) is the reason.

Smith's charismatic personality shines all the way through in Karate Kid, making the film a delight watching him.

Smith plays 12 year old Dre Parker who stubbornly moves to China with his mother (the sassy Taraji P. Henson, Talk to Me, Baby Boy) due to a job transfer and to start over after the death of her husband. Dre doesn't fit in of course and is pestered and beat up by a group of bullies at school who don't think he belongs there. Dre befriends one friend, a girl, Mei Young, whose friendship and budding romance, infuriates the bullies even more.

Young Smith says he did all of his stunts in the martial arts movie, in which he showcases amazing, mind-blowing kung fu moves.

Martial arts master Jackie Chan (Rush Hour series, The Forbidden Kingdom) stars as Smith's trainer who prepares him for a kung fu tournament where Dre must prove himself to the gang of unrelenting bullies.

Karate Kid has the feel of a family movie but all ages will surely enjoy. It is a feel good, stand up and cheer film. And trust me, you will stand up and cheer for Dre.

Smith has proved himself to be a big star in the making. Karate Kid is only the beginning.

~Trailer:

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1810127520/trailer

*Stars:
Jaden Smith, Jackie Chan, Taraji P. Henson

~Director:
Harald Zwart

~Music:
James Horner

~Rating:
PG

~How Long:
2 hrs. 6 mins.

~Opening:
6/11/2010

Best rock albums of the 2000's

Rock music has, quite frankly, been shit for the entire millenium. I can freely admit that this was the decade when I became old enough that the only music video channel I can bear to watch any more is VH1 Classic. A man can only endure so many 30 Seconds to Mars, Coldplay and Green Day videos before he despairs of life completely. More on this topic later. Don't even get me started on Finnish music either.

It wasn't all bad, though. In the insipid musical darkness of the past ten years there were some bright spots, and even some legitimately good stuff. As my next list of the decade, here are the three best rock albums of the 2000's.

3. Electric Six - Señor Smoke



This Detroit-based band burst onto the Internet scene with "Gay Bar" in 2003. What most people don't know is that the album, Fire, was pretty good in its own right. They followed it up in 2005 with their sophomore effort, Señor Smoke. I recall it got some bad press because there wasn't anything as obviously funny and meme-y as "Gay Bar" on it, but the fact is that it's a great rock album. Sure, there are a couple of sleepy tracks and a pointless Queen cover, but overall it's funny, it rocks, it will surprise you and it will delight you. Sadly, the follow-ups haven't been nearly as good, although they have some brilliant tracks as well. Given how little exposure this got, it's easily the most underrated rock album of the decade.

Check out: Jimmy Carter. A ballad about, well, everything from the title to the Backstreet Boys. You'll have to listen to it. Pure genius.

2. Bruce Springsteen - The Rising



What can I possibly say about this? The Boss is back. A thoroughly solid album that takes you to a lot of places before taking on the big one in the title song. Bruce Springsteen may be the only person who was capable of doing this song, and so he created the definitive musical expression of perhaps the most traumatic event in American history. It's so intense that I still can't listen to "The Rising" without feeling deeply moved. I'm not ashamed to say I cried the first time I heard it. Whatever your feelings on the subject matter, this album is the Boss at his very best, and music just doesn't get much better than that.

Check out: Worlds Apart. Slightly oddball on the album, but an excellent song.

1. The Killers - Sam's Town



At the end of the day, the reason I rank Sam's Town above The Rising is that the Boss is, well, the Boss. A great Bruce Springsteen record isn't exactly unheard of. On the other hand, with the exception of the superb Somebody Told Me, the Killers were forgettable before Sam's Town and have been completely rubbish since. Their "hits" sound like insipid parodies of themselves. It's a terrible shame, because unless you're insane, which I mean in the sense once excellently defined by Jeremy Clarkson as waking up in the morning and thinking that you are an onion, there's no question that they also produced one of the best rock albums of the 2000's. The fact that it was effectively a one-off makes it an exceptional album as well, and in my opinion, this combination makes it the best rock album of the entire decade. Sam's Town is innovative, energetic and very impressive.

Check out: Uncle Jonny. The singles are great in their own right, but this is my favorite song from the album.

Better parenting through lesbianism

Earlier this month, this study came out:

CNN: Kids of lesbians have fewer behavioral problems, study suggests

A nearly 25-year study concluded that children raised in lesbian households were psychologically well-adjusted and had fewer behavioral problems than their peers.

The study, published Monday in the journal Pediatrics, followed 78 lesbian couples who conceived through sperm donations and assessed their children's well-being through a series of questionnaires and interviews.

Funding for the research came from several lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender advocacy groups, such as the Gill Foundation and the Lesbian Health Fund from the Gay Lesbian Medical Association.

Dr. Nanette Gartrell, the author of the study, wrote that the "funding sources played no role in the design or conduct of the study."

"My personal investment is in doing reputable research," said Gartrell. "This is a straightforward statistical analysis. It will stand and it has withstood very rigorous peer review by the people who make the decision whether or not to publish it."

Gay parenting remains a controversial issue, with debates about topics including the children's psychological adjustment, their parents' sexual orientation and adoption restrictions.

Hilariously, the conservatives are trying to discredit the study because of the funding it received from advocacy groups. While it's possible that Christian conservatives genuinely don't understand that a real scientific study can be peer-reviewed and controlled for bias, the allegations become totally ridiculous when one remembers that these same people have no problem touting the "results" of conservative think-tank papers as facts.

But anyway, lesbians make better parents than straight couples. Just thought I'd put that out there.