Jason Rico, Film Editor

I edited my first film tonight. OK, so maybe the term "film" is used loosely. It's only 45 seconds long, and it's by no means a masterpiece, but it still counts. Right?

Movie Review: Iron Man 2

Last night, to celebrate my birthday, some friends and I went to watch Iron Man 2 at the IMAX Theater.

Now, without trying to give away any spoilers, I loved it. Overall, the first movie is better, but this is a solid sequel. With comic book movies, sequels should be made to build on the mythologies and expand the universe, and this movie definitely did that well. The introductions of Black Widow and War Machine were well-written and organic. Sometimes, when new characters are introduced, they can feel forced; almost like filmmakers felt they needed to introduce more characters just to keep the story going. Not the case with IM2.

As far as the story itself goes, there were a lot of cheesy, unbelievable moments - even for a superhero film. I'm wont go into details, but there were at least 3 moments where I thought to myself, "Really?!" That aside, the story was solid and the acting fantastic. I really did buy into the characters and felt the actors were those characters.

All in all, the film is great and a worthy sequel. I can't wait to see what comes next, both in future sequels and other Marvel Universe films (Thor, Captain America: First Avenger, and The Avengers). Speaking of which, make sure you stick around after the credits; especially if you're a fellow fanboy.

Let's Make a Movie!

Looks like I'm going to end up making a short film in my 3D Camera Techniques that will be submitted to the Sacramento Film Festival. My program's academic director came into class today and talked to us for a bit about the class's new objective of creating a short film that incorporates live-action footage with 3D animation/camera work.

The aim is create something that's about a minute long, which isn't a long time at all, but if we make it short and sweet, it'll make a bigger impact than something longer and boring. I'm excited about this. This will be my program's first attempt at making something truly "professional" beyond just another school assignment.

The class has ten students and instead of all working on one film, we decided to break into two groups, and I'm excited about my group's idea. Unfortunately, we have a group member that I REALLY wish we didn't have, but him aside, I think I have a solid group. Hopefully that'll translate into a solid short film, as all of us are animators, not filmmakers.

You're the Best Around!

Play close attention to the background music at approximately 2:20.

I Am the Greatest Lover in All the World!

For the next 24 hours, this man is my idol:


OK, so he's not really a man, but he's still my idol. Tomorrow, I have to perform a monologue for my Theater midterm; mine being from the play, Don Juan. Don Juan, for those who are not familiar with the character, is a womanizer whom believes himself to be the greatest lover in all the world. In deciding how to perform my monologue, I decided to base my performance on Puss In Boots, from Shrek 2. Puss In Boots has that perfect blend of theatrics, arrogance, honor, and humor.

So, tomorrow, I will be Don Juan, by way of Puss In Boots. Prepare to be amazed.

Spider-Man Film Reboot?

Whenever I want the latest scoop on upcoming superhero/comic book-based films, the first place I go to is SuperHeroHype.com. However, for every big scoop that gets my inner fanboy excited, there is always another that just leaves me in anger and/or disappointment. Here is a segment of one such story:


Peter Parker is going back to high school when the next Spider-Man hits theaters in the summer of 2012.

Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios announced today they are moving forward with a film based on a script by James Vanderbilt that focuses on a teenager grappling with both contemporary human problems and amazing super-human crises.

The new chapter in the "Spider-Man" franchise produced by Columbia, Marvel Studios and Avi Arad and Laura Ziskin, will have a new cast and filmmaking team. Spider-Man 4 was to have been released in 2011, but had not yet gone into production.

..........

Why?!

I'm all for rebooting a series for a new generation, or even rebooting a series if the first attempt was a failure, but the first Spider-Man film was great and came out only eight years ago! The second film was just as good, if not better; the third, while not as good as the previous two, wasn't bad enough to disregard the first two and warrant an entire reboot. Superhero/comic book stories are episodic by nature, so fans expect to see future storylines. Because of that, each storyline is its own reboot of sorts. New writers bring in new villains, new characters and new problems to make it their own, yet still continue the series. There is no reason film series can not do the same thing.

I am not a huge fan of Spider-Man, but I liked what has been done with him in the film series, and I know I'm not the only one that wants to see it continued. If the studio wants to "fix" it, then get a solid script, solid villains and solid actors, don't just hit the redo button. That seems like a cop out to me.

Best. Day. Ever.

There are moments in life that, for whatever reason, people will remember for the rest of their lives. Whether it be for the emotions attached or the memories - good or bad, these moments will forever stand out. Tonight was one of those moments. Tonight topped off an already amazing day, which has led me to the conclusion that today was the best day ever.

Today's awesomeness started in the early hours of the morning with sex. Now, I'm not usually one to be so blunt, and I'm definitely not one to kiss and tell, but we're all adults here and this is an important component to today's events. I was pulling an all-nighter, trying to finish a project for finals, when I had a lady friend visit me to get our freak on. (Before you ask, the identity of this lady friend shall forever remain a mystery.) Sex is always a good thing, no matter the time of day, but when you start off a day with sex, I feel that's a good indicator of the type of day to come.

The next stop on today's tour of awesomeness was at school, during my first final, when I turned in the project I had stayed up all night finishing. All my hard work had paid off because my project was met with high praise by both my fellow students and the instructor. Normally, this sort of event wouldn't be enough to warrant a mention, but I feel it added to today's awesomeness, thus making it another important component to today.

At the end of class, when the dread of our next final approached, a classmate made an off-hand remark that we should go watch the new movie Avatar instead of taking what was to definitely be a tough, grueling final. The whole class played along and agreed, knowing it would never happen. However, to everyone's surprise, the instructor told the class to hang on for a few minutes while he went and check something, only to return with permission slips to go watch Avatar! Now, I don't know about you, but I've never before had the teacher himself blow off a final in favor of watching a movie, but I suppose there is a first time for everything. Instead of taking our last final of the quarter, my class watched the 2:55 PM showing of Avatar, which I have to say is a simply gorgeous film. This is really where I starting thinking that today was a great day.

Of course, once the movie was over and all my classmates and I stood around discussing the glory of the movie, the realization set in that the quarter was over and winter break was now upon us. This is always a good thing in my book, and another important component of today's awesomeness.

From here, we go on to the final and greatest moment of the day. The moment in life that I will always remember. My best friend sent me a text saying that we would be going out tonight to a night club with a bunch of friends. OK, cool. He then sent me a text saying he had invited two of our friends, a pair of beautiful sisters, to come along. Oh, sweet. I had absolutely no objections to them joining us and was looking forward to a fun night with lots of friends. As my friend and I were on our way to pick up the two lovely ladies, he mentioned that it would in fact just be the four of us. The other people he had invited were either busy or unable to make it. Instead of being a large group event, this was to be a more intimate night out with two beautiful girls.

We knocked on their door which opened to reveal two of the hottest girls I have ever seen. Before I continue, I really need to apologize for using such crude language of "hot", but if you had seen them, you'd say the same thing. These girls looked amazingly sexy. Both had on black miniskirt dresses and heels that said they meant business. I immediately felt underdressed. After the shock wore off, it sunk in that we were headed to a night club with two sexy ladies at our sides. Tonight was definitely going to be fun. The whole night, all eyes were on our "dates", which of course meant all eyes were on us, as the men capable of capture such fine prey. We danced the entire night, and let me tell you, these girls can move. I haven't danced like that in a long time.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and so did the night. We drove the girls back to their place, where we all talked and watched YouTube videos for a bit, and then bid our lovely ladies a good night. And as my buddy and I drove home, we had the biggest grins on our faces; proof of tonight's events.

So, as I'm typing this at 3:52 AM, all I can say is today was the best day ever. Sex, hard work acknowledged, ditching a tough final to go watch Avatar, the end of the quarter, and then topping it off with a night with two lovely ladies.... Yeah, I'd say December 18, 2009 is a day to remember.

Russell

Good afternoon. My name is Russell and I am a wilderness explorer in tribe 54, sweat lodge 12. Are you in need of any assistance today, sir?

Batman Vanishing

Here's a little something to tie you all over until the next Batman film.

Movie Review: Paranormal Activity

Let me start with a little story...

My first knowledge of the film known as Paranormal Activity came a few weeks ago when a classmate of mine mentioned that he wanted to see it and how it was supposed to be the scariest movie ever. Seeing as I had never before heard of it, I immediately looked it up online to see what all the fuss was about. I saw the trailer and my first reaction was.... non-existent. The trailer itself showed more of the audiences watching the film than the film itself. Granted, the audience members looked terrified, but that said nothing of the film itself. However, word of this film was everywhere and everywhere I looked were people saying it was scary. Very scary.

Before I continue, let me admit - I don't like scary movies. For the most part, the movies themselves do not scare me; my imagination does. I go into the theatre freaked out about what MIGHT happen, but usually don't get too scared by what actually happens. Still, I try to avoid them at all costs. I'm a wimp that way.

So, when a friend of mine texted me asking if I wanted to go see it with a group of friends, my initial reaction was no way. However, a certain someone was going to be there, and as every guy knows, you do what you gotta do.



And now, for the actual REVIEW...

Paranormal Activity is a film that is very successful in what it was trying to do. Made on a budget of about $15,000, this film is such a well-made accomplishment. The entire premise is that this footage is real and later discovered, something that supported by every scene in the film. On that aspect, I commend the director on not ruining the illusion. The actors do a great job playing their parts. They're not going to win any Oscars any time soon, but as an average, college age couple, they're believable.

However, as a film being hailed as "one of scariest of all time", I feel it was a bit of a let down. And that says something coming from someone who typically tries to avoid horror movies. I went in expecting to be freaked out of my mind, but I wasn't. I left not terrified, nor expecting any nightmares. Trying to figure out why, I've come up with 2 reasons:

#1: The characters, particularly Micah, the lead male in the film, makes ridiculous decision after ridiculous decision. That's something of a standard in any horror film, but for a film that's supposedly real, I found it hard to believe anybody would make some of the decisions they made. That kept taking some of the credibility out of the film, and had me saying, "Really?!" throughout.

#2: The film features a psychic as a supporting character who says he cannot help and instead passes along the number of a demonologist to the couple. Unfortunately, the demonologist cannot be reached, leaving the couple to their own devices. Rubbish! Even if that particular one couldn't be reached, I know for a fact that they could've found another one. If a demonologist isn't going to play a role in the film, why introduce the concept? I kept waiting for one to make a some sort of difference, good or bad.

Complaints aside, I really did enjoy this movie. Like I said, it was very well-made and goes to show that you don't need millions in special effects to make a movie. You just need a solid story and a little creativity. Is it the scariest movie of all-time? Eh, depends on how easily you scare.

Movie Review: Watchmen

I just got home about 20 minutes ago from the theatre, and I have to say, this film was amazing. I really enjoyed it. I believe it was an amazingly faithful adaption of the graphic novel. For those whom have read the comic, you will recognize perfectly recreated panels from the comic. You won't just see an adaption, you'll see the graphic novel played out before your eyes. This was definitely a film made for the fans. Because of that, non-fans will probably feel it is too much. I went with a group of friends, and all of them said it was too long. No surprise there; I was the only one there who had actually read the comic. Length was not an issue with me. Snyder's attempt to bring as much of the comic to life is remarkable, but in doing so he failed to do what most adaptions do - cut down to only the core story. Don't get me wrong, there were definitely things that were omitted and/or changed, and I'm not one of those supernerds that gets in a rage over them. In fact, often times I agree with them, but this film seemed to have no logic to the cuts/changes. Some things that I thought need not be changed were, while there were aspects left in the film, which while amazing, could have been omitted to cut the film down to a length which would please fans and non-fans alike. Aside from the complaints about the length, my fellow moviegoers all agreed that the visuals were breathtaking, the characters were well-developed, and I completely agree. On top of that, it had an awesome soundtrack. You'll know what I'm talking about when you see it. This truly was a great film. Then again, what do I know? I'm just some comic book nerd.

Agree? Disagree? Let me know what you thought.

Watchmen

I finally gave in and decided to create my own blog since all the "cool" kids seem to have one. Since I am new to this, it'll probably be pretty random at first and posts will be few and far between, but I'll eventually get the hang of it and create more consistent & coherent posts. So, without further ado, here I go...

I cannot begin to describe to you all how excited I am about this movie. As a HUGE comic book fan, the graphic novel is practically the Holy Bible of graphic novels. At first, I have to admit, I was a bit hesitant about seeing it made into a movie, but after seeing previews, trailers, interviews, etc., I am very optimistic Zack Snyder will do it justice. Will it be anywhere near as great as the novel? Of course not. There's no way. I have yet to see any movie that is equal to its source material. Anyway, I'll be going to see it later tonight, so I'll be sure to post a review. For those of you who haven't read the graphic novel, I definitely encourage you to check it out. It really is a such a great work of literature, regardless of genre.


Well, that does it for now. Thanks for checking out my new blog. I'll do my best to update it often with all sorts of random goodies - movies, videos, music, art, comic books, fashion, shows, etc. Make sure you come back.