Saturday, December 27, 2008

The Spirit

Frank Miller makes his solo directorial debut with this pulp comic classic from legendary comic artist and creator Will Eisner. It is campy as hell and the visual style is traditional Miller artwork splashed on the screen. The Spirit was before my time when it comes to comics but the film was ok for me but not great. The ladies, Jamie King, Eva Mendes, Paz Vega, Sarah Paulson and Scarlett Johansson, were delicious and beautiful as hoped for even if the movie was PG-13. Save your time and cash and see this during a matinee.

Click here to check out the official website.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Power Girl Tribute from the Net


For those of you in the dark about Power Girl, let me give you a brief introduction via the available images from the Net. Click here to see more images of Power Girl.

Wonder Woman DVD

Wonder Woman is finally making it to the screen...the small screen that is. It is about time that the women of the DC and Marvel Universes are getting to share some of the lime-light. Now if we can only get a live action Power Girl film and a shot at that wonderful cleavage!

Fan-Made Thundercats Trailer

I just found this on one of the many items I get in my Google reader. As fan trailers go, this one is great and cheesy in the right way. Check it out. If you are a fan of the Thundercats, you will absolutely love this!

Click here to check out the fan-made trailer.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Legally Blonde The Musical @ The Kennedy Center Opera House

My friend, Svetlana, missed out on seeing Twelfth Night last week so I brought her along to The Kennedy to see this show. The musical does change a few points from the movie but it still works and the music is light, fun and just naughty enough for some good laughs. Becky Gulsvig is a great Elle but the Greek course/sorority sisters add most of the fun when on the stage. The dogs are great additions to the live performance and get the crowd really jazzed up when running across the stage. Makes you wonder how many stand-ins they had for them?

Click here to check out the official website.

Friday, December 12, 2008

The Day The Earth Stood Still

A sci-fi classic came back to the screen today and got the Hollywood make over with bigger effects, full color and maybe some bigger star names for the current times.  The great thing is the story has not changed and is still true to the original in tone and message but just updated enough to reflect current times..  Keanu's stoic by default acting works here and Jennifer Connely always seems to be crying in her films any more.  The robot is much cooler now and is very imposing in IMAX. End of the world pics deserve the IMAX treatment and you should check it out in this format if you can.

Clich here to check out the official website.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Twelfth Night @ Harman Center for the Arts

Outside of heading to the theater in the cold, pouring rain and having my date for the show not be able to make it due to a late running project, this was still a good evening out. Samantha Soule was great as Viola/Cesario in this Shakespeare comedy. She was joined on stage by company regulars Christopher Innovar, last seen on the big screen as the angry driver that gets the Adam Sandler beat down in You Don't Mess with the Zohan, and Veanne Cox, who I just realized was the frumpy attorney in Erin Brockovich. The stage design was interesting and it kept getting more cluttered with rose petals as the play progressed. I wonder if they got that from American Beauty?

Click here to check out the official website.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Wicked @ The Gershwin Theatre

While in New York today on PTO and work, I made time to check out this musical in the pouring rain. It was awesome and the production was magical as the story it told. Marcie Dood and Alli Mauzey tore up the stage as Elphaba and Glinda, the Wicked and Good witches respectively. The story makes me want to read the original story by Gregory Maguire and causes me to regret telling my friend Nicole I read it when I never did. I have downloaded it and the two follow up novels to my Kindle and look forward to revisting the magical land of Oz as I listen to the soundtrack I picked on my way out of the theater.

Click here to check out the official website.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Punisher: War Zone

Marvel finally did it and released their first truly R-rated movie that delivers the violence and carnage the fan favorite comic has been delivering every month at your local comic book shop since his introduction in the Spider-Man title. The movie channels a bit of Sam Raimi's Darkman and Ray Stevenson's Punisher works for me - especially with the minimal dialogue. Where as Thomas Jane's Punisher and Dolph Lundgren's Punisher where good films too, they did not delivery on the violence. Dominic West and Doug Hutchinson are fun villians and straddle the line between crazy and campy with gusto. Check out this film and you will not be disappointed.

Click here to check out the official website.

Friday, November 28, 2008

Transporter 3

Jason Statham is back a third time in his signature role as Frank Martin with a new package to deliver. This time out the package is newcomer Natalya Rudakova who is cute despite the freckles and poor acting. Definately the weakest story in the franchaise with the shortest running time which is a good thing. I still enjoyed the film because Statham kicks ass and the car stunts are still over-the-top and cool. Why else would you go see this film?

Click here to check out the official website.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Twilight


I knew nothing about this film until I hit the San Diego Comicon this past summer and the place was a buzz by the appearance of Stephanie Meyer, the supposed next J.K. Rowling, and her upcoming film adaptation of her teenage vampire novel by the same name. Being a huge Potter fan, I immediately downloaded the books to my Amazon Kindle to see what the deal was and was treated to the most bloodless vampire story I had ever read. The film lives up to this benchmark but does it in a much more efficient manner and makes the story better but cutting out the internal monologues. I liked the movie better than the book obviously but being a glutton for punishment I read the next thre novels to see what would happen. The story does get better in the following novels and brings in the "wolves" as alluded to in the first book and Bella does become an even better femme fatale.

Click here to check out the official website.

Zack and Miri Make a Porno

Kevin Smith is back on the big screen and without Jay and Silent Bob. Elizabeth Banks and Seth Rogan, who where last together in The 40 Year Old Virgin, are Zack and Miri who decide to make a porno to pay their past-due bills after enduring their 10 year high school reunion. The cast also includes Traci Lords and Katie Morgan to bring real porno credit to the film and gives us the best acting from Traci Lords since Blade. Jason Mewes and Jeff Anderson round out the cast of regulars and get their signature Smith moments that will be the talk of the water cooler. Jeff's "frosting" scene is still cracking me up - Katie Morgan is constipated no more!

Click here to check out the official website.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa

The animals are back in this sequel to the 2005 hit, Madagascar. This time out the crew are trying to get back to home to New York but end up crash landing in Africa. They have made it back to their true home where Alex must prove himself to his father, Marty finds out he is not as unique as he had hoped, and Gloria is looking for love and finds it with Melman? The film is a great follow up to the first and the penguins are still the best part. So when are we going to get a feature length film with just the penguins which they deserve?

Click here to check out the official website.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Quantum of Solace

Daniel Craig is back as Bond in this direct follow up to the film, Casino Royale. Although one of the shortest Bond films to date it is still jam packed with the non-stop, physical action sequences that made previous film a wake up call for the franchise. Olga Kurylenko and Gemma Arterton provide the beauty while Judi Dench is back as the ball crushing, no nonsense M we have come to love. The plot still maintains credibility with out getting lost in the unbelievable with realistic villians on a grand scale. The only thing I still miss from the new generation of Bond is Q - I wish there was some way they could bring that part of Bond back.

Click here to check out the official website.

Friday, October 31, 2008

The Midnight Meat Train

After a generally crappy day at work on my favorite holiday of the year, I got home and checked my email to find that the movie I have been waiting to see since the 2007 San Diego Comicon was playing for free on FEARnet.com. This film is based on a short story from Clive Barker's first anthology, The Books of Blood, which also includes my other favorite short story that I would love to see as a movie, In The Hills, The Cities. The movie is pretty much dead-on with the original story with just the addition of a love interest and the main character is now a photographer. The movie lives up to its name and does delivery the bloody, meaty goods with Bradley Cooper, from such films as Wedding Crashers and Wet Hot American Summer, taking the lead without crumbling under the imposing performance of genre favorite Vinnie Jones as the serial butcher. Clive Barker fans rejoice and let's hope the next Blood movie adaptations are just as good.

Click here to check out the official website.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Body of Lies

Ridley Scott is back on the screen with his latest thriller starring Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio. I really enjoyed this movie and its revelation of the vast differences between American and Arab espionage techniques. Russell Crowe is always good but I was finally taken in by a performance delivered by DiCaprio. This was the first movie where I could actually see the boy...err man now...really act and delivery an outstanding performance. Great director, great cast, great plot - go see it already.

Click here to check out the official website.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Saw V

I saw this film after re-watching the previous four films as part of Sawfest at my local AMC theater - Saw III is still my favorite one. I'm not sure if it was the previous eight hours of blood and violence that desensitized me or the change in director for this current installment but I was not overly impressed with the latest effort. The story did not seem as tight and well constructed as in previous films. Also, the actors did not seem to be delivering the "oh shit how did I get here" performances I had enjoyed in the previous four films. Regardless, I love Jigsaw and the Saw premise and cannot wait to see how he is still around in Saw VI which was filmed at the same time as V.

Click here to check out the official movie.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

The Shadow of the Glen & The Playboy of the Western World @ Kennedy Center's Terrace Theater

The DRUID theater company has made it to the Kennedy Center to put on two of John Millington Synge's best know plays. The Shadow was a one act play dealing with an Irish wake where the husband is playing dead to test his wife's fidelity. The Playboy is a full three act play about a man who has supposedly killed his father and becomes the local town hero. Both plays are down-right hilarious and easy to follow despite the Irish slang used. Definately worth checking out while it is still in town.

Click here to check out the official website.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Max Payne

Mark Wahlberg stars in this latest video game turned big screen flick that falls flat on its face. Even with the sexy Olga Kurylenko from last year's Hitman can not save this mish mash of a film. If you are going to have CGI snow falling through 90% of your film at least have the shit fall to the ground and accumulate to make it even slightly believable - snow globes look more real then this film. Also, if your plot deals with the sister of your dead girl and an indestructable madman at least do something with them that adds up to more than 5 minutes of meaningful screen time. Lastly, a film dealing with an obsessive cop seeking revenge and blowing people away to solve her three year old murder deserves more than a PG-13 rating and a movie plot that cannot find a single through-line to get it to just an adequate resolution.

Click here to check out the official website.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Janet Jackson @ Verizon Center

Janet Jackson was able to make her Washington, D.C. performance and the crowd was frenzied. The opening act was a local DJ who was pretty good and got the crowd ready with some great generation jumping songs. The forty five minute wait after the DJ end was a bit ridiculous since the stage was ready and no changes needed to be made as seen from the seats. Either way way, when the show started the crowd was on its feet and treated to a great stage show filled with dancers, bizarre video montages, anime like costumes and fireworks. The highlight for me was the on-stage over-the-top lap dance given by Janet to a lucky man from the audience - it was crazy hot!

Click here to check out the official website.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

Michael Cera and Kat Dennings of Superbad and The House Bunny respectively star as Nick and Nora in this John Huges-esque coming of age film. The director, Peter Sollett, tries hard to pull off the Huges' feel but just misses the mark that made those early 80's films such classics for my generation. He does include the required gay character of teen films these days but transforms it in to the form of a band where Nick is the only straight guy in the group. The film takes place over the course of one night with the hunt for a secret band show, the lost drunk friend who needs to be found, and the jealous return of an ex-girlfriend. So basically your normal teen film that is just average.

Click here to check out the official website.

Quarantine

Jennifer Carpenter returns to the horror film genre in this next installment of the zombie-like film that does not have zombies. Jennifer's break-through performance was as Emily in 1995's sleeper hit The Exorcism of Emily Rose which lead to her current casting as Debra Morgan on the series Dexter. This film continues the en vogue film style of first person video that was made popular by The Blair Witch Project. There are some good fright moments but they don't hold up to the unbelievable responses of the authorities that strains the film's attempts at realism. Lastly, Jennifer's hysterics at the end of the film are a little over the top and a little to late.

Click here to check out the official website.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

The Way of the World @ The Lansburgh

Veanne Cox and Christopher Innvar from last season's The Beaux Stratagem return for this William Congreve masterpiece. The highlight of the show is Nancy Robinette as Lady Wishfort. Nancy's acting is effortless and her comedic timing impeccable. Floyd King as Anthony Witwood continues to amaze me with his prowess to become completely different characters in every production with different mannerisms and quirks included. Definitely get over to the Landsburgh for an evening of stellar performances before this production completes its run.

Click here to check out the official website.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Beverly Hill Chihuahua

I had no desire what-so-ever to see this film based solely on the dreadful trailers with singing and dancing chihuahuas. The trailers made me physically ill. But to appease my best friend's daughter for missing out on going to the Maryland Renaissance Festival, I went along. The movie was not bad and not as horrible as the trailers portrayed with dancing and singing chihuahuas as far as the eye could see. Also, Drew Barrymore did the voice-over for Chloe and Piper Perabo is just so cute - so my afternoon was not so bad.

Click here to check out the official website.

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Eagle Eye

Shia LaBeouf follows up Indian Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull with this popcorn muncher of a thriller. My favorite scenes were with Billy Bob Thorton and Michael Chiklis as Agent Thomas Morgan and Defense Secretary Callister. The movies is action-packed from the start but the premise is just not sustainable if it was suppose to be based in the current events. I have seen my share of all-knowing super-computer movies and they were great - this one is not so good. Save our money and rent it some night when you are bored and nothing else is on the tube.

Click here to check out the official website.

Appaloosa

Ed Harris helped write the screenplay and directs this latest homage to the way things where when men lived and died by the gun in the old West. Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen seem at home in the genre they both love but Jeremy Irons seems wasted as a murderous ranch owner. The pace is slow and the cowboy code of right and wrong is a line that never gets crossed. Unfortunately, if they crossed this line it may have been more of an enjoyable and engaging film. Wait for the edited for TBS or TNT version to hit the small screen - it may actually make for a better film.

Click here to check out the official website.

Friday, October 3, 2008

Broadway: Three Generations @ Kennedy's Eisenhower Theater

The Kennedy Center has finished the renovations of the Eisenhower Theater and it looks glorious. What better way to celebrate the grand re-opening of the theater then staging musical reviews from three great Broadway shows: Girl Crazy, Bye Bye Birdie and Side Show. I was amazed at the number of songs I knew and remembered but never knew what musicals they came from. My favorite musical performance was from Jenn Colella and Lisa Bresica as the conjoined twins Violet and Daisy Hilton. I knew there was a musical based on Tod Browning's cult classic Freaks but never knew the name - what a discovery!

Click here for the official website.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Romeo & Juliet @ Sidney Harman Hall

Shakespeare's most well-known love story opens the 2008 - 2009 season for the Shakespeare Theatre Company. In the finest English old world tradition, this production is all male. The star of the play is James Davis as Juliette who is lovely I dare say, pictured to the right, and imbues Juliette with the energy and mania of a 13 year old girl. I was stunned by this performance and finally saw Juliette as the young girl the text implies instead of a mature teenager that every other performance seems to default to. This is a must see production for all lovers of the Bard!

Click here to check out the official website.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Blanche and Beyond @ Kennedy's Terrace Theater

Richard Thomas stars in this one-man show adapted by Steve Lawson from the personal letters of Tennessee Williams. The letters are between 1945 and 1957 and reveal the playright's sole as he comes to terms with his increasing fame. Thomas channels Williams on stage with his mannerisms, voice inflections and copious consumption of alcohol. A truly engaging performance that was followed up with a Q & A session with Thomas and Lawson on staging the production. A great night at the Theater for one and all.

Click here to check out the official website.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Burn After Reading

Joel and Ethan Cohen follow up their Oscar-winning film, No Country For Old Men, with this spy, comedy, murder farce. Casting regulars Frances McDormand and George Clooney are joined by Brad Pitt, Tilda Swinton and John Malkovich. As critics agree, Brad Pitt is the standout performer with his role as the energetic and dumb sports club trainer who finds John Malkovich's memoirs left in the locker room. With this film you are given the opening sequence and an intro to the characters and then the film's stew just comes to a simmer only like the Cohen brothers can do it. Who though murder could be so funny and ridiculous?

Click here to check out the official website.

Friday, September 5, 2008

Hamlet 2

Steve Coogan, whose last staring vehicle was 2004's Around the World in 80 Days with Jackie Chan, leads the cast in this comedy about a failed actor that is relegated to teaching acting at the local high school. I had high hopes for the comedy based on the trailers and was left wanting when I actually got to the theater on a well deserved break from the Republican National Convention. Outside of brief nudity gags and raunchy humor, there was nothing that made the film engaging. The sexy Jesus bit was funny and the highlight of the film. It is too bad that the video for sexy Jesus was the best the film had to offer.

Click here to check out the official website.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Star Wars is back on the big screen with this CGI animated film. The film is actually the first story arc from the soon to be released Clone Wars series for Cartoon Network. The film was ok but not great. I would have liked a continuation of the fantastic artwork done under Genndy Tartakovsky direction for the Star Wars: Clone Wars shorts that preceded the release of Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith. I plan to watch the series on Cartoon Network and hope that it hooks me more than the movie did.

Click here to check out the official website.

Sunday, August 31, 2008

The House Bunny

Anna Faris is one of my favorite young actresses who previously starred in Scary Movie, 2, 3, 4 , Waiting, Just Friends and May. Outside of just being drop-dead gorgeous, she has great comedy chops and can do serious drama when given a chance. The premise is what happens to a Hefner bunny when other playmates get jealous and conspire against her to remove her from the mansion. She dusts of her bunny tail and goes to the local college to become a house mother to the "ugly" sorority on campus. Of course the girls are really pretty and rule the campus as always in these films - too bad they don't get up to the same shenanigans as in the old T & A classic H.O.T.S.

Click here to check out the official website.

Pineapple Express

Seth Rogan is the new go to comedy actor in Hollywood. His hits so far include Superbad, Knocked Up, and The 40 Year Old Virgin. This time out he brings along James Franco as his permanently stoned drug dealer as he is on the run from crooked cops he saw murder some one. The drug humor is funny and reminiscent of friends from college who could never move on past that phase of life. My friends and I differ on how funny the film actually is with me being on the less funny side of the equation.

Click here to check out the official website.

Death Race

Jason Statham of The Transporter franchise stars in the remake, or better yet re-imagining, of the 1976 Roger Corman cult classic, Death Race 2000. The campy dialogue and low budget effects have been replaced with a better story, great high octane action and CGI-enhanced special effects. Jason Statham movies are a guilty pleasure of mine and this one was all out balls to the wall fun. Great crashes, justified bloody revenge and a big FU to the man! This one is going in my collect ASAP.

Click here to check out the official website.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Tropic Thunder

Tropic Thunder is a great spoof of Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse even if it actually is not. The all-star cast for this comedy includes Ben Stiller, who helped write and directs, Jack Black, and Robert Downey Jr., just off of the hit Iron Man. Downey's role as a white actor who under goes an operation to play a black drill sargent for the film they are making is inspired. But nothing beats the hilarious Tom Cruise in a fat-suit playing the producer Les Grossman - a must see! Also, Jack Black's dialogue during the torture scene and his willingness to do anything for some drugs had me laughing so hard I though I had broken some ribs.

Click here to check out the official website.

Friday, August 8, 2008

I need to pack penicilian!

I was forwarded this lovely video made by the owners of the hotel where I will be staying in Denver for the Democratic National Convention. I hope they cleaned the room after she was done!

Monday, July 28, 2008

Step Brothers

Will Ferrell and John C. Rielly are back on the screen together with this dysfunctional family comedy. I was not a great fan of Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby but did enjoy it more than this film. There are a few funny scenes in the film that mostly center around Richard Jenkins and Mary Steenburgen as the parents at their wits end with their sons who never will grow up. Will Ferrell comedies are either a hit or miss with more hits than misses usually. If you want to see something truly funny and inspired, check out his short The Landlord.

Click here to check out the official website.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

The X-Files: I Want to Believe

Mulder and Scully are back for this new big screen episode of the X-Files. I have to say episode because there was nothing in the film that gave me a sense of seeing something bigger than I would have seen in a regular episode on TV. But since I was at San Diego Comicon, I decided to see it due to all the rabid fans that surrounded me. It was OK and that was it.

Click here to check out the official website.

San Diego Comicon 2008 - Suicide Girls Rave



While at Comicon this year I had the pleasure of meeting a few of the Suicide Girls at their booth ( Chloe and Nixon are the best!). After an unforgettable sales pitch I was hooked and got access to their site for the next year. The girls on-site at Comicon and on the website are gorgeous and just a little dark, very gothic and visually demented - just the way I like them. Turns out they were also hosting a party / rave with Comicon at a local old church that has since be converted for hosting night club parties and receptions. Here are the pics from the event that I took and I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed being there.

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Trailer Park of Terror


I have been a fan of this indy comic since I first found it at San Diego Comicon back in 2006 and learned about a possible film when I returned in 2007. Well its 2008 and the film is here and the creators gave me an advance screening pass to see it tonight with the director and members of the cast. The film was everything my West Virginia hillbilly and horror hound soul could hope for. Nichole Hiltz as Norma was perfect and the white trashiness of the Trailer Park and its inhabitants really brought through the look and feel of the comic book I had come to love. A soon-to-be classic that I have already pre-ordered on Amazon.com.

Click here to check out the official website.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Sex and the City

So I had some time to kill and nothing to do. I liked the series though I never watched it on a regular basis and have never seen all of the episodes. So a big screen movie should have some more skin, right? Why did it have to be Cynthia Nixon? I enjoyed it any way and now I have something to say around the office water cooler if asked if I saw it.

Click here to check out the official website.

Saturday, July 19, 2008

The Dark Knight


Christopher Nolan has delivered the perfect Batman movie along with the perfect Joker. From the first scene of the movie, I never saw Heath Ledger on the screen but beheld a fully realized and terrifying Joker. Even though the campy elements were there they are twisted and downright frightening because you never know what the Joker will do next or how it fits in to his overall plan. Aaron Eckhart as Two-Face is fantastic as well and you feel Harvey Dent's pain as he is transformed in to a monster reflecting his fractured mind. If there is a third movie, I bet even money that it would have to do with Arkham Asylum under the watchful eye of Hugo Strange and his patient, Scarface - gangsters, Batman's secret identity discovered and the nuthouse - AWESOME!

Click here to check out the official website.

Monday, July 14, 2008

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

Joss Whedon could not leave well enough alone and has dipped his hands back in to the musical genre with this creative, low-budget, masterpiece. The three acts star Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion and Felicia Day as Dr Horrible (or Billy), Captain Hammer and Penny in a comic-book style love triangle. The songs are great, the sidekicks (or roommates) are pathetic and the laughs just keep coming. But in classic Whedon story telling, nothing comes without great loss and pain. Be sure to check this out before you will need to pay for it.

Click here to check out the official website.

Friday, July 11, 2008

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Guillermo del Toro and Mike Mignola are back with the next installment in the Hellyboy franchise with Ron Perlman back as the big red ape himself. Hellboy still drinks beer, loves cats and wants to be accepted as a regular guy but now is having relationship issues with his girlfriend Liz Sherman played by Selma Blair. This time out the B.P.R.D. team has a new leader by the name of Johann Krauss, a sealed suit with a fishbowl head filled with smoked voiced by Seth MacFarlane of Family Guy fame. The monsters are more plentiful and the effects are even more amazing and do not detract from the story based on the rise of man and the fall of the fantastical. This film is a must see and another example of why Guillermo is a fan favorite director and the best at what he does.

Click here to check out the official website.

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Hancock

Will Smith is back for his annual big summer flick just in time for Independence Day and the trailers did not deliver the movie I expected to see once in the theater. Most of the comedic moments are in the trailer and I see where critics were put off kilter because the last half of the story did not seen to follow the set up in the first half of the film. That said, I liked the film because it was not what I was expecting. There is big action but it does not seem to over-shadow the developing story between Smith and Theron. I do not think it will be the big hit that the studio wants but it does give Will Smith a big thumbs up from me for doing something very different and off-center.

Click here to check out the official website.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Disney's The Lion King @ The Kennedy Center

This show is amazing! Out of my two years of being a season ticket holder for the theater program at Kennedy, this is hands-down the best performance and production I have seen and I thought nothing would supercede the Royal Shakespeare Company's production from last year. The imagery, dancing, singing, and creative vision just floored me from the opening solo. Everyone must see this show before it leaves if at all possible. The Lion King is not to be missed.

Click here to check out the official website.

Saturday, June 28, 2008

WALL-E

PIXAR seems to be able to do not wrong with the release of their latest film staring a lovable, trash-compacting robot who is left alone to clean up the trash of an abandoned Earth. Outside of being a simple love story, the film really hits a home run by it depiction of how the human race has degenerated in a world where everything is done for them - even walking. As always the computer animation is second-to-none and astonishing. If available to you, definately see this film in a theater with digital projection. Great work PIXAR and keep the stories coming!

Click here to check out the official website.

Friday, June 27, 2008

Wanted

Wanted, the comic mini-series by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones, makes it to the big screen from director Timur Bekmambetov who brought us the Russian action, dark-fantasy film Nochnoy Dozor, or titled Nightwatch for American audiences. I picked up the graphic novel that collected this mini-series to see how the movie would be departing for the original source material. In the comic, the league of assasians was formed by the super-villians to rid the multi-verse of its super-heroes where as in the film they are an ages old guild that commits a single murder to save hundreds more. Either way the movie works well and is a high-octane, R-rated, violent, fun-fest with Angelina Jolie thrown in to sweeten the pot. Leave the kids home and get to your local theater now to check this out.

Click here to check out the official website.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

The Imaginary Invalid @ Landsburgh Theatre

René Auberjonois stars in this play by Molière dealing with a wealthy hypochondriac who tries to marry of his daughter to a doctor so he can have his own personal physician in the family. The play is a wonderful farce with hilarious charcters, great choreography, and engaging performances. It seems The Shakespeare Theatre Company is a wonderful placed to catch up with your favorite character actors from Star Trek Deep Space Nine. So far this season I have seen Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) and now Odo (Rene Auberjonois) and cast photos from previous years include Captiain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) in them. This a great play to close out the 2007-2008 season and I hope you can get out to see it before it is gone.


Click here to check out the official website.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

The Happening

M. Night Shyamalan is back with his latest film starring Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel. I am a fan and love the films The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs and The Village but this one is by far the weakest effort yet. The character development is almost non-existant, the whole disappearing bees thread is brought up and just dropped as quickly, and the environmental revenge theme does not work or pays off. The premise was there but just did not seem to get executed or delivered on. I was much happier watching The Incredible Hulk earlier in the day.

Click here to check out the official website.

The Incredible Hulk

The Hulk is finally back on the big screen and I will say it here first - it is not as good as Iron Man as Marvel Studios would like you to believe but it is fun. The opening scenes take great effort to purge any links to Ang Lee's 2003 Hulk and firmly tie it to The Incredible Hulk television series. The cameos by Stan "the Man" Lee, Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno are great and well done as well as the signature Hulk images from the comics. With the Tony Stark appearance at the end of the film, it is good to see Marvel is using their films to cross promote their properties and set expectations for future releases and an unfolding of a Marvel universe on the bid screen. So is the next film going to be about the Leader starring Tim Blake Nelson?

Click here to check out the official website.

Friday, June 13, 2008

Alicia Keys @ Verizon Center

The Alicia Keys' concert opens with Jordan Sparks from American Idol who performs her two hits, Tatttoo and No Air, to fan delight. After this we get the video wrapper from Ceder The Entertainer as a home town minister which is funny and gets Alicia to the stage is a multi-media showcase. Alicia is fabulous and stunning as always and her performance is enchanting. Her show has a message and reaffirms her avid support for helping others with endorsments for her Keep A Child Alive Virus program. This was a great concert and hopefully you will get to see it when her tour hits your town.

Click here to check out the official website.

Saturday, June 7, 2008

The Strangers

Home invasion fear is back on the big screen with this new release from Rogue Pictures. Scott Speedman and Liv Tyler have returned home after a night out that did not turn out as they expected and is only a foreshadowing of what is to come. This is an ok film but loses it for me when the victims keep returning to the house when they could just easy walk down the street to get out of their situation as the predators are still in the house. This movie is a rental at best and not worth going to the theater to see unless you are a die-hard fan of horror like myself.

Click here to check out the official website.