BURN THOSE CALENDARS BABY

TOP 10 MOVIES OF 2008

1) The Dark Knight - An obvious choice but with good reason - 96/100

2) The Fall - A beautiful, nearly perfect independent film that nobody saw - 92/100

3) Pineapple Express - A surprisingly heartwarming comedy with non-stop laughs - 88/100

4) Iron Man - Perhaps unfairly eclipsed by Batman.  Both cerebral and action packed - 88/100

5) Wall-E - One of Pixar's best.  These robots have more humanity in them than most actors - 88/100

6) City of Ember - Poorly advertised, but an extremely accomplished adaptation - 85/100

7) Australia - A little too long, but a scorching epic from an amazing director - 83/100

8) Baby Mama - For some reason, I loved this movie - 80/100

9) Forgetting Sarah Marshall - Yep, another comedy, we had some great ones in '08 - 80/100

10) Bolt - Disney is back!  Bolt holds his own against even his Pixar cousins - 80/100

THE 5 WORST MOVIES OF 2008

Jumper - Come on!  Who keeps giving Anakin acting gigs? - 20/100

Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D - Three dimensions of terrible - 18/100

Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Cardboard, that's all I have to say about this film - 15/100

Twilight - The book was bad, the film was worse, and the fangirls keep drooling for more - 30/100

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor - This one should have stayed in the tomb - 15/100

TOP 5 ALBUMS OF 2008

1) Pretty. Odd. (Panic At The Disco) - Haters be silenced, Panic is here to stay.  I'm not the only one who thinks this, read the reviews people - 95/100

2) Day & Age (The Killers) - Although not quite what it should have been, The Killers prove once again how catchy their songs can be - 90/100

3) Razia's Shadow (Forgive Durden) - This epic musical comes from out of nowhere to be the surprise entry on my playlist - 82/100

4) Folie a Duex (Fall Out Boy) - Although Pete Wentz continues to make my list of most irritating people of they year, the skill of this record cannot be denied - 80/100

5) One of the Boys (Katy Perry) - Miss Perry is no one hit wonder.  This album is sugar coated hit after sugar coated hit - 80/100

BEST SONGS OF 2008

1) Human - The Killers

2) Nine In The Afternoon - Panic At The Disco

3) I Can't Stay - The Killers

4) What A Catch, Donnie - Fall Out Boy

5) The Exit - Forgive Durden

6) Love Lockdown - Kanye West

7) If You Can Afford Me - Katy Perry

8) Spiralling - Keane

9) Paper Planes - MIA

10) No Vacancy - Breathe Carolina

WORST SONGS OF 2008

I'm Yours - Jason Mraz

Right Now (Na Na Na) - Akon

Bleeding Love - Leona Lewis

Love In This Club - Usher

Shake It - Metro Station

Bye bye 08

BraXteN

WATCHMEN UPDATE

So earlier today when I posted my thoughts on the Warner, Fox death match over Watchmen, I took a more calm and collected approach.  Unfortunately, today brought more bad news from the front lines.  Ladies and gentlemen, time to panic.  Fox went on the record this morning to say that they actually intend to fight for a push back on the release date.  Is this just a dirty ploy to pressure WB into a sloppy negotiation, or have Fox executives actually lost their marbles?  Interestingly enough, Warner seems to have no intention of backing down.  For the first time since the whole fiasco began, I am actually beginning to worry as to weather or not we will be getting to see Watchmen on its intended release date.  My hopes are that these threats are just nasty business weapons, but whatever the two production giants have in mind, a big can of worms just clunked open.  Stay tuned for updates.

Keeping the faith

BraXteN

WHO WATCHES THE WATCHMEN?

...Well maybe nobody.  It isn't likely that the upcoming Watchmen film, an adaptation of the acclaimed graphic novel by Alan Moore, will be shelved forever, but its future is quite uncertain.  Fox studios, notorious for a recent slew of severely bad films, has just won its slimy lawsuit against Warner Brothers (the studio originally distributing the picture).  Fox claimed that they still had ownership over the rights to a Watchmen adaptation (even after a failed attempt at one themselves.)  Through some extremely unfortunate miscommunications, Warner Brothers never completely gained the rights, and judge Gary Allen has ruled that Fox has won the film's distribution.  Although complete details are still scarce, it looks like the long running legal battle of almost a year has finally ended.

So what does this mean for our dark, brooding bunch of costumed heroes?  Well nothing as drastic as most fanboys are dreading.  Although the dastardly Fox Studios will now control some sort of distribution, that doesn't mean they will have any sort of creative control over the finished reel.  More likely, Warner Brothers will end up paying through the nose to keep complete ownership of the picture, and Fox will be making a bunch of money for doing nothing.  We will probably also be seeing Fox's outdated "Twentieth Century" logo on the finished product.  Although I have absolutely no respect left for Fox, the outcome will be no skin off my teeth.  Warner will do whatever it takes to keep the release on schedule, and Fox will probably never even enter the cutting room floor.  I will be watching the Watchmen on March 6th, and you should be too.  Oh, and don't worry, Fox will get what's coming to them, it's karma (AKA a bunch of terrible movies that don't make jack squat in theaters).

Don't go changin'

BraXteN

A SNEAK ATTACK IN THE NIGHT

So I am in about the fourth month of periodically working on my first attempt at a full length novel tentatively titled Camisado.  I won't divulge any plot points or anything like that, but I will say that I am almost ready to actually start writing.  I originally hoped to just bust out a story from mind to fingers to computer, but after a few weeks of delete button mashing, I realized the need for a more in depth planning process.  So now that I feel pretty confident in my character development, shock and awe, and all around literary oomph, I can finally begin to see the fruits of my labor.  Stay tuned for actual updates on the writing process.

Later

BraXteN

MOVIE REVIEW #1: "THE SPIRIT"

For my first online movie review, I have chosen a new release that isn't very cut and dry in terms of how "good" it is.  Where the film succeeds is where it also fails.  Director Frank Miller (Sin City) relies almost too heavily on his trademark pulp imagery and stark visuals.  While The Spirt is one of the better looking holiday releases, it fails to grip even its intended audience of comic lovers and noir fanatics.  While the actors do their best to translate each character from comic panel to screen, the laughable dialogue quickly takes the film from campy to absurd.  The one exception may be the usually predictable Samuel L. Jackson, who seems to be genuinely enjoying himself as the demented Octopus.  The nature of Jackson's character allows him to use the ridiculous script as a catalyst for many surprisingly funny moments.  This may be one of Jackson's best roles to date.

 

So is The Spirit worth the price of admission?  Well, it depends on who you are.  If you are able to keep your tongue nestled comfortably in your cheek for the duration of a 103 minute running time then yes.  If you are looking for a cerebral super hero/ action flick in the realm of Iron Man and The Dark Knight, then a thousand times no.  As first and foremost a comic writer himself, newbie director Frank Miller makes the mistake of attempting to re-imagine Will Eisner's Spirit in full Sin City garb.  Although a slick piece of cinematography, The Spirit doesn't really know what kind of movie it wants to be, and ends up becoming a beautiful, pulpy mess.  I liked it, I didn't love it.  However, if you are just a casual movie goer, stay home and let this spirit float away to DVD.

54/100

THE SPIRIT: Starring Gabriel Macht, Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson - Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of stylized violence and action, some sexual content and brief nudity. - Running Time: 103 minutes - December 25th, 2008 - Lionsgate

CHRISTMAS PAST

And so another Christmas comes and goes, how was yours?  Mine was pretty great!  I got everything I wanted and more, plus I was fortunate enough to just hang and relax with my fam.  The only draw back to my yuletide festivities, my Facebook account got hacked.  Yep, some jerk had the nerve to hack into my account on Christmas day, simply to advertise some weird photo website.  I don't necessarily feel violated in any way, it was just a pain to inform my friends of the imposter.  Well no harm done, just be thankful your life isn't so meaningless that you have to geek your way into someone else's business.  Until next year Santa.

To all a good night

BraXteN

CHRISTMAS MUSIC FOR THOSE WHO HATE CHRISTMAS MUSIC

I hate Christmas music.  Maybe it is the total overload of holiday cheer on the airwaves this time of year, but I just can't stand the constant reminder of the impending 25th. (about a half hour away now) There are really only a few xmas songs, but they are repeated over and over with various artists taking a crack at holiday jams, beating dead horses with oversized candy canes.  So for those of you like me (with maybe just a little Scrooge in your veins) here are three ORIGINAL Christmas songs by one of my favorite bands The Killers...

1.  A Great Big Sled

2.  Don't Shoot Me Santa

3.  Joseph, Better You Than Me

Enjoy my little elves, MERRY CHRISTMAS

BraXteN

WELCOME TO THE BLOG

It seems like everyone and their dog has a blog these days, so as an aspiring writer, I thought I'd spill some of my brain fluids on the web.  So ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Slick, Chrome, Americana: a place where I can parade the illusion that what I have to say actually matters.

BraXteN