The Tick is back. Spoon!

Fans of The Tick fondly remember the animated series from the mid-90’s, and now a live-action version is among the Amazon pilots being considered for production.

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Peter Serafinowicz stars as the titular Tick – nigh invulnerable and immensely strong, but delusionally idealistic and dumb as a post. Serafinowicz does an amazing job of capturing the spirit of the Tick and bringing him to life. The Tick’s mannerisms, speech patterns, and near-manic demeanor will be immediately recognizable to fans of the animated series. There was another attempt at a live-action Tick in 2001 with Patrick Warburton which lasted only 1 season. While a very funny guy, Warburton portrayed a much more low-key, almost sedated, Tick. Opinions vary among Tick fans, but for me, his portrayal just never quite worked. Serafinowicz, on the other hand, hit it out of the park. Every moment he was on screen was pure delight. Continue reading →

The Lobster – A Deceptively Understated Mind Screw

The basic premise of The Lobster is laid out clearly in the first few minutes. In a surreal, Kafkaesque dystopian future, David (Colin Farrell) finds himself alone after his wife leaves him for another man. He is taken to The Hotel, where he has 45 days to find a new romantic partner. If he fails, he will be literally transformed into an animal, the titular lobster being his choice.

This premise might conjure up images of a cheesy 70s science fiction setting, but instead, the world is quite quaint and ordinary, with no evidence whatsoever of technology advanced enough to perform flawless human to animal transformations. The perfectly innocuous Hotel, combined with the flat, deadpan delivery of most of the characters, creates an atmosphere of bizarre creepiness, which only grows as the movie progresses. Continue reading →

Hardcore Henry, a 90 Minute Let’s Play Video

To be fair, the trailer makes no pretense that the movie is anything more than watching someone else play a first-person shooter for an hour and a half. That’s the gimmick. Still, I went in hoping that there was more to it than just that one gimmick. Sadly, there wasn’t. After a title sequence consisting of brutal violence in extreme close-up, the movie opens much like a standard shooter would. The titular character wakes up, is given a briefing, and has various body parts activated.

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Courtesy of STX Entertainment

From there, it’s an almost relentless assault of nonstop action, most of it graphic and fairly ridiculous, much like the video game genre it mimics. Unfortunately, the story is almost nonexistent. In fact, most actual first-person shooters have more story to them than this movie. Video games at least attempt to give you some reason to care about the character you’re controlling and the mission that needs to be accomplished. This movie not only fails to do both, it barely even tries. Continue reading →

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – How do you screw up a Batman/Superman movie?

Spoilers aplenty. You have been warned.

From the title and the trailers, you would think this movie would be about Batman fighting Superman, with Wonder Woman showing up and some sort of tie-in to the upcoming Justice League movie happening at some point. What it’s actually about is two oafish morons alternating between petulance and naval gazing while Lex Luthor gambols about like a deranged elf and implements increasingly implausible plans. Continue reading →

The Grumpy Old Guys on Gaming talk about Ender’s Game, Weng Weng, and Marvel movies

In this week’s random episode of Grumpy Old Guys on Gaming, the Grumpy Old Guys offer pointed commentary about Ender’s Game, and contrast the book with the movie. They also discuss Filipino midget action movie star Weng Weng, touch on Danny Trejo, and talk about a wide range of Marvel movies, including various Captain America and Iron man films.

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