Georgia Tech is starting again this year and I’ve got a full load of courses. That means no more time for compiling obscure lists or watching entire television series in one sitting and writing reviews on them. I promise to return September 12, 2011. (The week It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia returns and one week before NBC Comedy Thursday) By then, I’ll have a bunch of cool stuff for you guys and maybe then I’ll break that sacred 100 views in one day. I can dream can’t I?
Anyways, keep watching movies/tv. If anything, watch enough for the both of us. I’ll see you guys soon. Bye!
Star power and whoever is in the director’s seat are usually good indication of whether or not a film is going to be good or not. When I first watched this trailer, I saw James Franco, Natalie Portman, and Danny McBride. When I saw the guy who directed Pineapple Express was directing this, I was even more excited. Then Rotten Tomatoes came out with it’s consensus and I was deeply saddened by its poor review. [I only use rottentomatoes to tell me which movies I should spend money at a theater, not to judge whether or not a movie is good or not, see my in-depth analysis of rottentomatoes here] If a movie does poor on rottentomatoes, I’ll usually wait till DVD to watch it. And so that is the story of how I wasted two hours of my life watching this pooty patooty of a movie.
The term for this is “Feel Good”. “Feel Good Movies” are exactly what they sound like. They’re movies that make us “feel good” when we watch them. Movies can serve multiple purposes. They can range from providing adrenaline to comfort. I’ve listed below 5 movies that have provided me comfort. Enjoy.
Pixar is the front runner for promising animated films of this generation. Classic Disney was the front runner for giving us the best animation of the 1900s. It seems Disney and its acquisitions have always given us the most memorable animated movies that we watched when we were children and will recommend our children to watch as we grow older. So finding a great animated feature that doesn’t have the production title Disney, is indeed a rare gem. I tried to find as much range as possible. Please remind me if I missed any. Hit the jump for the list.
Since Disney now owns Marvel, Disney’s D23 Expo has released the first piece of concept art for the upcoming 2012 film. I don’t usually do two posts in a day, as I’d run out of fresh material, but this is just too cool to pass up. Enjoy close ups after the jump.
One of the biggest things I’m upset about is the Emmy snub targeted by Nick Offerman, who plays Leslie Knopes boss, Ron Swanson, on NBC”s Parks and Recreation. One of Parks and Recreation‘s characters that carries more comedic luggage, Offerman’s Ron Swanson is most deserving of recognition besides the already nominated. Aziz Ansari’s Tom Haverford is funny and clever, but Offerman’s perfect timing and dead-pan delivery usually is more satisfying than some of the sometimes-funny squabble Ansari says. So I’ve compiled some awesome things and hilarious moments featuring TV’s best mustached figure in honor of this horrendous crime. Enjoy.
Whoops, I guess I fell a little behind on the banana tree. Please accept this Saturday Banana Tree instead.
The Underworld Series isn’t the biggest nor is it the best franchise out there. The first one was okay. The second one was okay. The third one was pretty bad. So the expectations of this one can’t be too good. But something about the lovable Kate Beckinsale in a spandex leotard just screams ‘Top Banana’ in my head, so here we are. Whether or not this is a smelly byproduct of this generation’s vampire craze, I still find this franchise cool, mindless with the just right dose of macabre fun. So here’s a bunch of links that link to the Underworld universe
I love superhero movies. Everyone loves a great super hero movie. The classic good vs. evil story line that include great fight sequences with inspiring stories about a character rising up against conflict and succeeding. They’re almost inspiring enough to make the regular audience think, ‘I could do that, I could fight evil, and protect the citizens. Why not me?’ Or maybe that’s just me. I’ve always believed being a superhero couldn’t be that hard. Dressing up, having an arch enemy, and overcoming evil. Now I’ve never actually tried to be a superhero[except maybe once when I tried to make my own superhero movie when I was 15, but that’s a story for another time], but Hollywood has a couple of interpretations of what would happen if regular folk tried to become superheroes. Hit the jump for when Hollywood took a crack at when regular people become Super Heroes. Spoilers Beware.
Watching the Oscars this year was an unfortunate waste of time. Everything was predictable, I was not entertained, and the hosts were lame. It’s easy to say that to improve the Oscars you should make it unpredictable, entertaining, and pick fantastic hosts. But it goes deeper than that. And with Rush Hour director Brett Ratner producing it, the Oscars has a chance to be entertaining again. Just remembering how forgettable the last Oscars was, I’ve looked into the past and looked at some o the most entertaining moments at the Oscars [see my video compilation here] and determined how the Oscars can be the best ceremony once again. Hit the jump for the list
Community was snubbed this year at the Emmy’s Nominations. What a sham. Writing, direction, acting, all of these things about NBC’s Community is Emmy worthy, but nothing. Creator Dan Harmon even commented on how he was shafted by the Emmy’s during this year’s San Diego Comic Con. He hinted at some awesome things he had planned for Season 3 and he firmly believes that he’ll get one some day and I completely agree with him. Below, I’ve listed a couple of reasons why Community shines so much. Hit the jump for the break down.
Rotten Tomatoes is a website that compiles the reviews of critics for temporary and historical movies. A simple way of demonstrating whether a movie is good or bad is evident of a movie’s ‘Tomatometer’. On the outside this Tomatometer determines whether a movie is ‘fresh’ or ‘rotten’, and the website’s frequent visitors can use this as a means of creating an opinion of the film without even watching the movie itself. Movies with a 60% and above are considered ‘fresh’ and below 60% are considered ‘rotten’. People sometimes throw this percentage and rating around as if they know how to develop an opinion on a movie. The small misunderstanding in how the percentage works marks an ignorance of how one should review a movie and in this article, I’ll try to defog the misunderstanding so that you can use Rotten Tomatoes in an effective way to help filter what movies you should watch.
There was nothing too big in the news today in terms of the entertainment industry. So I couldn’t come up with a powerful enough top banana or enough links to really support any story. Call it my laziness, but I still compiled a pretty sweet list of other awesome news. Be back next week when I have more stuff to say. Have a nice weekend :).
Ripe Bananas
[Cracked] 6 Famously Terrible Movies That Were Almost Awesome
Captain America: The Last Avenger. This marks the last installment before the full length feature including Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, Hawk Eye, Nick Fury and Black Widow all played by Hollywood’sA-Listers. Whew, that’s a lot of superheroes. Anyways, this feature is the story of Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, whose power is…well, being American. That doesn’t sound too convincing as an entertaining superhero movie. Wait. Maybe this is like one of those superhero movies where it’s more realistic and the hero is believable and Red Skull, the villain, is a menacing grounded mastermind whose ‘Red Skull’ is a metaphor. Oh wait, you’re telling me there are blue lasers, powers of the Gods, and a questionable German Hugo Weaving in a Red Skull…Uhhhh.
The MTV Movie Awards these days are usually full of nominations that are the dreams of tweens and pre-pubescent Justin Biebers. Beside the Twilight nominations and obvious blockbusters, the list of nominations are unprofessional and corny, including best kiss and other tweeny categories. The winners should be ashamed that they have the fan base with the maturity levels of half developed brains. The awards aren’t the reason I watch this disgusting excuse for a ceremony, but rather the programming interests me. Almost yearly, they come up with a movie mash up with a tickling host that is usually pretty funny. I was reminded of this when I compiled the Lord of the Rings Parody videos here. I’ve compiled a list of videos that display some of the more excellent moments in programming.
I am not very familiar with this franchise, nor do I have any loyalty to it. The most I’ve seen of Apes is the Tim Burton film with Marky Mark and I wasn’t too impressed with that. And upon hearing the tongue twister prequel of a title, I wasn’t very interested in this installment either. I was given the opportunity to watch any movie and from good word of mouth I chose this one. Few movies can tickle my fancy by giving me odd protagonists to root for. And for one hour and forty minutes I found myself rooting for CGI ‘Monkeys’. And I honestly enjoyed every minute of it.
The Lord of the Rings franchise is the one of the most powerful and memorable franchises in the history of cinema. With such good source material, the internet has come up with clever ways to mock and satirize it. Some are very gimicky and not that clever, and others are very well done. I have compiled some very awesome videos of the Lord of the Ring movie Parodies. Enjoy them after the jump.
These days, Christopher Nolan is a household name. Or at least he’s known as ‘guy who did Inception and Batman’. He doesn’t have too many credits to his name, but the sheer genius of everything he’s involved in speaks volume about his careful choice in material and his ability to deliver. I personally have seen six out of the seven movie’s he’s released under the name director. What’s also incredible is the fact he’s had a hand in writing most of these films too. I’ve always believed a director should be involved in the writing process, so that the visualization can match the execution. So I’ve ranked the six Christopher Nolan movies I’ve seen. Comparison of these movies against each other is like comparing the best athlete when you’re picking from the Miami Heat or the best alcohol for a good night. You’re ranking system can be heavily affected the mere mood you’re in. Being number 6 on a Christopher Nolan film is still like being 20 on the best movies of all time list. Hit the jump to check out number one. Potential spoilers below.
It was difficult finding a Wonka not under the influence of Tim Burton/Johnny Depp’s version. Depp’s Wonka wasn’t even that good. Being extremely weird does not mean you’re a really good actor. I don’t doubt Johnny Depp as an actor, it’s just that the fact he continually fills the shoes of oddballs of Tim Burton is beginning to make me sick of him. He needs more John Dillinger type roles. But this is besides the point. Here’s artist renditions of the candy man.
This will not be the last time The Dark Knight Rises will be the Top Banana. So I should’ve done a Harry Potter one then? Nah, the world is covering Harry Potter enough, you don’t need my pathetic links anyhow. But back to the main scoop, because Harry Potter isn’t the only thing making waves in the water. The Dark Knight Rises is making headlines this weekend with rumors of having the trailer being released with Harry Potter’s wide release. Earlier this week, we also got our first official image poster posted above. So I’ve compiled a couple of links of some other Dark Knight Rises news along with a leaked and possibly faked trailer. POTENTIAL SPOILERS. Check them out below.
I’m very mixed when it comes to the website Rotten Tomatoes. A website full of over pompous critics that take an hour and a half of their lives to judge what someone spent millions of dollars and weeks to create. The idea sounds heartless and in truth it really is. The only issue is that I’m often one of those over pompous critics that will usually agree to the general consensus. Talk about hindsight. But critics don’t know everything. Some movies are simply made to entertain and if they can do that, who cares if there’s nothing deeper or the acting was bad or if the movie was too loud. [I hate it when Rotten Tomatoes deems a movie too loud, what does that even mean?]. I’ve always believed the critics consensus said more about the movie than the Tomatometer, but that’s another story for another time. So here’s a list of some movies Rotten Tomatoes deemed ‘rotten’, but I actually enjoyed and wouldn’t mind watching again. There are probably more, but I had trouble remembering which movies, if you’ve got some more, let me know.
Banana Scoop 