Prime Time Cannell

I happened to pick this up before Christmas at DeepDiscount.com for the seriously low sum of $12.99.  I haven't had time to throw a single disc in, and honestly, I'm in the middle of watching, or about to watch, four other shows.  If I had to pick something in this set to watch, what should it be?  Keep in mind, I have the complete first seasons of The Commish, Wiseguy, Hunter and 21 Jump Street.  I'm thinking more along the lines of the following never released shows.

• Missing Persons - All 18 Episodes
• Broken Badges- All 7 Episodes
• Palace Guard- All 9 Episodes
• UNSUB- All 8 Episodes

Any of them worth getting bumped onto the list?

The Best He Is At What He Does?

I've never been the biggest fan of Wolverine, the Marvel Universe's resident badass.  He's certainly got some qualities that other superheroes do not possess.  Besides his handy adamantium claws and healing factor, he also loves to drink, smoke, and have sex with any woman who will have him. He doesn't have a problem with killing, and will take on the jobs that others with more puritanical views of heroism won't touch.  As far as anti-heroes go, he's pretty good.

But he's also over-exposed.  He appears in X-Men books, Avenger books, and his own titles.  When that happens, he gets a little watered down, and even a little bit of him can be too much.  He's pretty one note when not written well, and that happens far too often for me to even bother picking up his books.

Right now, only one writer really seems to write him well, and that's Jason Aaron of Scalped fame.

But I'm not here to talk about that book today.

Last month, another new Wolverine title hit the shelves, Wolverine: The Best There Is.  Normally I wouldn't even give this book a second glance, but it happens to be written by a favorite author of mine, Charlie Huston.        Charlie has written the Joe Pitt Casebooks as well as numerous other books, including The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death, which is being adapted by HBO.  The guy can flat out write.  Even his first uneven venture into comic books, Moon Knight, had certain qualities that I enjoyed.  It wasn't great, but showed some promise.

Sadly, I cannot say the same for Wolverine: The Best There Is.  It is flat out terrible.  Sure it's dark and violent, but not for any particular reason.  The story certainly doesn't hook me in, as I'm not interested in a drugged out Wolverine at a rave type thing.  Dialogue is awkward and often unnecessary.   It might just be the worst comic I've read all year.  Were this from a rookie creator working on an non-established character, I'd be a little easier on it.  For this book from these creators and company, especially a #1 issue, there is just no excuse.  As the cover says, this book certainly isn't for kids.  But it's not for adults either.

Death of a Blockbuster

A few years ago I would frequent the neighborhood Blockbuster video quite often.  They had a decent amount of New Releases, a fairly good back catalog, a monthly rental program, and most importantly, a mass amount of used DVD's.  I would show up every Tuesday to pick up the newest releases, browse the used section, and more often come home with a few extra titles to add to my burdened media shelf.  At the time, 3 for $20 was hard to resist.

As the time went by, the unlimited rental program became more expensive, and oddly enough, more limited.  I axed the Blockbuster.com account as soon as the store exchange problem became a headache instead of a benefit, and before I knew it, I stopped going to Blockbuster all together.  A locally owned chain, something we should all champion, started renting New Releases at a $1 to compete with Redbox, and to their credit only recently upped their fees to $1.50.  (They actually apologized to me when the fee went up.  Picture BB doing that.)  And now I only buy used copies of DVD's rarely, thanks to my new obsession with Blu-ray, and those are purchased at another locally owned store (Bull Moose) whenever possible.

So when I heard that Blockbuster was in financial trouble, I was hardly surprised.  Out of curiosity I wandered back in after a year long absence.  The shelves were still stocked with 100 copies of the latest "big" movie, but I didn't exactly wander the aisles.  I was there for one reason, the used Blu-rays.

To my surprise they were reasonably priced, with a decent enough stock.  Will it save the company?  Hardly. But it might just give me reason to go back.  My big purchase?  Blu-ray copies of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Zodiac.

I happen to be watching Zodiac, for the first time in at least a year, as I watch this.  It's a phenomenal looking film, and the BR presentation captures Fincher's look perfectly.  Besides being a dynamite movie, the discs are also packed with the all important commentaries and bonus features.

One day I'll be sure to talk about Fincher, and how he is an absolutely amazing crime director, but for now I'm just going to keep watching.

Peter Yates 1929-2011

Sadly, Peter Yates passed away yesterday at the age of 81.  He's a director most people won't recognize, but odds are, have seen at least one film of his.  His career was quite varied, first finding a foothold in television with shows such as the excellent Secret Agent and The Saint. Films such as Robbery and Bullitt soon followed.  Although I didn't see the film until recently, I must say that The Friends of Eddie Coyle is an absolute masterpiece.  Besides excellent crime films, he also directed comedies like Mother, Juggs & Speed, family oriented flicks like Breaking Away, and one of my all time favorites, Krull.  His directing career ended in the mid 2000's with television adaptations of Don Quixote and A Separate Piece. 

Happy BIrthday Walter Hill !

Happy Birthday to the man who created my all time favorite guilty pleasure movie,
Streets of Fire


 as well as The Warriors (another fav)


48 Hours


Last Man Standing


The Driver (check out this getaway)


Hard Times


Johnny Handsome


my all time favorite Tales From The Crypt episode "Cutting Cards"


written screenplays for The Getaway


and The Drowning Pool


plus many, many others.  A man worth celebrating.

Cover of the Week

Yeah, I'm continuing this feature because, dang it, I love posters.

from Needle Design & Illustration

Machete don't text

When in actuality he does indeed text.  Just once.  It's a hell of a text though.

But Machete does so much more.

The "mexploitation" flick, brought to us by the insanely creative mind of Robert Rodriguez, along with co-director Ethan Maniquis and co-writer Alvaro Rodriguez, is hopefully the first in a long line of Machete movies.  I haven't had this much fun watching a movie since Black Dynamite.

What can you look forward to if you throw this movie into your Blu-ray player?

-Rappelling with human intestines
-Cheech Marin as a shotgun toting priest
-Steven Seagal, with a terrible accent, in a movie that didn't actually go direct to video
- Lindsay Lohan as a drug addled irresponsible girl who likes to get naked.
-Jessica Alba playing twins (if you watch the deleted scenes)
-a cat used as a silencer (again, deleted scene)
-death by low rider.  And finally a reason as to why you should make your car bounce
-a performance by  Michelle Rodriguez that does not annoy the hell out of me.
-a sketch artist
-a Luchador assassin
-a convincing argument against anti-immigration laws
-an interesting new place to store your cell phone
-the best damn performance of Danny Trejo's life.

The only reason for not watching Machete is if you take heart medicine, have a fainting condition, or a weak stomach.  Seriously, there is a lot of blood.