Alan Rapp

Festival of Beer

  • Title: Beerfest
  • IMDb: link

After the death of their grandfather (Donald Sutherland), two brothers (Paul Soter, Erik Stolhanske) travel to Germany with his ashes.  There they discover the secret underground competition known as Beerfest.  Teams of five from countries around the world compete in different events to crowned champions every year.

After being humiliated and thrown out of the competition, the pair decide to put together their own American team and return a year later to kick some ass.  They round-up three old friends (Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Jay Chandrasekhar), each with a specific beer related skill, and spend the next twelve months training (and getting really drunk).

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All Style and No Substance

  • Title: Idlewild
  • IMDb: link

A musical about Prohibition?  That stars hip-hop stars?  Oh, dear.  Idlewild is never quite what you expect it to be, but then it’s never quite what you want it to be either.  Too long, overly ambitious, and with some very poor MTV-like music video moments, the film keeps falling down, and eventually you stop caring if it gets back on its feet.  And for a musical it’s severely lacking in good, or even appropriate, music.  Still, there’s some nice performances and camera work for those not interested in silly stuff, like a coherent plot.

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Fortune Cookie Warrior

  • Title: Peaceful Warrior
  • IMDb: link

Peaceful Warrior

The film has a nice message that may resonate with those of a religious persuasion (though there is no actual religion in the film) or those that love to buy self-help books.  The message, however, is so poorly presented that it’s impossible to take seriously when all were given is a series of simplistic sentences, which would be more at home inside a fortune cookie, attempting to sound more meaningful than they are.

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The Weird News

Weird Item #1: Well folks your political correctness has officially gone too far.  Tom & Jerry are under attack.  The cartoon mouse and cat who have entertained people of all ages for decades are being censored due to a single complaint about the pair smoking a cigarette (in Oscar winning episode, by the way!).  Thank you media watchdog Ofcom for overreacting with such speed and force.  Other cartoons like Scooby Doo, The Jetsons, and The Flinstones will also have to cut out any objectionable content that might encourage smoking (though cartoon violence isn’t an issue?).  Thanks for not letting a free America do something crazy – like think for themselves.

Weird Item #2: Snakes in a theater?  A few fans decided to release rattlesnakes in a theater in Phoenix, Arizona.  The movie that was playing?  Yep, you got it, Snakes on a Plane.  Reports vary on the incident, but one thing is certain – this stunt was even dumber than the movie, though not quite as dumb as our Weird News Item above.

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Weird Item #1: Well folks your political correctness has officially gone too far.  Tom & Jerry are under attack.  The cartoon mouse and cat who have entertained people of all ages for decades are being censored due to a single complaint about the pair smoking a cigarette (in Oscar winning episode, by the way!).  Thank you media watchdog Ofcom for overreacting with such speed and force.  Other cartoons like Scooby Doo, The Jetsons, and The Flinstones will also have to cut out any objectionable content that might encourage smoking (though cartoon violence isn’t an issue?).  Thanks for not letting a free America do something crazy – like think for themselves.

Weird Item #2: Snakes in a theater?  A few fans decided to release rattlesnakes in a theater in Phoenix, Arizona.  The movie that was playing?  Yep, you got it, Snakes on a Plane.  Reports vary on the incident, but one thing is certain – this stunt was even dumber than the movie, though not quite as dumb as our Weird News Item above.

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Comic Book Shelf

Hey there true believers!  Today the second issue of our Comic Book Shelf edition hits our newsstand.  Want to know what’s getting released today at the old comic shop but too busy, or lazy (not that there’s anything wrong with that), to bother?  Well no sweat Bat-fans as we’ve got the scoop of what comics and graphic novels are hitting the shelves today.

This week’s releases include a re-launching of a new Justice League (again), X-Men, Batman, Daredevil, Claw the Unconquered, The Blue Beetle, The Avengers, Jack of Fables, Loveless, Wolverine and more!

If your looking for graphic novels there’s Green Lantern: The Greatest Stories Ever Told, Hellblazer: Stations of the Cross, Fantastic Four: The Resurrection of Nicholas Scratch, a new hardcover edition of Spider-Man: Kraven’s Last Hunt, and archive collections of Iron Man, Teen Titans, and Promethea. 

For the full list check inside…

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