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2004 – Walking Tall

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Walking Tall (2004)
  • IMDB: link

Walking TallOn this date ten years ago Dwayne “It’s Okay to Call Me The Rock Again” Johnson‘s remake of 1973’s Walking Tall hit theaters. Loosely based on real events, the simple premise finds war hero Chris Vaughn (The Rock) return home to find his home town at the mercy of an unscrupulous businessman (Neal McDonough) and old high school rival who keeps a stranglehold on the small Washington town with a shady business dealings and rigged casino.

Discovering the man’s total disrespect for the law, and after being assaulted and almost killed by the man’s hired thugs, Vaughn finds no help from the local police which causes the former Army Special Forces ass-kicker to bust-up the casino with only his fists and a two-by-four before running for office on the platform of cleaning up the town.

Along for the ride the film casts Johnny Knoxville in the role of comic relief as Vaughn’s idiot best-friend and Ashley Scott as a childhood friend turned stripper turned love interest.

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Samurai Jack #6

/ / Comics

Samurai Jack #6In the beginning of a new gender-bending arc, Samurai Jack is surprised by the arrival of The Scotsman (who isn’t so much a Scotsman anymore as a Scotswoman). Learning his friend has been cursed, the samurai sets out to right the wrong which gets more complicated by the fact that The Scotsman wasn’t completely forthcoming with the series of events that led him to show up at Jack’s campsite in a dress.

Finding the leprechauns responsible, and learning that the curse was their reprisal for his friend’s drunken rampage, Samurai Jack agrees to deal with the leprechauns’ enemy Chullin the Cruel if they will agree to remove the curse. Although a deal is struck, it is not entirely to Jack’s liking as until he fulfills his half of the bargain he, along with The Scotsman, will be trapped in a woman’s body.

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I Feel No Need, No Need for Speed

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Need for Speed
  • IMDB: link

“This ain’t just about racing.”

Need for SpeedNeed for Speed is no Cannonball Run II. You could even argue it’s no Speed Zone (which replaced Burt Reynolds and company with SCTV vets John Candy, Eugene Levy, and Joe Flaherty along with a host of lesser-known stars for a forgettable third Cannonball Run film). Loosely based on the popular video game franchise, Need for Speed stars Aaron Paul as kick-ass small-time racer and mechanic Tobey Marshall whose rivalry with his old girlfriend’s (Dakota Johnson) new boyfriend (Dominic Cooper) ends with him serving two years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit.

Recently released, and with the help of his friends (Scott Mescudi, Rami Malek, Ramon Rodriguez) and a new love interest (Imogen Poots) providing a top-grade car, Tobey will try to settle the score on the road by breaking parole (and dozens of traffic laws) to earn a spot in a super-secret race on the West Coast held annually by a reclusive millionaire (Michael Keaton). To get there, however, he and Julia (Poots) will have to survive the trip across country after his rival posts a bounty to make sure Tobey never makes it to the starting line.

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300: Rise of an Empire

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: 300: Rise of an Empire
  • IMDB: link

300: Rise of an EmpireI’m not a Zack Snyder fan. I hated what Snyder and screenwriter David S. Goyer did to Superman, was disappointed with his interpretation of Watchmen, and was disturbed by watching the man make his own wet dreams into a feature film. Of the Snyder films I’ve been forced to endure over the years 300 is the only one I remotely enjoyed.

Despite obvious flaws, Snyder delivered a slick-looking adaption of Frank Miller’s graphic novel that focused on the legendary accomplishments of the 300 Spartans during the Battle of Thermopylae (while completing ignoring the other Greek forces which aided them – as did Miller’s original work). Turning the sequel over to the hands of director Noam Murro, 300: Rise of an Empire is a joyless blood-spattered spectacle lacking in both story and presentation. Sadly, it seems Murro proves unable to recapture what little magic Zack Snyder was able to bring to the screen while balancing the bloodier elements of the first film with 300‘s visual-style and the silly muscle-bound unclothed warriors constantly preening for the camera in various dramatic poses.

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Samurai Jack #5

/ / Comics

Samurai Jack #5The first arc of the new Samurai Jack comic comes to a close as Samurai Jack ventures into Aku‘s fortress to find the final remaining Tread of Time and come within a breath of fulfilling his destiny and making it home.

Other than to collect the arc in a graphic novel there’s no real reason to end the storyline so quickly as Jack’s quest to collect the various threads could have continued for quite some time. For better or worse the storyline is shortened, through montages in each of the last few issues, and Jack’s quest to reconstitute the Rope of Eons comes to an end.

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