A Not So Routine Expedition

Land of the Lost

Hey a crappy TV show is now a not as crappy movie! As Will Ferrell leads this comic re-imagining of Sid and Marty Krofft’s awful 70s children’s show. Paying tribute to the camp and look of the original show just with a hint of Ferrell’s brand of humor and some stellar effects, Land of the Lost is hardly memorable or even well written but I won’t lie, I had fun and actually enjoyed it.

Where the original show was about the exploits of a father and his two kids trying to survive in the Land of the Lost, this remake takes a different approach. This time round Rick Marshall (Will Ferrell) is a former paleontologist, who after being humiliated in an interview with Matt Lauer gives up his research on “Time Warps” to settle into a middle school teaching job. Holly (Anna Friel), who is a bright British admirer of Marshall’s work, comes to try and convince Rick to finish his “Tachyon Amplifier” to see if traveling through time and space would actually work. Some quick convincing leads to Rick finishing the device and soon they head to Devil’s Cave (Where an important fossil was originally found) to give it a whirl. Meeting up with Will (Danny McBride) who operates the cave as a two-bit theme ride, the three set out inside… Only to end up in the Land of the Lost.

Initial reviews of Land of the Lost have been mediocre to terrible thus far, which I understand. There really is a lot of spots where they just don’t deliver on the humor and there isn’t much room for character development. If the second half of the film was as dry as the first, I would agree with the majority but I feel it picks up around the mid point. Ferrell as usual gives 110% and Danny McBride is a suitable comedic sidekick. The story isn’t much more than a vehicle for silly jokes but for the most part it works and there’s definitely some memorable sequences. For instance, there’s a great scene where Rick finds a banjo and begins to play a song about the group’s exploits and who would of guessed that it turns out to be the Land of the Lost theme song? I like that, clever and quite amusing.

I think what gives Land of the Lost my approval for the most part is the effects and the look of the film. The CGI dinosaurs and crabs leave for some exciting scenes and the sets are wonderfully detailed. The Sleestak (The lizard people) look better than ever and everything has a slight 70s retro charm. Michael Giacchino’s banjo infused score sets the mood and it all evens out to be a fun little film going experience.

If you’ve ever seen the show, I think you’d see it’s funny for all the wrong reasons. This remake on the other hand takes on the same concept but in a far less serious approach, resulting in a product that’s probably way better than the original ever was. So that’s got to stand for something, I mean remakes aren’t usually better so I’d definitely consider this a win situation. Most importantly I walked out satisfied and that’s more than I can say for handful of other summer blockbusters I’ve seen thus far.

E3’09: Wrap Up

Another Electronic Entertainment Expo has come and gone. This year, the show made an attempt to retain its former glory, and from what I’ve read, it sounds like it has been successful. Certainly, from a reader’s view, there was plenty to read and fantasize about playing. Here are links to some of my favorites that I haven’t touched on yet, if you’re interested.

There was that crazy opening cinematic for The Beatles: Rock Band, which is like the best thing I’ve ever seen. Seriously, watch that shit multiple times.

Speaking of great trailers, Bioware really nailed it this year. Dragon Age: Origins, Mass Effect 2 and Star Wars: The Old Republic all looked spectacular.

The biggest surprise of the show was Project Natal, of course, but one thing I did not see coming was Scribblenauts, the game with the insanely large lexicon. Looks hella fun.

We pretty much had already seen the trailer, but The Last Guardian sure does look spectacular. It’s like they’re combining what rocked about Ico and Shadow of the Colossus into one epic.

Ubisoft showed off the new Splinter Cell: Conviction, and I was surprisingly about it. Like, I’m trying to play it, about it. It’s got a great visual style and looks pretty fun to play.

Speaking of Ubisoft, Assassin’s Creed II looks just about right.

So does Uncharted 2: Among Theives.

That’s everything that immediately leaps to mind, but E3 was pretty solid this year and we’ve all got a lot of great games to look forward to in the coming months.

Some Guys Just Can’t Handle Vegas

The Hangover

In many ways, I wish I got to write last week’s review for Up. With that film, and Pixar’s pedigree, people knew exactly what they were getting into. Reviewing that would have basically been an exercise in reinforcing preconceived notions. But with The Hangover, I have the job of selling the film to you. Because this is a comedy that should not be missed.

Phil, Stu and Alan awake the morning after throwing their friend Doug’s bachelor party with a serious problem: no one can find Doug or remember what happened the night before. Their room is a glorious mess, with a tiger in the bathroom, a crying baby, a chicken and Stu missing a tooth. With precious little time until the wedding, the trio set out to find their friend by piecing together what clues they have about their epic night.

What’s great about this set up is that it keeps our heroes moving. They jump between wacky scenarios as they keep getting closer to finding Doug. There’s a lot going on and I can really appreciate that, especially, as John pointed out, when you compare it to a film like I Love You Man, which had almost no conflict to speak of. It’s quite surprising that the director of Old School and the writers of Ghosts of Girlfriends Past could make such a tight comedy.

But the biggest praise must go to stand up legend Zach Galifianakis. His character is the source of most of the comedy, with Ed Helms and Bradley Cooper playing much more realistic characters. Galifianakis’ Alan is way more out there, often making weird observations and asking bizarre questions, like if Caesar actually lived in Caesar’s Palice. This is his breakout roll, and I’m glad more people will get to be exposed to his wonderful sense of humor.

The Hangover clearly went for a hard R-rating. That’s the way great comedys are these days, I reacon. The language is foul and there’s plenty of nudity – more male than female. It’s just more funny to see a dude naked, I guess.

This is the funniest movie I have seen this year. It’s in contention to be 2009’s Superbad. Do yourself a favor and see it now, while you still can.

R.I.P. David Carradine

David Carradine
1936-2009

I was shocked to hear this morning that actor David Carradine has passed away at the age of 72. Found in his Bangkok hotel room on June 3rd, (He was there to shoot his latest film) Carradine was found with a rope tied around his neck, reports are saying it was a suicide… Wow, that’s pretty devastating.

Known most famously for his Golden Globe nominated performance of Kwai Chang Caine on the 70s TV show Kung Fu along with his performance as Woody Guthrie in the 1976 film Bound for Glory and as racer Frankenstein in the original Death Race 2000, Carradine had become known in more recent years for his Golden Globe nominated performance as Bill in the excellent Kill Bill films. The eldest son of the late great actor John Carradine (Stagecoach, The Grapes of Wrath, and over 200 B-Movies) and older brother of actors Keith Carradine and Robert Carradine (All three brothers starred together in Walter Hill’s 1980 western The Long Riders) David Carradine had built a strong cult following over the years with a whole slew of projects.

I was always disappointed that his great performance in Kill Bill didn’t nab him an Oscar nomination. He was probably my favorite part of Tarantino’s epic and it really showed that he was truly a gifted actor. It’s a shame that it all had to end this way but I suppose we’ll always have the movies and through those, he’ll always live on.

E3’09: Day One

Yesterday was the first official day of the E3 extravaganza, as well as the date of Nintendo and Sony’s press conferences. Since there probably wasn’t anything that will catch your attention like more info about The Beatles: Rock Band, I’ll just throw a bunch out there and see what sticks.

Nintendo was the first one up yesterday, at the early hour of nine in the morning. They announced the most retarded thing ever, Wii Vitality Sensor. You know those little clips that you put on your finger and it measures your heart rate? It’s one of those. How the Hell is a game going to use that? What is this? At least they showed off more of Wii Motion Plus, the upgrade for the Wiimote that makes capable of doing what we always wanted it to do. Sounds like and and Wii Sports Resort are going to be bundled and out soon.

Nintendo also showed off a bunch of games with their classic characters. There’s Super Mario Galaxy 2, which we all saw coming, and New Super Mario Bros. Wii, which no one saw coming. This new game is going back to classic Mario sidescrolling, with four-player simultaneous co-op included. How about that? They showed some more of that Zelda train game… Still not sure if I’m down for that. The DS is just not where I want to play Zelda. The biggest announcement of the morning was Metroid: Other M, a new sidescroller from Team Ninja, the people who brought you Ninja Gaiden. Looks great.

Sony finally announced the PSP Go!, which maybe someone will buy. It forgoes UMDs for a 16GB HD, and I guess all future games will be at retail and downloadable because of that. The PSP-3000 is staying around too. They announced a slew of new PSP games, like a Gran Turismo and the next piece in the Metal Gear Solid story.

On the PS3 front, we saw more of games we knew about, be desperately want. I’m looking at you, Uncharted 2, Assassin’s Creed 2 and God of War III. Sony also unveiled their new motion controller (that’s 3-for-3 for the press conferences), which looks like a black Wiimote with a little ball on the top of it. The ball changes color and the EyeToy is able to detected it, making for some very precise motion gameplay. It looks pretty neat, but it’s hard to compete with Project Natal at this point.

Then, in E3 fashion, the show opened up and way too much information came out. At this point, just pick a game and search for it. There’s just too much out there. But I love it.

The Toys are Back in Town

I don’t usually post a lot of trailers but I figured this one was pretty important, I just heard about it a few minutes ago. But before I dig into that let’s see what else is going on. I totally checked out the trailer to the new Beatles game on Youtube and it really looks great, I just hope it wont be too tricky getting all the harmonies right and simultaneously playing an instrument (Because naturally I’ll want to attempt that)… Though that’s a pretty long time from now.

I’ve been all about The new Tonight Show with Conan. I was afraid like some people, that Conan wouldn’t be the same on a new show (especially such a prestigious one) but he’s just as hilarious as ever. I probably like this even more due to the fact that it’s on earlier and it’s got Andy Richter! It’s good to see most the Max Weinberg seven too, especially LaBamba. Anyways here’s the teaser trailer to the new Toy Story! Makes me so excited that I want to go play Toy Story for the Sega Genesis.

C.A.T.: Different Class

Pulp – Different Class (1995)

Since John did two CAT’s in a row, I figured I’d have another go at it for the second week in a row. This week’s album doesn’t really have any particular importance other than that I’ve really gotten into it lately, and it seems like it’s been a while since we’ve looked at a classic album released within the last 30 years.

Different Class was released in the midst of the Britpop movement that skyrocketed bands such as Oasis and Blur to monumental success in Britain as well as internationally. Though Pulp had been together since the early eighties, Different Class caught the band at it’s creative and commercial peak seeing as though they fit together quite nicely with the other bands that were labeled as Britpop.

There’s plenty of catchy numbers such as the singles “Common People” and “Disco 2000” as much of frontman Jarvis Cocker’s lyrics comment on Britain’s working class. While songs like “Pencil Skirt” and “Underwear” have an oddly charming sexually-charged swagger to them. Cocker’s vocal delivery certainly walks a fine line between pompous and charming but I think that’s a big part of what makes him and Pulp as a band so enjoyable.

Musically there’s an obvious classic British pop sound to Cocker’s songs, but you can also hear traces of Disco-influenced rhythms as well as elements of dance and electronic music. There’s a good balance that balance of guitars as well as some interesting keyboard and synthesizer contibutions.

Pulp would release a few more albums with less success, and would eventually go on hiatus in 2002 while Jarvis Cocker would pursue a solo career. However, with Different Class they left behind a tasty piece of alternative pop as well as another reason why 1995 was an awesome year.

Favorite Tracks: “Common People”, “Disco 2000”, “Sorted For E’s and Wizz”