Can’t you just tell its the Spring Movie Season? Over 60% of new releases ain’t worth your time, and the stuff worth seeing is never available at a theater near you. Hence, the serious lack of reviews on this site of 2009 features. I’ve been busy posting reviews of flicks from 2008, cause there just hasn’t been anything out there that has really compelled me to make the trek out to theaters. This week changes that with the release of one flick I’ve been waiting around for since early 2008. Which of today’s entries could that be? Read on to find out… (more…)

Ok folks, I’m gonna start off this article by spoiling the end of a decade-old movie that everyone and their grandmother have already seen, so be warned. At the end of James Cameron’s TITANIC (still the highest grossing blockbuster of all time — THE DARK KNIGHT didn’t quite beat it), the recently in-love couple Jack and Rose (played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet respectively) share one last moment together before Jack perishes and is swallowed up by the frigid dark sea. It’s a heartbreaking moment, and one many viewers probably wished hadn’t transpired. What if, they must’ve thought, Jack had not died that cold fateful night and returned home with Rose to live happily ever after? Well I have a sinking suspicion that this wishful thought was very much in mind when the two actors were chosen to play a young married couple in ’50s Suburbia for Sam Mendes’ latest deconstruction of the American Dream. You can just see the title on a marquee now: TITANIC 2: LOVE SINKS. They ended up going with the title of the original book instead, REVOLUTIONARY ROAD. Despite this, you can almost hear the question on everybody’s lips: So does “Jack” and “Rose” live happily ever after? Well, um, to put it succinctly — NO… (more…)

Hey folks, Bobert here. Sorry for the late posting of this, had a weekly Smash Bros. appointment with Tsuj, Jewsh, and Biscuits. We’ve got a lot of cool stuff to check out, including some titles that I had originally brushed off as unwatchable. I’m willing to give anything a second chance if they give me a good enough reason too. Also wanted to point out the rising amount of older titles getting the Hi-Def treatment, a trend I’m very happy to see. Today’s Blu-ray re-releases include the original PINK PANTHER (not that abortion Steve Martin headlines), The BOURNE Trilogy, and ZODIAC. Definitely titles worth upgrading to Hi-Def (if you don’t already have the HD-DVD editions). Now, on with this week’s big releases… (more…)

Last Thursday, I awoke from a deep slumber at 4:30 a.m., fumbled my way through my morning ritual and soon afterwards took off to my Mom’s residence so I can grab the latest nominees for the Academy Awards (this is the 81st edition). As is tradition (since 1997), I see all the best picture nominees with my mother and afterwards we compare notes and feelings on said films. We disagree most of the time, but it has never failed to be a worthwhile endeavor. Anywho, as I was jotting down the nominees as quick as I could, it dawned on me that there is no real mystery with the Oscars. Perhaps there never was. Now sure there are those few surprise nominations that upset the status quo, but I find it hard to believe after all the smoke has cleared that the five best picture nominees are genuinely considered by the industry as the “Five Best Films of 2008″. The stench of politics hangs particularly foul this year. A lot of people appear to be upset over The Dark Knight getting snubbed for best picture consideration. My thought has always been that if it does get ignored, it will be done by a worthier (if not as successful) film. The movie that arguably took its spot at the dance was The Reader. This revelation has given me quite the head scratch. (more…)

Hey folks, Bobert here! Woo — It’s been another busy week but it appears I got this posted almost on time (Monday morning is better than Tuesday afternoon, but not as good as Sunday evening) so I’m not a complete failure right? Aside from regular movie-watching and video-game playing, the weekend offered airport pickups, lunch with friends, poker games, and flat tires to contend with. I have to say though, a full weekend is always preferable to a weekend of boredom. Well enough yammering, let’s take a look at what the week had to offer in the way of Movies, Video Games, and all things geeky… (more…)

Hey folks, Bobert here. Looks like this weekend is the start of the Oscar Hype machine. Every Oscar-hopeful that may have been on lesser screens the last couple of months now goes wide across the country, hoping to cash in on the Oscar buzz. And for those of you in the Sacramento area that missed out on the THE DARK KNIGHT IMAX Experience, you’re in luck. For a limited time, the Esquire IMAX Theater on K Street will be showing it again. I for one would love to see TDK on that magnificently ginormous screen, since I’m one of the poor saps that didn’t catch it on IMAX. Anyways, onto the rest of the week’s releases… (more…)

I’m sure all of us, at one time or another in our youths, were fans of Professional Wrestling. Not the boring slightly homoerotic stuff we see at The Summer Olympics, I’m talking about the good ole WWF (not WWE as it is known now). Ya know who I’m talking about: Hulk Hogan, The Ultimate Warrior, Randy Savage, Jake “The Snake” Roberts, Sgt. Slaughter, the Bushwhackers, the list goes on and on. In recent years Documentary films like BEYOND THE MAT have pulled back the curtain on the world of Pro Wrestling, revealing an ugly and seedy underbelly that has changed the way many longtime fans view their former heroes and icons. Where once we saw modern day Gladiators, now we see sad washed-up has-beens. Some of them still clinging desperately to their past glory, while others self-destruct in a haze of drugs and alcohol. Filmmaker Darren Aronofsky takes on this familiar world of pain and addiction (two subjects he’s obviously well-versed in), but not in the high production/big money-making setting of Pro Wrestling. He examines the life of an aging ex-Pro Wrestler performing in the down-n-dirty world of Independent/Sem-Pro Wrestling (something I recently experienced at an event held in the worn down Colonial Theatre). So does a high-brow filmmaker like Aronofsky cohesively mesh with such low-rent entertainment? Very well actually… (more…)

In this time of financial downturn for even the biggest and most successful of companies, I wish only the best for Sony and hope for great success for them in the coming year. There have been many missteps for Sony this year which have resulted in less than stellar NPD numbers for the ’08 Holiday season, none greater than the bomb that is Playstation Home. My hopes and dreams for Home are great, but for now my disappointment and dismay are greater. Honestly it has been a while since I have gone Home. (more…)

The slasher genre goes 3D for the first time in over a decade and the results are less than spine tingling in My Bloody Valentine 3D, a remake of the little seen 1981 film by the same name (sans 3D or course). Without the 3D gimmick attached, this movie would be barely passable as a straight-to-video throwaway. However, thanks to the success of recent three dimensional endeavors (most recently Journey to the Center of the Earth) and a mild dose of credibility with Jamie King as the lead, Bloody Valentine succeeds in becoming the first 3D horror film since Freddy’s Dead – The Final Nightmare (1991) to get a wide release. The technology has improved considerably since then. Unfortunately, not much else has. (more…)

Greetings to all who have come to bare witness at the first of many offerings from the new man to the group…..drum roll please…..Jewsh. As some of you might be expecting a piece on “how to do your own taxes” or “the many ways to swim in ones money like Scrooge McDuck,” today I shall be discussing the affects of video game multiplayer capabilities changing from LAN (or system link) to exclusively online. Remember those days of long-ago, when seeing the morning sunrise out of your peripheral vision as your blood shot eyes remain focused on the top right corner of the television were the norm? Or running from one room to the other just to rub it in your friends’ face, bragging about on how terrible they did and how you manhandled them all game. Those were the days of the LAN party, 12 hours of video game bonding with your friends that always ended when the sun came up and you were too physically tired to sit up anymore. Those days are long gone and have been replaced by solo online gaming, occasionally accompanied by the voices of your friends in your headset like some distant memory. (more…)