Showing posts with label Vin Diesel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vin Diesel. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

X-Men Live; Gay Actor Out

Vin Diesel in Riddick. Confused, Ain't Ya?
Trust me when I tell you all these things really do tie-in together. If you saw my earlier post on Malaprop Mom, you'll continue to  understand what a weird day it continues to be for yer ole Uncle P.  My workday was disrupted by a rather annoyingly unsuccessful doctor's appointment (Grrrr... Long story - trying again tomorrow evening) and for the first time in a long time, I had several things I wanted to talk about. 

So, first: There's a story going around Facebook about a boy in China who can see in pitch black darkness. Snopes, as of this writing, has nothing on this. A friend of mine posted it with the headline: Evolution? If it's true, it's obviously a mutation, which according to Darwin leads to evolution.  Take that, Fundie wingnuts! The story reminded me of two works of Sci-Fi/Fantasy. First, David Twohy's about-to-be-released Riddick, the third in a trilogy of films in which Vin (I want him to talk dirty to me) Diesel plays an escaped convict/savior/mercenary who has had his eyes surgically altered to see in the dark (watch both of these on Full Screen):



And this Red Band trailer for Riddick is probably NSFW for language and violence:



Damn! Now THAT's an Action/Sci-Fi movie!

Of course, the "Evolution" tag also made me think of the mutants who make up Marvel's "X-Men." Homo-Sapiens has remained pretty static for the last 195,000 or so years. It's about time we started to evolve. Of course, the very tabloidy news also brings to mind my favorite Weekly World News story:



Now continuing on my ADD adventure, "Prison Break" star Wentworth Miller officially came out in a letter to the St. Petersburg International Film Festival, to which he'd been invited to attend. Miller, whose sexuality has been the subject of much debate since his breakout role on the Fox series finally opened the glass closet in his response to the invitation saying, in part (via):

"As a gay man, I must decline. I am deeply troubled by the current attitude toward and treatment of gay men and women by the Russian government. The situation is in no way acceptable, and I cannot in good conscience participate in a celebratory occasion hosted by a country where people like myself are being systematically denied their basic right to live and love openly."

As I have said all along, visibility is the key to acceptance. Thank you for finally feeling free enough to admit what many of us have suspected and for standing up to a homophobic regime, Mr. Miller. Your voice is a welcome addition to the cause.

Well this was a strange melange of things to talk about, wasn't it?  Je ne regret riens!

More, anon.
Prospero

Monday, August 12, 2013

Summer of Suck Part Deux?

Okay, is it me, or have there been very few summer tentpole movies to actually live up to their potential once again this summer? And yes, I missed a lot of them, though only one by accident. And it seems as though I really didn't miss much...

This past weekend saw the opening of South African director Neil Blomkamp's big-budget debut Elysium. It took the number one spot for its opening weekend but performed far below expectations, beating out stoner comedy We're the Millers by just $3M. As a fan of Blomkamp's debut District 9, Uncle P was excited for this big-budget thriller starring Matt Damon and Jodie Foster. And then I started reading the reviews and had to take pause when Colin Berry, one of the Happy Mutants at the insane Science/Art/Maker/Literature/Politics blog BoingBoing posted his review, calling it "...everything that sucks about movies these days." (Read it here).

And lots of big-budget blockbusters saw similar fates. R.I.P.D.; The Lone Ranger; World War Z; and After Earth (even though it never advertised that it was directed by one-hit wonder M. Night Shyamalan) all failed, miserably. Guillermo del Toro's much-anticipated Kaiju Vs. Giant Robots movie Pacific Rim underperformed, as did White House Down with Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx. 

The top performers so far this summer? Despicable Me 2; The Conjuring (a movie I wanted more from); Monsters University; Man of Steel and Iron Man 3. I've seen only one movie on this list and liked it, but not nearly as much as some people.

No one is quite sure why some of these movies failed, though I suspect that audiences have finally caught on and want more than just CGI FX and deafening sound to carry a movie. To which I say: Hurray!

But summer's not over and I have high hopes for a few late summer/early fall releases:

Kick-Ass 2 (NSFW):



The World's End:



Riddick:



Insidious: Chapter 2:



Gravity:



That last clip is absolutely terrifying! I can't wait!

More, anon.
Prospero