A new post!! Oh my God! Is it really possible?!?

So after a good 3 months (God, has it really been that long?!) without an update, I’m finally getting around to writing a new entry. I do feel kind of bad about going so long without writing anything, but considering that my blog is only one of a long list of things that I’ve fallen behind on because of my move and new job (and further delayed by my purchase of a new computer that I needed to build, install, and then setup with all my programs,data, etc.), I don’t feel too bad about the delay. Of course, I’m looking over the long list of movies I’ve seen since my last review (which sadly is even further back than my last blog entry), and I’m suddenly realizing just what a daunting task I have getting caught up.

My memory being what it is, there’s pretty much no way I’m going to recall all the movies I’ve seen in the last several months. So I went to my favorite site for movie release information, Greg’s Previews at Yahoo Movies. With that list in hand, I guess I’ll just start at the beginning, and work my way through to the present. It’ll probably take me several entries (and some movies, such as Star Wars: Episode III and Sin City, pretty much require their own entries), but I’ll get there. Promise.

As I’m sure you’ll recall (and if not, here’s your reminder), my last actual movie review was waaaaay back on Monday, March 7^th, when I discussed The Pacifier and The Jacket (both of which are already out on DVD, for God’s sake). So let’s just go from there to the next weekend’s movies, which about as polar opposites as you’re likely to find. First we have a fun, family-friendly animated film. Then we have a very dark, intensely violent action thriller. The first movie would of course be Robots, from the animators who gave us Ice Age. While not as good as Pixar’s films (but that pretty much goes without saying – NOBODY makes animated films like Pixar!), and not quite as good as the Shrek movies, it’s still quite the enjoyable movie. There’s plenty of humor to keep the parents amused (without getting vulgar or adult with the humor, as lame supposed kids’ movies like Cat in the Hat stooped to), and plenty of action and fun for the kiddies to laugh at and enjoy. All in all I think I’d give it 4 stars. Definitely a fun time for the whole family. On the flip side of that, we have the Bruce Willis kidnapping thriller Hostage. While one of my buddies will certainly disagree with me (you know who you are), I have to say I much preferred the more straight forward Assault on Precinct 13 remake. While it had its violent moments, it didn’t have the dark quality or the intensity to the violence that Hostage had. Now don’t get me wrong, I very much enjoyed the movie and I'm glad I saw it, and I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys thrillers and doesn’t mind violence, but I don’t know that it’s a movie I’d watch more than once or twice. Assault on Precinct 13, on the other hand, I could watch repeatedly (either version of the movie, as far as that goes). I’d go into more detail on the films, but it’s been long enough since I’ve seen them that I don’t remember more than the broad strokes (guess that’s what I get for ignoring my blog for so damned long!). But I would certainly recommend both movies (to VERY different audiences, however).

Well, while I’m on a roll with this thing, let’s jump right into the next movie weekend, shall we? So back to Greg’s Previews to see what was playing the weekend of March 18^th. Well, what do you know, we once again have two very different movies opening. First we have the Michelle Trachtenberg film Ice Princess, and then we have the sequel to a Japanese horror movie remake, The Ring Two. I have to say, I really like Michelle Trachtenberg. But no, I didn’t actually go and see Ice Princess (I have my pride, after all). Which is not to say I won’t see it eventually. So let’s move on to The Ring Two. While I won’t say it was a complete waste of time, I do have to admit that I was pretty disappointed with it, especially considering that they got the director of the original Japanese Ring series, Hideo Nakata (a true genius of the horror movie genre as far as I’m concerned). It just didn’t have the punch of the original movie. It had its creepy moments, but didn’t really have the frights of the original, and the story sadly could have used a little work. Also, the film was missing Daveigh Chase, who brilliantly played Samara in the original movie (and did the voice of Lilo in Lilo & Stitch, surprisingly enough). So I think if I were to rate it, I’d give it 2 ½, maybe 3 stars.

The rest of March featured a handful of crappy looking comedies, none of which I bothered to go see. So this is probably a good place to stop (so that I can get this thing posted!). Plus, our next movie to be reviewed is the absolute best movie of the year so far (including the summer blockbusters I’ve seen so far), Sin City (which is very much getting its own blog entry)!! I loved this movie so much that with the possible exception of Charlie & The Chocolate Factory, I don’t expect it to get knocked off the top of the list for this year’s movies until Serenity comes out in September (I fully expect Joss Whedon to completely blow away the rest of the competition for the year – God knows he could teach a certain other sci-fi writer/director a few things about putting together a decent story. But I'll go more into that when that particular movie gets its scathing review). So that’s it for now. I will try my best to continue diligently pushing forward with my blog entries, so hopefully you’ll get to see more of my glowing praise for Sin City very soon.

Oh, and in case nobody noticed, to make up for my horrid, inexcusable delay in getting a new post out, I’ve added a new feature to the blog (well, I'll try and remember to do it for every new entry) – I will now be linking all actor/actress names and movie titles to imdb (only the greatest movie information site in the whole world). Later!!