Shot and edited by Bernard
Bernard’s Film Reel
Video excerpts from
Layag
Nuyo
Post-it Love
Pine-eyed Boy
Hey look! It’s that time of the year again.
City guys can suck it.
Sand on my shades.
Meet my girlfriend.
Hey guys! Free Nirvana album
SPIN’s August issue pays tribute to the 20th anniversary of Nirvana’s Nevermind, and as part of our package we tapped some of our favorite contemporary artists to cover the influential album’s 13 songs, in their original order. The download is called Newermind, and it’s our gift to you. We were happy that two of Kurt Cobain’s personal faves — the Meat Puppets and the Vaselines, both of whom Nirvana famously covered during their MTV Unplugged taping — joined our effort. Below you’ll find the complete album tracklist, with reflections from each contributing artist.
Green Lantern – Or how a ridiculous looking costume (among other things) lost a pile of money and a pile of fans
Take note that in this post I am leaving out the Batman franchise because I am in the midst of a love-hate relationship. And I guess that all my sentiments should be reserved for another blog.
Anyway, back to the main topic: The High Immensity in which DC Movies Suck. Yes, let’s make that our thesis statement. If some of you who are reading this blog disagree then let me point out one huge example. Just this year, DC (along with Warner Bros) released Green Lantern. Now normally, I would wait for the DVD to come out but being a comic book geek and a film nerd I had to catch it on the big screen.
P.S. I’d prefer those two terms over couch potato and professional bum.
Here’s the thing with Green Lantern. It’s a film about a cocky test pilot named Hal Jordan who witnesses a dying alien’s ship crash into Earth. And honoring his final wish, Hal takes on the mantle and becomes the first humanoid Green Lantern. So…here’s the REAL thing. It seemed like the movie was trying to say everything all at once. Enemy over enemy over a brooding enemy (yes I’m talking about Sinestro). It felt like I was sitting through a 3 part television series. It was just too much.
First (SPOILER WARNING), Hal tried to fend of this yellow gust called Parallax which would take more than a smile if you base it on the prologue of the film. Second, Hal tried to save Earth from Hector Hammond, a brilliant scientist who acts like a 9 year old army brat. And third, Sinestro was all over the place, waiting to be fended of. All of these things were happening while our main character had to overcome his personal fear (which, for an army pilot, is quite alarming. But what can I say? I’m not trying to defend the Earth with a green lantern from a dying purple alien). There’s just to much to go around in one single movie. I mean, there’s a reason why the first Spider-Man was a successful hit.
The ending was also a bit silly. It’s as if the movie was addressed to a bunch of 12 year olds. But then again Blake Lively was there so I take that back. During the great confrontation of the Green Lantern and Parallax (SPOILER WARNING) all that Hal had to do was just to utter those cheesy words. And boom! Automatic extra strength. Boy! Why didn’t the other Green Lanterns think of that? And what was Parallax’s ability? Were you listening to him? Was he trying to scare the Green Lantern to death? And where were they when the Yellow gust tried to gobble Earth up. If Parallax was such a threat to the entire galaxy why did they chicken out. They had to wait for Hal to finish fighting before they did something.
Generally, I think the producers were trying to please everybody. That’s why it didn’t pan out. Just take a nap or go see Thor again.
But don’t worry Ryan Reynolds, you’re still my Van Wilder.
