Don’t hit me, I’ve only seen Anchorman once. It was many years ago and I do not really remember it, I do know that there is much love for the movie and the movie itself is extremely quotable. The movie is so well loved that ever since it came out people have been screaming for a sequel and after many years and at least one failed attempt to get it off the ground that sequel is coming. After a couple of teaser trailers featuring absolutely zero footage we now have ourselves a full trailer. It does look like a lot of fun so I will have to do my homework and re-watch the original before checking this out.

Who’s excited for the return of Legendary Ron Burgandy?

I never read a Superman comic book growing up and I still haven’t. When DC relaunched their entire line with the new 52 I made it my mission to branch out and read new titles as this was the new age at DC. I grabbed: Batman #1, Detective Comics #1, Batman and Robin #1, Batman: The Dark Knight #1….I’m seeing a pattern here, Green Lantern #1 and Flash #1. I thought about Superman and Action Comics but I just didn’t have an interest. There was always something about Superman I didn’t really care for. I don’t know if it was his “boy scout” image, how he doesn’t get his hands dirty like our hero in Gotham or that him not being just a regular Joe in a suit protecting the City but rather an alien who protects the Globe just wasn’t someone I found relatable. While not adverse to the mythos of Superman I know his back story and I’ve seen the original movies from the 70′s and with that in mind and having already been told the origin in 2006 with Superman Returns, in 2013 here we go again.

I don’t know why a 75 year old comic book character has to see his origin told once more, the third time to be exact. Maybe it dates back to what Stan Lee says with respect to recaps in comics “every comic book is some kid’s comic book” so that’s why the origins are told with these reboots. Maybe. But for the 10-15 minutes at the beginning of Man of Steel (going forward I will be using MOS when mentioning the title) we were on Krypton getting told the history of the planet and why is was dying, we’re introduced to Jor-El, Zod and Mrs Jor-El, Lara and the birth of Superman. Minor Spoilers: there is a sequence in MOS where Jor-El has to escape cature and get to Lara to help with sending baby Kal off planet and this is where you get to see an expanded look at Krypton but all I could think is I know the history here, Kal is sent to Earth and Jor-El is there when he leaves I’m not sensing any danger here. The same goes for when Zod and crew are banished to the Phantom Zone, big deal because we all know they are coming back when it’s important to the story.

After Krypton the story jumps to full grown Clark living as a drifter with the occasional flashback to his life in Smallvile on the farm. My favorite parts in all of MOS were of Pa Kent (played by Kevin Costner), Russell Crowe too but mainly Costner. Costner gives a performance while it’s small is pitch perfect and subtle. He never comes off as acting it’s so earnest. Again not knowing the comics but the way Costner portrays Jonathan Kent as this simple farmer raising this boy who is not his son but rather a boy who fell from out of the sky and molds him by instills in him these values and moral code and telling him that while you have these gifts that make you different it’s safer to conceal them now until the World is ready is fantastic. The scene as has been shown again and again in the trailers when Clark is told of who is really is and asks why he has to be different can’t he just be his son and Costner grabs and pulls him close and says while his voice cracks ever so slightly and at the right moment, “you are my son”. Tears.

One interesting aspect of this movie is that there is not deviation between Clark and Superman. Which works and doesn’t at the same time I feel. As Clark is living as a drifter using fake names and he eventually becomes Superman is fine as no one know’s Clark BUT going back to the growing up Clark does things and people see and they later come in contact with him later and after Lois Lane is investigating Clark as a drifter. That’s the aspect that doesn’t work logistically for me, much like how Batman and Bruce Wayne are missing at the same time in The Dark Knight Rises and they both die at the same time too and no one makes the connection. The meet of the story is Zod and his people make it to Earth looking for Supes but more importantly some Krytopian DNA so they can repopulate Kyrpton onces they rebuild Krypton. At first the people of Earth are all about handing Superman over to Zod and Superman is very accommodating by turning himself into the people and letting them hand him over. It’s there we get back into some more exposition about the history of Krypton (we also get more of that when Clark discovers a Kryoption ship and the image of Jor El fills him in on it too).

Now for the action. In this CGI world everything humanly impossible can be gone thanks to computers. In MOS we see buildings being destroyed as two men fight in mid air throwing one another through buildings or throwing gas trucks into parking garages and exploding. The action, while visually stunning doesn’t happen until about half way into the film but it’s still way more than what you got in Superman Returns. The battle between Superman and Zod is a great fight scene, think back to the fight in the 3rd act of Avengers for level of destruction and CGI heaviness. While these movies need the action bits they really don’t add anything to the story but they do make up for the lulls that you are thrown in the first hour.

Man of Steel is a great Superman movie, that doesn’t say much given a few of the original flicks and the failed reboot in 2006 but it’s still a very well made movie. If you want to compare it to the recent trend in Comic book movies it’s still a good movie but not on the level of say Iron Man and definitely doesn’t compete with the Dark Knight. The closest I can slot MOS is on the same level at Batman Begins, which is not a knock at all both are good origin movies. I recommend checking Man of Steel on the big screen, 3D is not needed so don’t feel bad if you want to save a few bucks.

This will probably be a new thing on GoVandC, us bitching about Hollywood. There is quite a backlog in stupid things Hollywood has done over the years we could complain about but let’s start with the most recent. Yesterday Sony announced the release dates for not only The Amazing Spider-man 3 (due out June 10th, 2016) but 4 (due out May 4th, 2018) as well. What the hell?

First off The Amazing Spider-man did not set box office records or make as much money as the Tobey Maguire movies. Second it was critically acclaimed as Spider-man 2 was and a lot of Spider-man fans complained about how close it was to the 2002 original with regards to the story. Third even I hated it and I love me some Spider-man but Nolan won me over with his Batman films so now I’m more in love with The Dark Knight. And Fourth and this is the biggest point of why this is stupid is The Amazing Spider-man 2 is still filming, not in post, filming. No one has seen the movie put together and said “this is great, let’s continue”. Nothing, The Amazing Spider-man had an original cut that didn’t test well so it was re-cut and released and that version some didn’t care for either.

What this more or less screams is that Sony set the release dates for future Spider-flicks in an attempt to lock the rights to the characters they have in the Spider-man universe to keep them out of the hands of Marvel. That’s the only thing I can see because really only these superhero movies in the hands of their comic based companies (Marvel and DC) are the ones that have been translating well on the screen as of late………with the exception of Green Lantern. There is also the rumor that 2 will setup the introduction of the Sinister Six which will lead to a film with the most villains ever in a Superhero movie and might in turn make Spider-man 3 look like The Godfather by comparison. Either way, c’mon, I miss the days where sequels weren’t announced before the movie was released, can’t we go back to the days where the sequel gets announced after opening weekend?

(Note: the featured image is from the filming of Amazing Spider-man 2, feature Spidey fighting with pre-suited up Rhino. Yes, Rhino is in the movie as the 2nd villain to Electro, also featured is the introduction of: Mary Jane, Harry Osborne and Norman Osborne. So many new characters)

In 2006, Gerard Butler put on his tiny red undies and starred as King Leonidas in Zack Snyder’s 300. It was the story of the battle of Thermopylae against the evil Xerxes. Rise of an Empire is the story after that epic battle where the Persian army attempts to take over the rest of Greece. It’s really the story of Xerxes and his take overs.

With Zack Snyder pretty busy working on Man of Steel, he only co-wrote this one with the help of Kurt Johnstad and the film will be directed by Noam Murro.  Rise of an Empire stars Eva Green (Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace) and Rodrigo Santoro (300, Rio, Lost) and from the trailer, looks to follow the same style as 300 with lots of action scenes filled with blood that doesn’t actually hit the ground and slow-mo sequences.

Rise of an Empire doesn’t come out for almost a year, but this is a nice little taste of what’s sure to be many more trailers for this movie as we get close to March 2014.

The Stanley Cup finals are a great time and a bad time all at once. One one hand, we get to see the two best teams fight it out for the right to call themselves the Stanley Cup Champions! One the other hand, in about a week and a half or so, NHL hockey will be over for another year and we have a summer of baseball highlights to watch. But let’s just get on with the predictions.

Chicago Blackhawks vs Boston Bruins

Vishal: If you read my predictions for the 3rd round, you’ll know that I didn’t think that either of these teams would make the finals. I had a Pens/Kings finals set up, but that’s not to say I won’t be interested in watching this series. It’s basically all about the goaltending. Rask has been playing great for Boston, keeping Pittsburgh to only 2 goals in 4 games, but really, he hasn’t been tested that much. Crawford has an insane stat line for these playoffs as well so it should be a great battle there. I think Chicago just has too much fire power for Rask to handle though and I choose them as the winners.

Prediction: Blackhawks in 6

Cory: Looking back at the struggles the Bruins have had all playoffs it would appear that they haven’t had any……outside of the Toronto Maple Leafs. That’s right the team in the Cup final from the East nearly was taken out by the one team hated the world over outside of the Yankees. It is that reason right there that I am taking the Blackhawks. That and I always had the Blackhawks winning. The Rangers and Penguins should have given Bruins a test or two but they didn’t, but in both of those series Rask, the Bruins goaltender wasn’t really tested as their forecheck and defense stood tall. I don’t see that repeating here with the Hawks but I don think it will be close.

Predictions: Blackhawks in 7

The third round ended almost as quickly as it started. With all of the teams remaining having won a Stanley Cup in the last 4 years, everyone thought it would be a long, hard fought road to the finals. How wrong we all were. Let’s check out what actually happened.

Chicago Blackhawks vs. LA Kings

The best in the league vs the reigning Cup winners. It was set to be a great series. With LA being perfect at home, it seemed that all they needed was one victory in Chicago and they’d be off to the finals again. After Chicago took the first two at home, nobody was really worried since LA would tie up the series in LA. That didn’t happen though, and Chicago just went on to win it in 5.

Predictions:
Cory – Blackhawks in 6
Vishal – Kings in 7
RESULT – Blackhawks in 5

Boston Bruins vs Pittsburgh Penguins

Well, this series was a surprise. It’s not surprising so much that Boston won, they’re a very good team. It’s just the manner in which they won that was surprising. Boston swept the Penguins, only allowing 2 goals along the way. Not too shabby.

Predictions:
Cory – Penguins in 7
Vishal – Penguins in 6
RESULT – Bruins in 4

One of the biggest games due out later this year is the next installment of the Batman Arkham series. Who doesn’t love these games? When Arkham City was released both Vishal and I could not talk about the game enough and I’m pretty sure we would go out of our way to talk about it. Surprisingly we don’t have a review up for Arkham City but you can be damn sure we will post a review for Origins when it’s out on October 25th, 2013 available on Xbox 360 and PS3.

Check out the official gameplay trailer that was debuted by Warner Bros at the E3 expo currently wrapping up in the California and leave your thoughts in the comments. I’m excited but a little bummed that Mark Hammil and Kevin Conroy aren’t reprising their most iconic roles this time around but the game looks fantastic anyway,

I can truthfully say that I am not into Lord of the Rings. I have never seen any of the movies and when I tried to watch the Hobbit last year both attempts saw me checking out less than a half hour into the film. That does not mean I’m going to trash or mock or anything like that it’s just not my cup of tea but there are a lot of people who dig it and are crazy into it.

So for those who dig LOTR and the Hobbit today is an exciting day as Warner Bros has dropped the trailer for the second part of the Hobbit trilogy, The Desolation of Smaug. You can peep the video at the top of the post. For more on the film here are somme details: The second in a trilogy of films adapting the enduringly popular masterpiece “The Hobbit,” by J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug continues the adventure of the title character Bilbo Baggins (Freeman) as he journeys with the Wizard Gandalf (McKellen) and thirteen Dwarves, led by Thorin Oakenshield (Armitage) on an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor.

We’ve seen the Xbox One or as we like to call it here at GoVandC – the XB1, we’ve heard the god awful plans Microsoft has for the console with respect to used games and borrowing games from friends but what we haven’t seen thus far in the war of the Next Gen is the PS4 or Playstation 4. The console at least because Sony showed us what the controller will look like but all that has changed now, the console has debuted.

E3 is currently happening and video gamers everywhere are eating it up. Yesterday was Microsoft, EA Sports and Ubisoft’s demonstration/panel but it was the late day presentation that I was most looking forward to and that was Sony’s. Like I said I already know what Microsoft is bringing to the table and what the Xbox One looks like and offers and thus far have been unimpressed, what does the future of gaming from Sony look like? Well it looks like this.

It sure does look different and a bit awkward BUT unlike the Xbox One this bad boy doesn’t look like a VCR. Another big thing that Sony announced along side the revelation of what the PS4 will look like is that it too (like with Xbox One) will be released in November of this year AND will be priced at $399 a full one hundred dollars less than XB1. The first shot in the war of the Next Gen has been fired. Sony also will not be placing the limitations on used games like Microsoft is, second shot fired and lands. Plus Sony made it clear that their focus with the PS4 is gaming and NOT trying to take over the living room and be the Be All End All Entertainment device that Microsoft is forcing down our throats with the Xbox One. Well done Sony, you have my vote.

What do you think of the PS4 design?

The same day that the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes debuted their new uniforms (you can see those here) the team from the Lone Star State hired the crew from ABC’s Extreme Makeover to do just that, revamp the look of the franchise. Just like with the new look Canes, I feel this new look for the Stars is a big miss.

I’m not trying to be Mr. Negative or Mrs I just can’t believe by looking at THAT logo on front belongs to a professional hockey team IN the biggest hockey league in the world. It just screams minor league. I understand the reasoning behind putting a bevel on the logo to distinguish the D from the star but also in my opinion that’s what brings the look downward. The roundel logo which is the secondary logo I feel is the stronger of the two but it does make sense to have it as a secondary one given the overkill in the league with those.

I will give props to the Stars for their color palette, dropping the gold for silver is smart as it is a hard color to get to work (which they said, often looks like Brown…no offense to Vishal). Also dropping the gold does seperate the franchise from it’s Minnesota North Stars history a bit while retaining it’s linkage with the green. And what a green they used! It’s different, it’s bold, and it’s a good way to stand out in this league much like Nashville Predators did with that yellow.

So in the end while I don’t like the logo that’s namely tied to the logo design. The jersey’s again are going with the classic hockey look BUT unlike Carolina the color scheme on the look screams originality which is a plus in my book.

Your call, how did Dallas do with their new look?

The team spent the past week teasing us with images on their official Instagram account with the hashtag “NewStorm”. Well a new storm was brewing and it was the underwhelming new duds (pun?).

First let me say that these new uniforms are definitely NOT terrible they just are not very imaginative. I mean the first thing a buddy of mine said was before the big unveil and purely based on the teaser images was “I think these will look like Team Canada’s jerseys” and while I swore he’d be wrong, it’s pretty much on the nose with these.

The biggest craze in hockey these days is traditional hockey looks and on paper it sounds great but what we’re seeing now is that everyone is looking the same. The Home sweaters (the Red ones) look identical to Hockey Canada’s red sweater, and it also looks like the Red Wings home. If you’re trying to build an identity do you want to look like someone else? Maybe if that’s what you’re going for I guess.

How do you feel about the new look Hurricanes?

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Pens vs Bruins

Vishal - As with the first 2 rounds, I have to go with Pittsburgh again. They’re just an all around great team this year with a very deep lineup full of people who can score and a pretty good goalie to back them up. That’s not to say that Boston isn’t great, but they’ve played in a couple of tough series so far, so that’s likely to take a toll on them.

Prediction: Pens in 6

Cory - Pens in 7

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Blackhawks vs Kings

Vishal - If San Jose had beating the kings, this would have been an easy prediction for me. But since it’s LA, it’s a little bit harder. Chicago has the advantage of being an all around better team, the best team in the league all season. but LA has the advantage of being an incredible home team with a pretty great goalie in Jonathan Quick. Will it be enough? Surprisingly, I think it might be.

Prediction: Kings in 7

Cory - Blackhawks in 6

Every once in awhile, an app comes along that turns into a must have kind of thing. For BlackBerry users, those apps might be far and few between, with examples such as BeBuzz (Formerly BerryBuzz), Blaq (one of the best twitter clients on any platform), and few others. Although it’s only available for the BlackBerry 10 devices, I really believe that the app I’m about to review is one of must have apps for the platform.

It’s aptly called “The Last Weather App,” and for most people, it definitely will be the last weather app they’ll ever need. The thing I love about this app is that it’s minimalistic, offers the information you need to know quickly and effectively, and adds in some swear words to make it funny.

The splashscreen starts off with a basic message “Putting the F back in Forecast” and the loading screen tells you that it’s “Fetching info you already have. Just fucking wait and be patient, it may take a while”

That’s the real beauty of this app. It gives you basic information like where you are, the current weather conditions, and the temperature (in both degrees F and C). If that’s not enough for you, it tells you to “look outside for more information.” In the evening, the background turns black for better readability in the dark, which I found was a nice little touch.

That’s it, that’s all.

Sure there are tons of other weather apps, that give you a lot more information like wind speed, hourly and daily forecasts, maybe some cool animations, etc. I download weather apps like it’s going out of style and I have several different ones installed on all of my devices. They’re all good in their own way, but I found more and more than when I open up a weather app, all i want to know is current weather and maybe the weather for the next couple of hours.

That’s where The Last Weather App kills it. It’s the information I need at a glance, without any fancy stuff. It gets the job done and it gets it done well. It even comes with a fancy active frame so you don’t even need to go into the app once it’s open to get your information.

As it’s a pretty minimal app, it comes with minimal settings. Really, the only thing you can change is the language which is actually pretty cool. It offers 5 different language options including English, British English, Spanish, Italian, and Dutch. You also have the option to share your weather over text, BBM, email, twitter, facebook, and a handful of other apps. The last thing you can do, since it’s a BBM-connected app, is set your BBM personal message as the current weather.

While I may keep a few of my other weather apps for the extra details on the off chance that I need them, The Last Weather App is the one I turn to when I need a quick and accurate current weather report.

Oh, did I mention it was free? That’s right, one of the best apps available on the platform and it’s free. So there’s really no reason for you NOT to check it out if you have a BlackBerry 10 device. Go ahead and download it from BlackBerry World now!

For Cory and Vishal, May was filled with hockey, working, hockey, working, and a couple of movies. We’ve gotten through 2 rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs with the 3rd beginning right away. We hope you’ve been keeping up with all the posts this month, but if you haven’t, here are links to them all to make your life easier!

• NHL Playoff Predictions 2013
• Iron Man 3 Review
• Teenage Mutant After All!
• Platers Gonna Plate: OMOMMA
• Why Cross-Platform BBM is a good thing
• NHL Playoffs 2013: First Round Wrap Up
• NHL Playoff 2nd round predictions 2013
• V’s Tees: Hi 5!
• Go Watch: Batman Arkham Origins Trailer
• Review: Texas Chainsaw
• Is This The NEW Look For The Dallas Stars?
• Review: Oz the Great and Powerful
• Vishal & Cory Episode 3: Way Back Playback #2
• Transformers 4: Meet the bad guys…and Prime…and Bumblebee!
• NHL Playoffs 2013: Second round wrap up

So that’s it, that’s all for May. June will bring the end of the NHL playoffs, some more great movies, some other reviews, and a couple of Truth Be Told posts. But you’ll have to find come back and find out what those will be. You can always find us on Twitter or Facebook

The second round is over and the Conference Finals are set, and the teams that are in there are pretty much the ones we expected. It also turns out that the 4 teams remaining in these playoffs are the teams that have won the last 4 Stanley Cup Finals (LA in 2012, Boston in 2011, Chicago in 2010, and Pittsburgh in 2009…honorable mention to Detroit winning in 2008) With three out of the four series going to 7 games, it made for some good and exciting hockey. While the winners may have been expected, the way they got there wasn’t exactly what we though. Let’s break it down.

Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Ottawa Senators

So this one had a lot of different storylines and in the end, none of them really mattered. There was the Karlsson/Cooke thing, Spezza returning, Crosby playing or not, and of course, Daniel Alfredsson’s comments following the game 4 loss. Frankly, none of that matters and what it comes down to is that the better team won.

Predictions:
Cory – Pens in 6
Vishal – Pens in 5
RESULT – Pens in 5

Boston Bruins vs New York Rangers

So here’s the one series that both Cory and Vishal got wrong. They said that Lundqvist would be the better goalie and the Bruins would have been tired out from the last series against Toronto. While Boston may have been tired and Lundqvist being the better goalie, the result didn’t reflect that at all.

Predictions:
Cory – Rangers in 6
Vishal – Rangers in 6
RESULT – Bruins in 5

Chicago Blackhawks vs Detroit Red Wings

While you can never really count out the Red Wings in the playoffs, Chicago has just been having a fairy tale season…until this series of course. After 4 games, they found themselves down 3-1 in the series. But unlike Ottawa in their 3-1 deficit to Pittsburgh, the Blackhawks were a team that could actually win 3 games in a row against Detroit. And that’s exactly what happened. It was a wild finish with a goal called back sending game 7 into overtime, but Chicago still found a way to finish.

Predictions:
Cory – Blackhawks in 5
Vishal – Blackhawks in 5
RESULT – Blackhawks in 7

LA Kings vs SJ Sharks

This was the first series where the Kings were the higher seed in over a decade, and it proved to be the difference maker. In these playoffs, neither team had lost at home yet. And in the last 18 meeting between these two teams, the home team has won 17 of them. That’s exactly what happened this series. The home team won every game.

Predictions:
Cory – Kings in 6
Vishal – Kings in 6
RESULT – Kings in 7

The teams remaining have all had playoff success in the recent years, so there should be some amazing hockey going forward. All the teams are great and deserve to be there, keep an eye out on the GoVandC predictions for the third round!

Because we asked for a fourth movie, Michael Bay is giving us another one. The franchise featuring Robots in disguise along with wooden acting from it’s human counterparts is big money for Hasbro and Paramount so a fourth movie was going to happen eventually, that or a Sony still reboot a few years post the 3rd installment (see: The Not So Amazing Spider-man). Nevertheless behold two new characters aka insanely expensive cars (Bugatti and Corvette Stingray respectively) that will be showcases in the movie, both are said to be Autobots but outside of that not much is know of their characters:

But at the end of the day all we really care about in these movies is if big daddy will be showcased…….Optimus Prime. When Michael Bay said that the movie would feature a new cast and characters I feared Prime would get the boot but thankfully he will return and by the looks of the image below he got a pretty extensive upgrade and word is it’s custom build (not to be confused with custom faded).

The film starring Mark Wahlberg, Jack Reynor, Nicola Peltz, Stanley Tucci, Kelsey Grammer, Sophia Myles, Li Bingbing and T.J. Miller, the fourth installment “rolls out” (yeah I did that) on June 27, 2014.

UPDATE: Didn’t take long for the first shot of the upgraded Bumble Bee to get released. The model being used this time around is a modified 1967 Camaro SS, so the upgrade is kind of a downgrade when you think about it as it’s an older car. Notice Bumble Bee is more black this time around……more like a Hornet, I’m done.

Excited about the new movie, the cars, Prime’s new look? Leave your thoughts in the comments

So what do you do when Vishal and Cory aren’t available to record a new episode of their show? Well what you do is find an episode of a past show that you can use as filler until their schedule clears up and they can record an new installment. That is exactly what we have here…..again

For this installment of “Vishal & Cory” we take a listen to Episode 2 of Flipside where our heroes discuss friendships from their childhood, both the fun times and the not so fun times.

Enjoy.

We’re off to review the Wizard, the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, only this time the Wizard is James Franco and he’s not wonderful, in fact the Wizard is kind of a skirt chaser. That’s just the image and word you want to use to describe a movie character……..in a kid’s movie……….by Disney, but that’s how he is both written and portrayed here as a con man with a way with the ladies.

Oz: The Great and Powerful is a prequel story to the 1939 film by MGM. It seems so weird that in 2013 we’re talking about a movie that is telling the story of what happened prior to the one told in 1939 but that’s where we are now the creative bar is so low we’re going back to the 30s. The next thing you know “Step Up 32: the Charleston” will be hitting the big screen in 4D. Before I continue with the review of the movie, which I liked, allow me to ask this: How can we tell the story of how the Wizard got to Oz when it’s established in the original flick that Dorothy hit her head and everything was imagined with the Oz characters being versions of people she knew from back in Kansas? If that’s the case why did I waste 2 hours with Franco?

The film. We open in black and white, solid nod to “Wizard”, where Oz is seen working at the local circus and it’s established that he does not like his life and while he doesn’t like it and dreams of better days down the road he has no problem of making due, and by making due I mean conning the regular Joes with his magic act and sleeping with many many women. Again, stuff you want your kids to see. After a tornado blows through town and sweeps up poor old Oz who is escaping an angry boyfriend is his Hot Air Balloon (which kills over 1 American’s every year) Oz ends up in, you guessed it, Oz, where he meets a witch, Theodora the Good. Now in all fairness, if calling yourself so and so “the Good” isn’t foreshadowing what’s going to happen later on in the movie I don’t know what is. In their meeting Oz charms Theodora (played by Mila Kunis……..also miscast in my opinion) to the point where he teaches her how do dance cause she didn’t know how and they make out. Two things bothered me there: 1 – Again kids movie, they just met why are they making out / 2 – There is no dancing in Oz but making out is something she is fully versed in? It’s the things like that that bothered me throughout: Oz makes out with two witches and the 3rd implies they slept together.

Now that it’s 2013 and technology has advanced so far that CGI can make nearly anything happen I felt that the usage hear made Oz feel less like Oz and more like Disney’s “Alice in Wonderland”. It takes away from the movie experience when you’re watching characters walk and you know they are doing so in front of a green screen, I miss the sound stage days where it looks like a set. My other gripe with the film would be the call backs to the Original film, seeing a lion and calling him “coward” when you scare him off with an explosion, having to off the cuff ask why a witch doesn’t have a broom, the setup for the final act is a huge precursor to what he come to know about the Wizard. I truly felt that the story was designed as a 2 hour story to setup the Wizard of Oz despite this film being used to start a franchise for Disney. We all know the story you don’t have to have a brief conversation with some towns people and have them mention they can build a scarecrow. I was waiting for a turn to the camera wink to be “aaahhh, so now you know how the Scarecrow shows up in the Wizard of Oz, these people make him”. Outside of that and despite what you may take from here, I did enjoy the movie for what it was. The story was interesting, a little long but never boring, the supporting cast was good, it was a decent time revisiting Oz and I have no doubt I will check it out again as the Blu-ray version I watched looked amazing in HD.

Oz: The Great and Powerful is available on Blu-ray/DVD June 11th, 2013

Last night it would appear the Dallas Stars unofficially let slip their new logo(s) on their official iPhone app under the wallpaper section. Shortly after word spread of this logo the images were quickly removed from the app. The Stars organization only comment is that they will not comment and their official logo/uniform unveiling will be held on June 4th.

I love when team rebrand their franchises or go with new uniforms I don’t know why but it’s an interest of mine. Regarding the current branding of the Dallas Stars I feel they are in definite need of a new look especially when really the logo design originally came from their time in Minnesota as the North Stars. It’s nice to hang on to your roots but it’s nice to start new ones, especially when you’ve been in Texas for 20 years.

As for the leaked logos? I’m undecided at the moment and I’ll reserve my judgement and opinion until the full package is revealed on June 4th

Not everyone loves horror movies, not everyone loves gore. I am one who likes both. There is something to be said about the human mind that can come up with various scenes in movies in which characters are maimed or disfigured or brutalized, some say people who enjoy or create art like this is deranged or “messed up”, I for one think it’s a form of art that can be hilarious in film. I don’t find violence funny, not at all, what I find humorous about these movies is that someone was sitting in a room in front of computer screen writing that scene, that’s what I find funny that someone took the time to think of it and a studio to shell out x number of millions to film it. That being said there is nothing funny about Texas Chainsaw and NO not even “it’s so bad it’s funny”  it’s just plain bad.

The film kicks off seemingly at the tail end of the original 70′s movie and given that it’s target audience is our generation and we’re in our 20′s the odds of us sitting down to watch a nearly 40 year old movie is pretty slim. Kudos for trying to tie the franchise to it’s roots, and for the record that will most likely be the last time you read anything positive. So the after the tie in we jump to what appears to be present day where the main character learns she had a distant relative who died leaving her a huge estate. So she checks it out and shit happens. That’s about it, that’s pretty much what the story consists of.

Look I know horror movies are not suppose to be these well written masterpiece stories but you have to try somewhat with your screenplay. The SAW franchise changed the game for the current day horror movies until the remake fad crept in. To make matters worse is that you don’t care about any of the characters. I think at the beginning it’s established that our main character has a boyfriend and then later that night when they visit the estate he takes off and has sex with her friend. I guess their broken up now? But who cares cause they die. By the time the story tries to be interesting and take things to a different level then what’s been done in the previous versions of this franchise you just don’t care any more because the acting is terrible and the lack of plot for half the movie has turned you off.

If you want to check out Texas Chainsaw just go check out the original if you haven’t already because it’s a classic but if you can’t take aged films then the 2003 remake is like Citizen Kane compared to this garbage.

Texas Chainsaw is now available on Blu-ray/DVD