No More PC Posts

As you may have noticed, this Blog has not been updated for more than a YEAR. Because of school, my other blog, and me being on TWO social media sites, Facebook and Twitter, I have decided to stop posting to this blog. I originally started the blog as an attempt to put all the Batman and Star Trek posts on their own site, and later on ALL Pop Culture-related Posts, so I could focus my other blog on my life. It backfired since I joined FaceBook AND Twitter making it almost redundant. From now on, any PC-related posts will now be on my Original Blog. As for this site, I'll leave it on for a while, although I will slowly delete posts and post updated editions of them on my other blog.

Here's the Blog: http://j31-joelgarcia.blogspot.com/

Until Next Time (on my Other Blog),
Joel Garcia
2012

Disney Movies I've Never FULLY Seen

Despite the fact that I have a huge collection of Disney movies, with Disney VHSs and DVDs being the majority of their respective medias in my home (It's 2nd in my Blu-ray collection due to Batman), there are several Disney animated movies I've never seen. In addition, the majority of the VHSs are Sing-Alongs. In this post, inspired by my recent purchase of Bambi, a movie I never saw until today, and a debate with two of my friends, I've decided to talk about the Disney animated films I've never seen. To make it more specific, I'm only talking about the full-length films and which of those I have never seen.

1. Dumbo: The oldest film I have yet to see, with the only sequence I have seen from the film being the Pink elephant sequence (which is freaky!).
2. Lady and The Tramp: The only thing I've seen from that film is the Spaghetti scene.
3. Sleeping Beauty: I've seen it in Spanish, but not in English.
4. 101 Dalmatians: I've only seen the live-action ones and heard the "Cruella DeVil" song.
5. Robin Hood: I've seen only small clips.
   
6. Both The Rescuers films: As it turns out, there are two, and I've seen neither, not even the one with the secret photo!
7. The Black Cauldron: It's a Disney film?!
8. The Great Mouse Detective: You'd think I would have seen this film by now, since it's Sherlock Holmes, but I have not.
9. Oliver & Company: From what I've seen from the trailers, it's WAY too '80s.
10. Brother Bear: By the time this film came out, I had stopped watching Disney films when they originally came out to theaters. And now I think it's too boring.
11. Home on The Range: What do you do when you put Roseanne and Cows? A series of hilarious jokes and metaphors, and definitely a bad idea for a film, which is why I have yet to see it.
12. Bolt: Unlike the last three, I do want to see this film, since it's Miley Cyrus and John Travolta!

If you're wondering if I excluded any movies from this list, it's Tangled, as I am planning to rent that film once it becomes available to rent. If I ever do see these films in their entirety, I'll update this post.

Until the Next Time I Wish Upon a Star (and not get sued by the Mouse),
Joel Garcia
2011

Superman: The Reviews (Part 3) Finale

For Part 1 (The first three Superman movies), go here. For Part 2 (Superman IV), go here.

In this third and final part, I review the last two live-action Superman films, specifically Superman Returns and Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut. It took me longer to finish this post due to school work, that and my Superman Returns BD took longer than I thought. Anyways, here we go.

Superman Returns, released in 2006, was the culmination of over 20 years of production, delays, Christopher Reeve's death, and multiple directors and writers. Bryan Singer left the X-Men franchise to direct this film, and the film starred Brandon Routh as the Man of Steel and Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor. Aside from one hilarious internet meme ("Superman will... WRONG!"), the film tries to continue the franchise's story, by ignoring Superman 3 and 4, and by following the first two, mostly shown by the late Marlon Brando as Jor-El and John Williams' "Superman" Theme song being used along with "Can You Read My Mind".

The problem with watching the film is one that the back-story get lost to people who either did not watch the originals or are watching their first Superman film. My major peeve (and one of a few) with the film was a line which can barely be heard and requires good hearing (or just turn on the subtitles). Right after Lex beats up Superman, his henchmen grab him and Superman then says "I'm Still Superman!" Why would he say that when he's being beaten the crap out of him?! Unlike the previous films, which I own on DVD, I own this film on Blu-ray after sending it to WBShop.com's DVD2Blu program, and it looks great in HD. Now I want the other four on BD.

Finally, there is Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut. In Part One, I did talk about the other version of the film, directed by Richard Lester, and how that one was badly edited. Some can make a similar case with this film, but it works for this one. This version features Marlon Brando as Jor-El, which helps fill up EVERY plot-hole from the first movie. Because the film was released in 2006, the film uses a combination of late 70s and Mid-2000s graphics and imagery throughout the film. In addition, it shows respect for Returns by using their "S" in the beginning and somewhere else, but I've already said too much. If you didn't like the original Superman II, then WATCH THIS VERSION!

And that's about it! I have successfully reviewed all six live-action Superman movies! I might do it again for Batman, but don't count on it.
Until Next Time,
Joel Garcia
2010

Superman: The Reviews (Part 2)

For Part 1, Click here.

While Part 1 of my post focused on the first three Superman movies, this whole post is dedicated to what many consider the worst Superman movie (and probably the worst Superhero movie ever). I'm of course talking about Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, or the last movie from my Superman: 4 Film Favorites DVD which I have not reviewed.

Let's start with a brief story. After the third Superman, the Salkinds, who produced the first three, produced Supergirl, and after seeing how Superman III did not impress critics, and Supergirl's box office failure, they gave up the rights to Cannon-Globus (a company whose movies today rest with several owners, such as Viacom). A while after receiving the rights, the company went up to Christopher Reeve (who played Superman, but you know that already) and talked to him about bringing back Superman. After making an agreement which would later give Reeve the ability to create his own movie (Street Smart), production slowly began on Superman IV. Now it's time to talk about why this movie truly sucks.

1. The opening sequence: Whereas the first had beautiful flying blue credits in space, these look like someone made them for a 80s business meeting and someone then said, "Hey, let's put them on the big screen!"
2. The farm sequence: It's not the acting, but the fact that it looks like the end of an era, what with Clark's parents both dead and the look of the abandoned barn.
3. Jon Cryer (Yes, Alan from Two and a Half Men): In the film, he plays Lenny Luthor, Lex's young and smart nephew. While it was intended for Cryer to bring more youth into theaters, he just tries too hard and winds up being a "Cousin Oliver".
4. Atomic Man: Instead of using a villain from the comic book, they made up a character called Atomic Man, played by Mark Pillow. To make things worse, this was his ONLY movie. He today is a wine distributor in Texas.
5. The budget: When Superman IV was being produced, Cannon-Globus was producing several films, and because of that, the film did not receive enough money to keep several of the special effects crew and shoot in New York. The film clearly shows the side-effects of the budget cuts, such as how Superman can only fly in one position when he's not in space, why wires can be clearly seen in the Atomic Man/Superman moon scenes, and numerous other errors.
6. The Run-time: While the first film lasted 143 minutes (a feat matched/beaten only by Nolan's Batman films), this film lasted 90 minutes. A major reason for the reduced run time is due to several deleted scenes, most of which feature a removed subplot, more attacks, and even an alternate ending.

Knowing all this, you'd think Superman IV would at least score somewhat higher than Batman & Robin, another movie people say sucks, just because of Christopher Reeve. That's where you'd be wrong. According to Rotten Tomatoes.com (which relies on how many critics like movies and tallies them up in percentages), Superman IV: The Quest for Peace has a percentage of 10%, while Batman & Robin has a percentage of 11%. As for the first Superman, that film has a percentage of 94%.

That concludes Part 2 of my reviews. In Part 3, I will review the last two live-action Superman movies released: Superman Returns (The Blu-Ray Edition) and Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut.
Until Then,
Joel Garcia
2010

Superman: The Reviews (Part 1)

Recently, I bought for only $10 the DVDs Superman: 4 Film Favorites and Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut. Unlike Batman, who since the 1960s has released 7 movies, Superman, on the other hand, has only 5 (6 if you count Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut). In this and another post, I will review each and every Superman movie in the briefest manner.

1. Superman: The Movie: The first movie, released back in 1978, featured Marlon Brando as Jor-El, Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor, and Christopher Reeve as Superman, is simply a masterpiece. While people may complain it's too long (it runs for 143 minutes, or 2 hours and 23 minutes), I would also tell them that BOTH of Nolan Batman films run around the same time (the first at 140 minutes and the second at 152 minutes), although to be fair, most of the action occurs in the latter half of the film, with the first half just being the origin story. Despite Donner stating he would have preferred a different ending, the idea of Superman turning back time to save Lois is just beautiful. Also, who doesn't like Superman flying away as the sun rises?
2. Superman II (Lester Cut): I watched this movie before watching Donner's cut, and prior to watching Donner's Cut, I thought the film was decent. After watching Donner's cut, I thought the film was badly edited. To make it brief, Lester's edit is basically the one with more comedy jokes (such as the french fries joke and the Eiffel Tower sequence). The film was directed by two people, with Lester doing 70% of the film and Donner footage too expensive to shoot used for the remaining 30%. Lester's footage was pretty good, but after the first film, you'd expect something better. The only good sequence I can think of still liking after watching Donner's cut is simply Superman bringing back the American flag to the White House.
3. Superman III: This film, fully directed by Richard Lester, features Reeve again as Superman, alongside Annette O'Toole (Yes, Clark Kent's mom on Smallville) as Lana Lang, and Richard Pryor as Gus. To be fair, I like Pryor (I once saw Brewster's Millions and found it funny), but with him, the film feels what today could be called a bad YouTube mash-up, as the film alternates between Superman and his conflicts (such as that awesome fight between him and his alter ego) and Pryor's comedy, such as how he is thrown out of his boss' building only with a sheet and some skates. This film is notable as it's the only one where Lex Luthor does not appear at all, with the character supposedly still being in jail and the enemy being Gus's boss Webster, played by Robert Vaughn of The Man from U.N.C.L.E..

The DVDs that includes these films (along with Superman IV) is the 4 Film Favorites DVD, which is essentially Disc 1 of Superman: The Movie's Special Edition, Disc 1 of Superman II's Special Edition, and the Deluxe Editions of the latter two, all on two Flipper discs. The reason I decided not to review Superman IV in this post is because it needs its own special post.

Until Part Two,
Joel Garcia
2010

Five More Movies I Still Don't Own

Unless you haven't read an old post on my other blog (which has a similar title), then you may not understand this one. Ever since that post, I have managed to buy the first two movies on that list, although I'm still waiting for Goldeneye on Bluray, and I'm looking for cheaper versions of Khan (on BD) and Brady. This post refers to five more movies I'm interested in buying, aside from the aforementioned ones.

1. Disney's Beauty and the Beast: Aside from being an Oscar-nominated movie, it is one of the few English movies I also like watching in Spanish (mostly because I first saw it in Spanish, then occasionally in English). I DO have this movie, but only on Spanish VHS, and I am considering buying it when it comes to Blu-ray this November.
2. The Uncut version of Batman Beyond: Return of The Joker: Technically, I own the film, although on a Double-Sided disc with Mystery of the Batwoman, but it only includes the edited version. Unless you've never seen both edits, there are several differences throughout the film, the most obvious being how the titular villain dies (for more on that, click here).
3. The Truman Show: This drama, with a pinch of comedy, features Jim Carrey in one of his few dramatic roles. In the film, Carrey plays Truman, a man whose life is being shown to everyone around the world as a TV show (like The Hills, only with one guy NOT being an actor). I especially like it because of how he slowly becomes aware of everything around him being a TV show. As for this film, there are both DVD and Blu-ray editions of the films, but I'm probably going for the DVD since they're almost the same (aside from the HD).
4. Back to the Future: I'm referring to the first one, in which Marty (Micheal J. Fox) goes back to 1955 and blah blah blah... I was going to originally buy the new 2009 edition (which includes The Ride video), but now I'm considering whether or not to buy it since I heard they've announced they're releasing the film, along with the other two, on Blu-ray.
5. Micheal Jackson's Moonwalker: Unlike the other four, which I either already own or am looking for online, this one does not have an official Region 1 release (unless you count those Asian bootlegs on Amazon). This film, as the title states, stars Micheal Jackson and is composed of several music videos and shorts mostly based on his then-recent album Bad, with the exception of "Come Together", which was released a few years later in the album HIStory. The film is owned by Warner Bros., due to acquiring former owner Lorimar, but the film has yet to be officially released in the U.S.. Currently, the only way to get it is either through the aforementioned bootlegs or an imported Blu-ray or DVD, which can easily be found oddly over in Mexico (and they're Legit!).

And that's about it for now.
Until Next Time,
Joel Garcia

The only NBC Primetime shows I still watch

NOTE: This does not include syndicated programming, Daytime, Late Night, the News, or any Primetime shows I only watch once in a while.

1. Heroes
2. Law & Order
3. Law & Order: SVU
4. The Office
5. 30 Rock

And that's it.
Until Next Time,
Joel Garcia
2010