We usually cringe when we see a remake coming these days. The Longest Yard was no exception, especially when we saw the Burt Reynolds role would be played by Adam Sandler. Hollywood has recently given us remakes such as Walking Tall. Now, we love The Rock, we definitely smell what he's cooking. But we're pretty sure that remake would make Buford Pusser want to lay some serious smackdown on Rocky's rooty poo candy ass.
But, The Longest Yard pleasantly surprised us. In fact, I daresay I think it is more entertaining than the original as I laughed pretty much the entire time.
Furthermore, it looks like this movie is the first poster child this summer for why Movies for Guys even exists. Based on what we've seen, if you open up your local newspaper and consult your local film critic, they're going to give you a very lukewarm review of this film.
Most critics cant help but overanalyze it, and many have forgotten how to enjoy a movie. You really need to see these guys at a screening sometime, especially one mixed with a regular audience. The audience will be laughing and enjoying the film, and then there's these 3-4 rows roped off in the theater for press, and they'll be sitting there all stoic like they're waiting their turn at the dentist's office.
We loved the movie, we say go see it. So far everyone we've talked to who has seen it agrees. Yet the mainstream press gives it lukewarm reviews, did they even see the same movie?
This is why we're here and why we keep doing this site. Take the Pepsi challenge. Go see The Longest Yard, then read what 2-3 of your favorite critics have to say about it, then go read our review. Let us know who got it right.
As you can see, the site has gone through a facelift today. The goal was to make it look more modern, and also make it easier to read.
The change isn't 100% complete at the moment, so you may run into the occasional page that has the older look, but the transformation should be complete within the next 24 hours.
Ok, so we couldn't resist going to one of the midnight shows. The crowds were incredible, showtime was 12:01, and the megaplexes were packed out by 10PM. Our local AMC handles the crowds very well and wisely made lots of exceptions to their normal rules and procedures. Everytime a screen would sell out, they'd add one more. At the time we went in, they were up to 9 screens. Wisely they treated all 9 screens as general admission, which was very cool. Once you're in, you could pick from all of the screens and find the one with the size screen and available seats that met your particular groups' needs. Kudos to AMC!
And yes, there were geeks in costume. Many light saber fights broke out before security would step in and make them stop. All in good fun, but liability suggests no theater manager can tolerate geeks swinging things at each other. They also posed in groups in front of the screen before the film started. Although my immediate reaction to this stuff is always to want to encourage them to move out of their mom's basement and go get a real job, you've gotta be impressed that a movie, or series of movies, can illicit that type of passion.
I have often stated that DVDs and VCRs have ruined the movie going experience because parents use them as babysitters. We now have a full generation of movie-goers who largely do not respect seeing a movie as a special experience, but rather as a way to pass time. And consequently they have a tough time sitting quietly for 2 hours. I must say the Star Wars fans had no such problem. They were very quiet and well behaved, only reacting when they should've. And I dont recall seeing more than one or two people getting up and leaving their seats during the movie. These people came to enjoy a movie.
And despite what Chris might say, I think they did. Time and numbers will tell for sure. You'll all have to forgive our boy Chris for showing his true fan boy colors and being unable to resist overanalyzing the movie and dissecting it like Ebert cutting thru a Michael Bay film.
Okay, Revenge of the Sith wasn't as bad as The Phantom Menace, but I feel pretty ripped off. I have a feeling that the online critics (like the fat red-head) who have been raving about RotS were paid off by Lucasfilm. This is not the movie we've been waiting to see.
I know I've made jabs at Star Wars and Star Wars fans, but I'm just as big of a geek as the rest of you. And right now I feel cheated. All the big moments I've been waiting for... and they're filled with emptiness. I won't go into spoilers until after this weekend when most people will get a chance to see it, but I know they will get hashed out on this site.
I saw the movie with a fellow MFG reviewer tonight, and he had a very similar opinion. As did the other people we saw it with. And judging by the lack of enthusiasm from the audience, Lucas might have a turkey on his hands.
You've read all the interviews where Lucas talks about RotS being darker than the other movies and probably won't do that well at the box office. And that the PG-13 rating will hurt it. I think that he was just hedging his bets, because he knew that RotS not being a very good movie will probably hurt it at the box office most of all.
Lucas was right when he referred to RotS as "Titanic in space". Moments after the opening crawl, this ship began to sink. It stopped a few times and seemed like it might resurface, but those were fleeting moments. In the end, I felt like a fat British chick floating on a piece of debris blowing a whistle to someone... anyone... to rescue me. Alas, it was not to be. My faith in George Lucas went down with the ship.
The best moment of the movie (and the prequels) should have been Anakin's final transformation into the Darth Vader we all know and love from the Original Trilogy. Instead, we get a scene that is as groan-inducing as any Jar Jar moment we've seen. I wish I was kidding about that. I really do.
I'm going to sleep on it, but at this point I'd have to say that Attack of the Clones is the best of the prequels. And as a Star Wars fan, that really saddens me.
For years NBC was king and now they can't get anything to go in their favor. Long gone are the days of Seinfeld, Friends, Frazier, Cheers, and too many to count Stephen J. Cannell shows, so what next?
Coupling fell apart before the glue could dry... The Office, well it just plain sucked... Joey can't survive ain't got no friends. The list goes on and on and each one a bigger disappointment than the one before. NBC, according to the upcoming 2005-06 schedule is going to be dead last in my opinion and if you read below you will see why. These show titles are subject to change but judging by how crappy they are they will probably stick. Here we go - First a new drama (we all need more of those), set in the Pentagon titled E-Ring. Why? We know what is going on from the news and internet so do we really need another liberal spin on why? I don't. Better to just flush that one right on down the O-Ring. Second, another drama set in the middle of the ocean about freaky underwater creatures called Fathom. I think I saw that one on NBC back in the 90's... It was called Seaquest. Might be kind of cool so that means it will get cancelled by the network due to cost not ratings. Third and final drama (and I am so glad), this title can best be described - well the title itself sums it up better than I ever could. It is called 'Inconceivable'. Some suck butt med drama set in a fertility clinic. WTF???
3 new comedies are also in the future Thick and Thin ( not sure what it's about), 4 Kings (know even less about this one), and last but not least My name is Earl. Earl stars Jason Lee who plays a crook that wins the lottery... Why Brody, why?
If any of those shows sound like good concepts to you I want to hear why and then I can tell you why you re wrong. The phones are open and operators are standing by.
As we're anxiously awaiting Star Wars Episode III, we cant help but think back on how things have changed since the original Star Wars (Episode IV).
In 1977 part of the appeal of the Star Wars story was the classic struggle of good versus evil. Darth Vader, dressed all in black, was the ultimate bad guy, feared the universe over. All you had to do was hear him breath to get a cold chill. Then you had Luke Skywalker, innocent and pure good guy. Everyone rooted for Luke and knew Darth was pure evil in that first movie.
Times have changed. We live in a society now, influenced by things like "hip hop", where thugs are often glamorized. And it's now cool to be the bad guy. Our favorite characters often live in shades of grey, there are no white hats or black hats.
Even the Star Wars franchise isn't immune to this. Think about Episode I and Episode II. The pure and innoncent Jar Jar Binks? Wouldn't you like to cut him to bits with a light saber and feed him to a bunch of hungry wookies? So far the Jedi Knights have come across as naive pawns of a bloated dysfunctional beauracracy who are letting their kingdom fall into the hands of an enemy they do not even recognize right before their very eyes. Who is the coolest character of Episode I or Episode II? I think most people will say Darth Maul. The only one to rival him so far is Yoda who gets strong points for being the surprising and unlikely bad ass.
Is it even possible for Lucas to make Darth Vader so dark and evil that he is truly viewed as a pure villain by the audience? I doubt it, I think he's going to be viewed by many in 2005 as "cool". I will go so far as to say I wouldn't be surprised if he gets some applause from the more enthusiastic opening day audiences much as Yoda did in Episode II.
Society here on earth has crossed over to the dark side.
According to USA Today Episode 3 too violent for the kiddies... Yeah Yeah
Star Wars Preview Audience Warns: Leave the Kids Home A select group invited to attend a screening of Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith have come away praising the film but expressing doubts that it will attract the huge family audiences that its predecessors did. USA Today cited numerous examples of graphic violence, including one scene in which a character "catches fire, screaming in agony while the flesh peels off his body." The newspaper quotes Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader) as saying that he is unable to predict how audiences will react to the violence. "The first two [episodes] did a lot to create a young fan base," he remarked. "I'm not sure how they're going to react to some of these scenes if they see them."
What does this mean for MFG? It means we will love it even more than we were already expecting to.
As of today we only have 2 weeks until the defining moment of mine and most geeks childhood existence's culminate and we can become reclusive trolls never to be seen again. Sad? A little. True? You know it is.
Anyone who knows me knows I ALWAYS wait for the movie. I never read anything that cant be read in the time it takes me to sit on the throne and get rid of a really nasty batch of mexican food. So obviously I had never read the book either.
I was mostly entertained, except for that slow spot in the middle which put me to sleep. Nice effects, and fairly humorous despite being British. I'd recommend seeing it, but I dont understand why anyone would be fanatical about it.
I do now understand where tons of handles belonging to geeks all over the net come from though. No idea why someone would take their handle from a cheeky British novel, but at least now I know where they come from. And babblefish, now I get it! And Deep Thought, Deep Blue.....I get it!
I just want to take a moment to apologize for JC's lack of understanding on all things Hitchhiker. Apparently he isn't enough of a geek to keep up with a plotlines involved in HGTG, and probably doesn't get even a tenth of the references to geek culture that sprang up from the Mind of Adams.
We should consider firing him. What? He's not paid? Oh yeah, none of us are. Damn.
