Where I've Been and Another Random Movie Roundup

I still don't know if I even have any "regular readers" here but for anyone that was worried that I haven't put anything up in over two weeks, I'll let you know.  Even though I want to keep this an entertainment-type blog, I try to live my life like an open book for anyone that wants to know.  In short, I have depression and it got a hold of me over these past few weeks, culminating into being checked into the Psych Unit for almost 4 days.  Now, I have (more) pills (for now) and a slightly better outlook on life (for now).  That's about all there is to say, really, without going into any details.  A very stupid part of me was hoping staying there would be a lot like the upcoming movie "It's Kind Of A Funny Story" where there would be a girl my age to hook up with and Zach Galifianakis would be my kooky roommate, all accompanied by an indie soundtrack and the titles would be hand-written.  But there were no cute girls my age, no funny guys in beards and (thankfully) no hand-drawn title cards.  I was there, got some pills, got some info then got out.  That's about all there is to say.  It wasn't all that exciting, but I'll tell you, missing two weeks of work and getting a whopping $50 paycheck is pretty exciting, much like riding a rollercoaster with sections of the track missing is exciting.

In other news, I checked my email earlier today to find that Russell Brand wants to be my friend on MySpace.  First of all, people still use MySpace?  I sure as hell don't.  And secondly, I'll friend him only if I get a crack at Katy Perry.  Dude used to be a junkie (and still looks like one) so I'm sure he knows how deals like these work.

Nic-Cellence: The Films of Nicolas Cage - #1 Ghost Rider

In what may become a regular installment of Sarcasmatron, I will pay tribute to one of the greatest actors of our generation: Sir Nicolas Cage.  And yes, I realize that I'm about as "regular" as a once a week crap so I don't know how often my homage-paying will be but I hope this will at least be the start of something fun.  So let's get started with the first film chosen by you, the readers...well, READER since only one of you voted.  But before we begin, let me talk about about the way I'll be judging this film and determining if they are worthy of "Nic-Cellence."

Random Quickie: What I'm Doing and What's Ahead

Hey readers.  I just now realized that I need some sort of endearing/insulting name for my readerbase.  Sarcasmites?  Sarcasmatroglodytes?  But first, I need to get a readerbase to begin with.  Anyway, I hope you guys liked my look at the Summer Movie Season this past weekend.  Plus I'm glad to see some of you enjoyed my review of Murder Set Pieces from a few weeks back...all 3 of you.  There was one person who chose the "Too long, didn't read" option, which I'm surprised no one else picked.  I will be doing another movie review soon but will be toying around with a slightly different (and possibly shorter) format.  Once again, I'll be keeping this movie a surprise but this time I think it'll definitely get more of a reaction than "Man Stabs Whores: The Movie".  But before I do that, I think I'm going to do my "Favorite Hot Chicks" article first.  It's just something I kinda want to get out of my system now, plus it'll be an excuse to post gratuitous pics of girls for no real reason.  Anyway, I'm not going to do a major blog here right now (especially considering I just finished a two-parter that I didn't realize would be a two-parter).  This one is just a recap of what I've been up to lately.

A Look At The 2010 Summer Movie Season - Part 2

Before I start looking at the movies opening in July and August, I will say that I actually did go to the theaters last night.  And what did I see?  Well it wasn't The Human Centipede since there were no places near me playing it.  And it wasn't Nightmare On Elm Street because reviews haven't been kind (going so far as someone from the New York Times saying "this is why your generation sucks", which is a statement I need to make more often).  Surprisingly, the only person I've found that actually liked the Elm Street remake was The Cinema Snob.  I usually trust his opinion so I may check it out on DVD someday but I'm in no rush.  So what did I see?  Kick Ass.  Yup, for a second time.  And it was just as awesome as I remembered it.  I rarely go see a movie in theaters more than once.  The only movies I can remember going to see twice were Spider-Man and Jackass: The Movie.  Other than Nightmare on Elm Street and Kick Ass, the only real option presented to my friends and I was The Losers.  I was pretty psyched up to see The Losers a few weeks ago but Kick Ass looked so much better, even when presented with the decision of going to see it a second time.  And with opinions ranging from "Don't bother" to "Pretty good", with no one saying "OH MY GOD! You have to see this movie right now!", I figured I can wait until DVD.  I'm pretty psyched for Iron Man 2 next weekend and would like to see it in IMAX but I think the only IMAX theater near me is in Detroit.  And who wants to go to Detroit?

Anyway, let's dive back in, starting with July:

Kick-Ass Review, Eating a Double Down and Living To Tell The Tale and Fuckin' Magnets.

Yesterday I did two things I've been looking forward to doing for a few months now.  Chief among the two was going to see Kick-Ass.  I'll have more detailed thoughts on that later but first I wanted to talk about something else.  After months of testing, research and deliberation and after a week or so of waiting, I finally took the plunge.

Yes, I ate a Double Down.  And somehow I'm still here to write this.

Bangkok Dangerous vs Bangkok Dangerous

After the past couple weeks, I've almost finally gotten through the huge stack of movies I accumulated during the closing of a Blockbuster Video store.  Actually I only have one movie left in the stack, that being Thirst (the Park Chan-Wook vampire flick).  Of course, I still have the Ringu anthology that I bought BEFORE I got all those movies, not to mention my copy of Rambo that doesn't work (along with my buddy's copy that I might burn instead).  Oddly enough, I had decided to put off watching both versions of Bangkok Dangerous until this past week for whatever reason, despite getting both movies early on in my period of plundering the Blockbuster shelves.  And yes, for those who are just starting to read this blog and/or had no prior idea, Bangkok Dangerous starring Nicolas Cage is in fact a remake of a Thai movie made almost a decade earlier.  Honestly, I think I had only a vague recollection of this and it completely slipped my mind until I went to Blockbuster and found just one copy of the original sitting on the shelf (compared to the 20+ copies of the Hollywood version that they were practically handing out at $3.99).  Immediately upon seeing them both, I got the idea to watch them both back-to-back and figure out what, if any, differences there were.