I would like to reiterate my earlier contention that the use of your weapons against me is completely without merit!

Posted by Brandon

Anyone over the age of 15 can probably remember those beautiful, bygone days called The Nineties. They were a magical time of slap bracelets, torn jeans, and great cartoons. Why, who among us does not recall fondly our first FPS (which was either DOOM or Quake) or our first Block Buster Action movie? Yes, the Nineties were indeed a fantastic age of 2D graphics, cartoon violence, good music and school shootings. It was a great time to be alive.

This was made moreso by a show that is very dear to my heart. It was a very simple show. You didn’t come here to watch flashy graphics or great plots, no sir. In fact, there was hardly a plot at all. To the casual observer, it probably wouldn’t have made much sense at all. This show, my friends, was MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATRE 3000.

In a not too distant future…

 

Mystery Science Theatere 3000 (MST3K) was a show about a man trapped in space with a bunch of robots who was forced to watch terrible movie after terrible movie. The only thing keeping those poor fellows sane was their sense of humor. Using rapiers made from their razor sharp intellects, they would mercilessly tear to shreads each and every film they observed, and without fail, it was hilarious.

 

Well, until it got cancelled.

 

Yes, like all good things MST3K was eventually cancelled (after being picked up by several networks and then run into the ground). Luckily, however, it lives on in DVDs and the glorious internet. A great list of them can be found here:

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=MST3K

 

For those of you who have never seen an MST, I suggest episode 820, SPACE MUTINY.

 

Many of us fans, though, have long awaited the triumphant return of our favorite series. Well, my friends, your prayers have been answered.

 

Kind of. http://www.rifftrax.com/

 

Rifftrax is the creation of Mike Nelson, star and head writer of MST3K. It’s one part Wizard People, one part MST. You rent a movie (through a service such as Netflix) and you buy the track, then download it. Then, while watching the movie, you play the downloaded track over the audio, just like MST3K. For two dollars a track, it seems like quite a bargain! And for people who love MST3K, this definately seems like a deal that should not be passed up.

With brame the newest entertainments

Posted by brame.

Topics to discuss:

1) “V for Vendetta” release
2) Showbread’s “Age of Reptiles”
3) Protest the Hero’s “Kezia”
4) My renewed love of ska (a preview of the next article)

First off, “V for Vendetta” is coming out on dvd August 1st. Can’t wait another 2 hours, it is seriously one of the greatest movies ever produced by mankind. Mainstream? Yes. But I can deal with that. It’s one of those movies that I see the preview for and think “that looks pretty good,” then I watch it and it is frickin’ awesome. Point is, behind “Darko,” greatest movie ever created. (Scatterbrained, I know.)

2) The new Showbread album, “Age of Reptiles,”is also being released the same day as “V.” I wanted to get a jump start, so thanks to Demonoid, I already have it. If I could do the review of my first impressions in one word it would be: disappointing. After the brilliant, melodic, harmonious screams of Josh and Ivory on “No, Sir,” you would think the band could only get better. Instead they revert to less screaming, nearly no screaming to be exact. Just listening to the album infuriates me. There are seriously only three tracks I enjoy. They are: “Oh! Emetophobia,” “Centipede Sisters,” and the title track “Age of Reptiles.”

 

Lazored. Since I’m a Photoshop guru, I threw together this picture of “No, Sir” lazoring “Age of Reptiles.” Signifying my extreme hatred for Showbread’s new album comparatively to the last one.

3rd – Go buy Protest the Hero’s latest album “Kezia.” Even though it is a year old, I just found them thanks to Matt. I don’t really like metal except for some of the more technical stuff. These guys throw down some tech metal. Next to BTBAM it is truly some of the best I’ve heard.

Finally, a preview: Back in the day I listened to a band known as Five Iron Frenzy. They are dead, RIP. They really got me into ska, but not until after they were gone did I look into other ska bands. Anyways, I’ve come to discover quite a few. Including some of what one might call “skacore” (ska with yelling). I’ve come to respect the genre and it makes some of the greatest live music. Point is, I’ll give you the full story next time, with some of my skaggestions (lolololololololololz).

Push it to the Limit

“Come on in. The door’s unlocked.”

posted by brame.

“A Scanner Darkly,” in a few words, is “Fear and Loathing” in suburban America. The movie was quite good, I thought. Not only did I think it, but I also said it. Though I never read the book, the script was apparently a good representation of the it. I plan on reading the book (after I finish South of the Pumphouse and now Emma), but I’m yet to purchase it. Anyways, Terry Gilliam (the mastermind behind “Fear and Loathing”) planned on making this film years before Linklater picked it up. Gilliam’s ideas were scrapped, but it seems Linklater’s script may have been somewhat influenced by the dialogue of Hunter S. Thompson (or Raoul Duke, whoever you wish to refer to him as). The movie’s script is now a major selling point for me. I thought I would be impressed solely by story and animation, but the script truly takes gold to animation’s silver and plotline’s bronze.

Moving on, the art direction (I hate to be that guy) was insanely awesome. I believe Brad agrees with me on this one. He said on the way out he really liked the animation. And apparently cel-shading is much harder to accomplish than normal CG animation. So I beg you Disney/Pixar, stop making bad CG children’s films. All of them are crappy minus two (“A Bug’s Life” and “Toy Story” if you must know). Anyways, toy bugs aside, the cel-shading was perfect for this movie. Elements such as “scramble suits” (a suit cops wore to protect their identities that constantly change their appearance) and the opening “bug scene” were balanced perfectly between a cartoonish imagination and a realistic portrayl of the future. Perhaps the film’s animation style will open the door for even television series to work with this concept. More from Wired.


Scramble suits

Freck and the “bugs”

Although I said before that Linklater had not found his niche he certainly pulled this one off very well in my opinion. His portrayl of the characters was flawless. When I walked out of the theatre there was not a character that I thought was underdeveloped. All of them also well acted. I was especially impressed with Robert Downey Jr.’s portrayl of James Barris. Let me tell you, I hate Robert Downey Jr., but I can’t say any other character was acted better that his own, James Barris. He is the character that you are supposed to love and hate, but I only loved him. He was such a douche, yet he was a hilarious douche.

“I could be mur… dered.”

I would highly recommend this film to anyone who wants to see drugees get angry with each other with a couple of plot twists. I called them both, but they may be unexpected to some. Still, just the dialogue is worth my five dollars. Hilarious, period. Not truly what I expected, but still great on so many levels.

“We meet again… Star Fox.”

The flower would also have been acceptable.

Posted by brame.

Tomorrow, we (as BBoW) plan on attending the newest Richard Linklater film, “A Scanner Darkly.” Within the next few days we will probably review the film in either one whole review or three smaller ones. Not to begin the process prematurely, but I have a question for Mr. Linklater. Why? Why did he make this animated “sci-fi, drama, thriller” that I hope is amazingly brilliant. A brief history of Linklater’s film career will have anyone else pose the same question. His career began with a decent success in “Dazed and Confused,” but was followed by multiple flops including “Before Sunrise.” Still he began with an indie hit, “Slacker.” These are his early works. Today Linklater is most known for his most mainstream hit with Jack Black, “School of Rock.” Given, he also contributed to such films as “Clerks” (a movie which needed no sequel) and “Kill Bill Vol. 2” (a movie which need not exist). My best guess is between these two options: Linklater wants to be that Burton-esque director who can do it all, or he is yet to find the genre in which he fits best. Either way, his latest endeavor is sure to be a cult hit.

In more future news, I recently purchased Les Claypool’s “rookie” novel. The book is sure to be no Catcher in the Rye (my personal favorite novel), but I hope Claypool’s musical genius spills onto paper. The book originated as a screenplay, but evolved into a novel. Still, South of the Pumphouse appears as though it will be a compelling and under-read title.