Media Man

I'll admit right up front: I've never seen the original Robocop . And, after all my dad has told me about it, I'm glad. Now, after seeing reviews online, I was just expecting a fun action movie. And, that's exactly what I got, with a little more brains than I was expecting. I warn you, though, whatever you're expecting the beginning to be, it's not it. The plot of Robocop  is simple: the world is being policed by robots instead of cops everywhere except America. The senate is trying to pass a bill that would allow robots to go on the streets. They're not moving fast enough for the supplier company, however, and so they search for a human cop that they could make a cyborg and put on the streets to show machine efficiency. It just so happens that a good cop, named Murphy, is hit with a car bomb by a couple of corrupt cops who work for a mobster who wants Murphy off his trail. His wife volunteers him for an operation to save his life. So, Gary Oldman and a bu...

When I was a kid, I never actually watched Avatar: The Last Airbender . But, when it came out on Netflix, you can bet my siblings and I were all over it. It was just the right balance of action, drama and comedy, all while having awesome characters to back it up. So we should celebrate that fact by talking about this piece of crap, I guess. Jeezum, I don't even know where to start with this. I guess I should start by saying that the film was directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Academy Award nominated writer and director of The Sixth Sense , Unbreakable , and Signs . But, he was also the Razzie award nominated director and writer of such stinkers like Lady in the Water  and The Happening . Naturally, any kid who saw the commercials for this film hadn't even heard of Shyamalan so, we really didn't know what to expect. What we got was a horrendous adaptation of a beloved Nickelodeon cartoon. The premise is not bad, I suppose. Katara and Sokka find an Airbender named Aang, who ...

With the announcement that a new Christian film is coming out soon, I actually find myself being annoyed. From the preview, I can already tell how the movie's going to start, progress, and end. Though I'd still watch it any way, since I'm a Christian, but it'll more than likely still annoy me. After watching the trailer, I got to thinking: what is it about these movies that tick me off? Well, here's the problem: they don't feel realistic. In Christian movies, everybody, even the people who aren't Christian or the antagonists, are too nice. They don't cuss, use foul language, or do anything really diabolical. They're more obviously mean than evil or cruel. If they want a good villain, or good movie in general, they have to make the film feel more realistic. In the real world, even Christians can be mean; in these movies, they're like the perfect human beings. Christian are also flawed people and should be portrayed as such. If the Christian pr...

Back in 2010, one of my friends handed me a book. I'd seen it once or twice on the school shelves but had never picked it up. I flipped to the table of contents and looked at the first chapter. "I Accidentally Vaporize My Pre-Algebra Teacher" was not what I expected but it's what I got. Little did I know I held in my hands a book I should've read eons before. Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief  was the first in a line of five books that I will consider the greatest teen novels of all time until the day I die. The plot centers around Percy Jackson, an ADHD, dyslexic twelve-year old who discovers he is part of a world of mythical gods and legendary monsters. And, after discovering his unique heritage, must find the legendary Master Bolt of Zeus, the king of Olympus. If he, and two friends, don't find it before summer solstice (don't ask, just read), the end of the world is nye. I've often heard this franchise accused of being a Harr...

It all started with Batman: Arkham Asylum, the most celebrated Batman game of all time and winner of "Game of the Year". This dark and gritty addition to the Batman mythos had you, as Batman, making your way through the fabled Arkham Asylum which had been taken over by the Joker. Two years later, Rocksteady Studios gave us an infinitely superior sequel: Batman: Arkham City. It was also a big hit and winner of "Game of the Year". After the bitter-sweet ending of that game, we were waiting in agony for another Arkham game for another two years until Warner Bros. Games Montreal, not Rocksteady, gave us a surprisingly satisfying prequel: Batman: Arkham Origins. The plot of the game takes place 2 years after Bruce Wayne (not Kevin Conroy) has begun his crusade as Batman, hardly anything more than an urban myth among Gotham. Now, the Black Mask is stirring up trouble in Gotham and Batman begins to hear whispers of a criminal mastermind named the Joker (not Mark Hamill)....

This is my public service act for the week. Not only am I giving you my complete biased opinion, I'm also giving you a list of awesome movies you can now go watch. Note: Though my number 1 on my list is my favorite movie of all time, numbers 10-2 are interchangeable; they could all be my number 2. 10. The Prestige is one of those movies that makes it onto this list for one reason - the ending.  Sure, everything else is great, too; the Nolan brothers write an intriguing story about two rival magicians, choose great actors and direct it very well.  But that alone doesn't guarantee a spot on my Top 10 list.  The ending had me staring, open-mouthed, at the screen halfway through the credits; it changed everything you thought about the movie, the characters and it never gets old no matter how many times you watch it. 9. Steven Spielberg is one of the greatest storytellers of the past century, no doubt. And ET: The Extraterrestrial is evidence for that. The story of a str...

When I saw the first Thor movie about three years ago (just so I could be caught up to speed when I watched the Avengers) I felt it lacked something the other Marvel films to that point didn't. Now, after seeing Thor 2, I know what that is: a natural feel. I saw Thor 2 in, like, November but I still remember most of it. Thor (Chris Hemsworth) has now returned to Asgard to defeat generic forces of evil that are invading the Nine Realms. In the mean time, Loki (Tom Hiddleston) is being held in a cell on Asgard for the invasion of Earth, which has now been almost 2 years. But that's not even how the movie begins; it begins with a long, and cool looking, prologue talking about, and showing, Malekith the Accursed (Christopher Eccleston), a Dark Elf who wants to cover the universe in darkness so his race can be the supreme rulers again. And to defeat this villain, Thor seeks out Loki's help since Odin (Anthony Hopkins) has closed off Asgard and now only Loki knows a way out of ...