:: Guy in a Suit Productions ::

Sunday 7.14.02 - 7:44pm PST

Kim and I went to see Reign of Fire today, and while I enjoyed it, I can't help but feel a little cheated. If you'll look in Thursday's post, you'll see what my expectations were for the movie. Those expectations were based on the poster pictured on the left. That poster features 7 helicopters...and they are AH-64D Longbows if I'm not mistaken. The "AH" stands for "Attack Helicopter" and you can see that they are bristling with armament. Now, the movie does feature a helicopter...one helicopter. And it is not an attack helicopter as is picture here, but rather a troop transport. "Surely it has a door gun, right? A SAW on sticks in the door?" you might ask. The answer would be, "No". Now, not to downplay the helicopter scene. It is one of the best in the movie. But there are no Longbows to be seen. This is one of those movies where the prologue is the movie I'd rather see. By the time Reign of Fire gets going, the dragons have already kicked our asses and we are hiding in destroyed castles and underground. I would have liked to have seen some of the first battles with the dragons, the world's realization that these things are real and intend on whiping us out, the scene where someone tells the President, "Dragons are attacking New York!". I would have liked to have seen F/A-18 squadrons dogfighting with 2 or 3 dragons. That is a different movie than what is to be seen in Reign of Fire. Reign of Fire is a Mad Max/Waterworld type movie. Not that there is anything wrong with that. If you want to cut the set budget and put it in effects, that is a good way to do it. This review is sounding pretty negative. I'd still recommend the movie to people. It is a very good dragon movie, and has some SWEET scenes. The dragons look first rate. So...go see Reign of Fire and post your thoughts in the message board. I'll start a thread.

We did not rent Dragonslayer, but that is on the agenda.

Thursday 7.11.02 - 11:29pm PST

Here is what I am recommending for the weekend...

followed by a viewing of 1981's

I think Reign of Fire will be cool, and here is why: I expect there to be dragons fighting with helicopters. That is really all I am going to see. If there is anything else, it will be a bonus. On the poster, I see dragons and helicopters, so my expectations are set. I am not looking for a story of humanity's triump over adversity, redemption, someone overcoming the death of their father, or any other hackneyed, cliched plot that Hollywood spits out. I want to see dragons setting people on fire and being chased by helicopters...the end. So I expect to be satisfied completely.

Dragonslayer is good because Vermithrax Pagorative (I believe that is the dragon's name) is a great name for a dragon. Also, the effects are quite good for back then. I also liked the look of Vermithrax with the long face as opposed to recent dragon incarnations. The dragons in Reign of Fire look more like Vermithrax.

Saturday 7.6.02 - 6:20pm PST

John Frankenheimer Dies

This is too bad. John Frankenheimer was one of those directors whose movies I got excited about. He was supposed to be directing the prequel to The Exorcist, and it was shaping up to be pretty good. Yes, I know...he directed Reindeer Games with Ben Affleck, and it sucked, but he had a pretty impressive resume even with that black mark. I'm a huge fan of Ronin and The Manchurian Candidate. I think both of those movies are much smarter than the people watching them. Frankenheimer gave the single best audio commentary by a director that I've ever heard on the Ronin DVD. Sadly, film commentaries have become the director and an actor sitting in a room saying things like, "Oh, man...remember that day. That was a long day," and "Right before this, I spilled coffee all over my assistant. This was so early in the morning." In Frankenheimer's Ronin commentary, it is just him. He talks about what lenses he used to get what kind of effects, how he did the car chases so well, what he was trying to get out of the script, etc. I guess that kind of thing may not be interesting to most people, but for a director wanna-be, it is film school in a box.

Frankenheimer also directed one of the shorts on the BMW Films site. If you have not taken the time to watch these, you are missing some of the best internet shorts made. John Frankenheimer, Ang Lee, and Guy Ritchie each direct one of them, and they are all produced by David Fincher. Each has the director's individual style, and each showcases a particular car. Download them...they ar good. And rent Ronin, The Manchurian Candidate, The French Connection II, Black Sunday, and the Island of Doctor Moreau sometime.

Thursday 7.4.02 - 7:32pm PST

Kim and I went to see Men In Black II today. It was OK, but forgettable. Lara Flynn Boyle was pretty hot, but the characters had no "character", and it didn't push the story along. If you are going to build a franchise and make sequels, the sequels have to change the mythology. Otherwise they are just like episodes of a television show. So, Men In Black II is just another episode of the Men In Black TV show. Kind of like Jurassic Park III. No doubt it will make a ton of money, though...so there will be a sequel. Oh, and Michael Jackson SUCKS! Please do not put him in any more movies...ever.

This movie Like Mike makes me laugh. Apparently, the kid finds a pair of strange shoes, gets electrocuted, and becomes a basketball star. I fear that there will be at least 6 deaths attributable to this movie. I mean if the shoes were just magical or something, that would be different. However, since he is transformed by the electricity instead of killed by it, it might seem tempting to a kid. Of course, it is only horror movies and videogames that inspired children to kill themselves and each other, so I'm sure that Like Mike is the perfect children's movie. I'm sure that not one child will consider tying their shoes to the transformer outside, soaking themselves in water, and playing with the wires.