Links of Interest 4/2

Really good hoaxes.

Sawyer talks about his favorite beers.

For all you Transformers fans out there, here’s a look at the villains for the next movie.

Here’s a look at all the music related April Fool’s jokes played yesterday. Hilarious.

If you’re into watching people play video games, the guy from King of Kong (not Billy Mitchell) will try to break the Donkey Kong record live on TV.

Taking to the man behind the hockey mask of the Friday the 13th movies.

Peeps seem to be a love/hate thing. I’ve never heard anyone not really have an opinion about them. I hate them. Which is why I don’t want to know about how they’re made. But for those of you that do…

To continue the April Fool’s theme, here are 10 stories you would think are jokes, but aren’t.

The Bacardi family story that begins with rum in Cuba and may end with…rum in Cuba.

I’m a sucker for a good murder story. It’s why I watch Law & Order all the time.

Wow, here’s a really in-depth look at Rock-Paper-Scissors. Or if you just want to play you can do that too. ( I just went 20-12 with 18 ties against the computer. No way the Matrix is gonna get me!)

I have some issues with the author’s account of UFC here, but I’ll refrain opinion and let you make up your own mind.

A look at the Super Bowl movie trailers

Underwhelmed by a game in which neither team spoke to my cheering emotion (other than a small affinity for Kurt Warner after drafting him as a joke in a fantasy football league in his first year with the Rams) and the number of commercials that were clearly affected by the current economic downturn we find ourselves in, I chose to focus my attention to the movie trailers we all got to see during the game. On the flip side I go into much greater detail about each one, as well as grade them...



Links in the titles go to the official pages with hi-def viewing options.


Race to Witch Mountain



I vaguely remember the Disney movie, "Escape to Witch Mountain." I'm pretty sure I enjoyed watching it. This trailer? Not so much. The Rock has some charismatic qualities, but I'm not sure he can carry a movie all by himself. Especially with two kids supporting him. Add that to the corniness the trailer tries to relay and I don't think this is a winner. I did get a slight Close Encounters of the Third Kind vibe with the helicopters, but I don't think that's enough to get me into the theater.

Grade: D+

Up



It's tough to find fault with Pixar. They are the leaders in computer animation and always seem to push the bar with each movie they release, and also strive to tell a compelling story. When it works (Toy Story, The Incredibles) you have a film anyone and everyone can enjoy. When it doesn't quite work (Cars), you still have a cool canvas to look at and enjoy.

Unfortunately, Up looks like it might be in the Cars category. The first clue is how the trailer reminds us of many of the Pixar titles of the past. Sure, it may be a sly marketing move since there seems to be a group of people out there that will see everything Pixar does no matter what. Still, it has to be at least considered a minor red flag.

The other potential issue is the old man main character. I'm sure he's good and fine and well defined, but he also seems a bit of a cliche. The trailer really doesn't hint at a plot at all, and I can pretty much guarantee the old man will show a soft heart by film's end, so you have to ask yourself - are you jazzed to see awesome animation on the big screen, regardless of the story?

Grade: C+


Star Trek



JJ Abrams much anticipated Star Trek "prequel" doesn't disappoint on action or edits. And it certainly doesn't look like your father's Star Trek. While it has an established anticipation level of providing a back story for many of the characters millions love, I feel slightly underwhelmed and I can't put my finger on why. It might be because the original series taught parables and fables in a science fiction setting. It did more than entertain, it educated. And I didn't get a sense of too much education during the viewing of this trailer.

Grade: C-

Land of the Lost



Jurassic Park, meet Anchorman. That's the immediate vibe I got after watching this. I think Generation X has an interesting choice to make when it comes time to decide whether or not to support this. On the one hand, they found Will Ferrell, and used to hold him in high regard for making Saturday Night Live funny and for giving them Old School and Anchorman. But then he kept the formula going without mixing it up at all. A backlash began, and he currently sits on the down side of the log flume. Hasn't hit the water yet, but it's looming. Then you have the fond memories of the cheesy Land of the Lost television show. Corny, but what Saturday morning television wasn't?

And now the two have mixed.

Will we get a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup ending, or a Koolaid Pickle? We'll know soon enough. The trailer did seem to have many of the same characteristics as the cheesy tv show, which is a promising start.

Grade: B


Year One



Yeah, not looking too good. There's really no synopsis of what the movie's about which can't be good. And neither Jack Black nor Michael Cera are going to be able to carry a movie. Not only did I not laugh at all, I'm still trying to figure out the humor of the scene in which they show excitement after the ox starts pulling their cart. What is funny about that at all? I realize the joke might need some setup, but if that's the case then don't include it in a Super Bowl tease of your movie.

Grade: F-

Angels and Demons



At least Hanks got a better haircut for this one.

Grade: D

Monsters vs. Aliens



Dreamworks' answer to Pixar and they've been doing a fairly decent job. No one's going to confuse the two, but there's room in the market for both.

That said, I think this trailer blew Up out of the water. At least from a marketing standpoint. I realize Up was simply a tease to let us know about the world of the next Pixar. But I think it was too much of a tease. While Mvs.A may have given a little too much away, I still think it works because everyone knows exactly what to expect walking in to the theater. It has humor, action, and a plot. Paper thin perhaps, but it's there.

Not to mention it's about aliens and monsters.

It's interesting to see the two different strategies at play here. Methinks there's a thesis paper for some marketing student in here. Ok, at least a term paper.

Grade: B+


Fast and Furious



Cars, Vin Diesel and a whole lot of awesome. You're a headless zombie if you go into this not knowing what to expect. A dumb, headless zombie.

Grade A+ (x a billion)


Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen



I saw about a third of the first Transformers movie, and will admit to being pleasantly surprised. The interaction between people and robots seemed realistic - as realistic as the implausible scenario allows. Megan Fox(y)'s presence certainly doesn't hurt anything either.

The trailer for the sequel doesn't offer us much other than let us know the cast is back for another round, and there's a bigger, meaner Transformer that seems to dwarf Optimus Prime. Honestly, the trailer didn't look all that great from an aesthetic point of view. Blurry in most parts and very disjointed - and that's saying something with a Michael Bay movie. Despite that, I'm guessing it's probably going to be like the first one, just with more Transformers. If that's your cup of tea, then you should be happy.

Grade: C+


GI Joe



First, a little backstory...

I'm not going to lie...I was (ok am) a huge GI Joe fan. As a child I enjoyed playing War, and GI Joe gave the soldiers an individuality (as well as cool weapons) that I bought into. The surprisingly complex back story the comic books and cartoons fleshed out only helped.

So of course I was frightened when I heard they were turning it into a movie.

Look, I get that older people (I'm including myself) want to see their childhood toys become a facsimile of their memories on the silver screen. Nothing would please me more to see a gritty, super violent GI Joe movie with real consequences (and real physics - which we'll address). But I also understand that Hollywood's bottom line is about the bottom line, so they have to craft a movie that today's youth will gobble up.

So, how does the trailer stand up?

First of all, this trailer is very Baroness centric. Which is cool, since the Baroness probably led many a young boy, hand in hand into the age of adulthood. Still, she was a minor character in the GI Joe universe. I'm afraid they might be "bulking" her presence up to sell us a spandex clad superbabe - which makes my brain so conflicted. Let's just hope she's a good villainess for the Joes to deal with.

Second of all - no silver head Destro? I can only hope some Joe (please let it be Shipwreck, please let it be Shipwreck) does something at the end of the movie to melt Destro's pretty boy looks, forcing him to don the silver head for the sequel.

The Joes look generic - everyone knows Snake Eyes was/is/will always be the coolest Joe. But why everyone has to now mimic is look is going to make it harder to distinguish individuals on the screen.

The action looks cartoonish, which CGI gives us the capability to create, but why? Why must it become exaggerated to the point of absurdity? It's no longer based in reality. I'm not talking Saving Private Ryan, but there has to be a balance everyone can strike.

Regardless of how generic or hokey, or silly, or implausible the trailer looks however, I can't help but be excited for this one. Though I do wish it had a few more elements as this trailer I found on youtube...



Official trailer Grade: B-

Unofficial youtube trailer Grade: A+ (x one billion -1. Nothing beats Fast and Furious. Nothing.)

Step Up 2, Takin' It to ......... the Rain-Soaked Alley?

We welcome our first guest contributor, STJ. He'll introduce himself in greater detail, but we here at The Popcorn Trick have a few standing policies. One of which is that anyone who willingly pays $9 to see Step Up 2 AND watches the whole thing should be given a semi-regular soapbox from which to pontificate.

If anyone else can make that claim, send us your ticket stub, and we'll send you a password.

Enjoy.

Greetings.

I'd like to welcome myself to The Popcorn Trick. As a long time listener/reader, first time poster I'm pleased as a pig in shit to have been asked by the esteemed Goose and Cline to add my expertise on things pop culture. For a little introduction, I'm a young professional livin' it up in Philly who spends most of my time building buildings and playing Ultimate. Here's a brief list of the primary pop culture subject matters discussed in my PcD dissertation (Pop culture Degree):

• Pro Wrestling (pre WWF-WCW merger)
• Transformers
• 80's cartoons in general
• Chick Flicks
• Jerry Bruckheimer movies
• The 1993 Philadelphia Phillies
• 8-bit Nintendo games
• Transformers
• Awesomely bad dance movies.
  

Which brings us to the topic at hand.


If you've been making a habit of tuning into the local urban stations over the past couple of weeks you might recognize some of these songs that are been played approximately once an hour.

Low - Flo Rida
Killa (feat. Young Joc) - Cherish
Hypnotized (feat. Akon) - Piles

What you might not know is the reason you've been bombarded by these rhythmic geniuses. "Step Up 2: Takin It to the Streets" the sequel to that stellar 2006 release "Step Up" came out recently. Now I know you're thinking to yourself, STJ probably saw that the day before it came out. Nay friends, that Friday I had an Ultimate game, this movie had to wait til Saturday when I saw it with a lady friend who might actually have a similarly bad taste in movies as yours truly.

The plot of this masterpiece centers around Andie who the viewer is led to believe is the step sister of Tyler Gage (from Step Up). Her name in that one was Camille. I'd say it's a gaping plot wound, but it's conceivable that she was just some tough girl he met as a foster kid. Anyway, Andie is a member of the group of dancers known as the 401. They're a bunch of street hooligans known for pulling off elaborate dance stunts, filming them, and putting them on YouTube. Their group is constantly practicing for a secret underground dance competition in Baltimore called "The Streets". One random night a year every "underground" dancer gets a text message telling them where to show up and dance their multi-cultural rear ends off for Respeck (the 'k' denotes how hard they are).

Of course Andie gets in trouble with her foster mom because she's been hanging with the 401 so much. Her mother is going to send her to live with her aunt in Texas. Andie gets pissed and leaves for the night where she runs into Tyler at a dance club (sadly his only appearance in the movie). He challenges her to a dance battle. If he wins, she has to tryout for the Maryland School of the Arts. He kicks her ass in a dance complete with trampolines in the floor and she has to try out. Damn trampolines!

Long story short, she meets the kid brother of the stuck-up teacher at her school (Chase Collins) who is also in love with "The Streets." Conveniently Andie's work as MSA causes her to be kicked out of her crew for not keeping it real. This upsets Andie. Chase, however, sees this as an opportunity. And if you didn't see where this was going, you probably watch movie in "art" theaters. They decide to form their own group comprised of all the MSA misfits who are, luckily for her, awesome street dancers.

What we as movie goers need to realize is that all these movies (Save the Last Dance, Step Up, Stomp the Yard, etc) are is a thinly veiled attempt by the music industry to allow multiple rap artists the chance to release multiple songs all at once rather than releasing one single at a time. Throw in some sweet dancing, and you've got yourself a movie made for under $10 million that will make more than that in the theaters (its already above $40 million in ticket sales). It's a brilliant move by Hollywood, really.

As for Step Up 2, the acting is pretty horrific. Step Up (the original) worked because Channing Tatum is hot, and because he can pull off the brooding white kid from the streets of Baltimore. He is miserable in his every day life until he finds the outlet of structured dance classes at MSA and gets his life in order. In Step Up 2, Andie really can't pull off this same act. She seems like a lost girl trying to be tough. The producers went so far as to make her voice sound hoarse to add to her street persona. Also, lets be honest, when it comes to street dancing that's very reliant on explosive flipping, jumping, head spinning, etc., guys have the significant advantage of generally just being stronger. And really, girls have got lots of rhythm and can look good while dancing, but they don't really have any "dropjaw", to steal a word from Bill Simmons.

In the end, the dancing aspect of the movie were enjoyable. You get to see most of "The Streets" competition which has some pretty sick routines. And of course ***Spoiler Alert*** the MSA crew goes to the Streets (after a dramatic (or corny) show of solidarity) and the other groups don't want to let them perform. So Andie jumps up on stage and gives a ridiculous speech about how the Streets should be for everyone and if their group can't perform in the competition, they'll be outside showing their stuff where the Streets began. Conveniently it begins to rain. Some guy opens up the trunk of his Caddy to reveal a giant speaker system. They start playing "Bounce" by Timbaland, and of course the MSA crew pulls out an incredibly nasty routine that pretty much makes the whole $9 you just spent worth it.


In summary: Dance movies shouldn't center around female characters (which is why I didn't go see How She Move). White guys can dance, they just have to work a lot harder to look good doing it. And the whole movie is made worth it by the end dance scene.

When is Stomp the Yard 2 coming out?

STJ