2 movies that you haven't heard of but should!

A single person can only watch so many films a year.  If you watched one per day, every day, that would only be 365 flicks a year.  I watch a s-load but I don't think I watch that many....err, wait.  Ok, maybe I do but I am not your normal person and I have to keep up to let all you know about the good stuff out there!  Which brings me to the point of this article.  I think as a society we miss so many great films from the many different genres there are.  We are persuaded by the film companies and the billions of dollars they spend of advertising and rightfully so.  That's how this business works right?  The sad and unfortunate thing is that so many lower budget or perhaps films that the movie studios don't see fit in supporting like the big summer tent pole flicks ultimately fall through the cracks and end up with the other thousand lonely films in your netflix cue.  Well you are in luck!  Today I am sharing with you two films that are currently making their way through American film festivals and hopefully to a theater or at least on demand for you to enjoy.

Hesher

Instantly from watching this trailer I wanted to see this film.  The cast alone looks amazing.  This stars Rain Wilson, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Natalie Portman.  I can't quite tell if Hesher is going to be a figment of the boy's imagination or what?  He looks bad ass and I totally think this is going to be a good film!  Ever heard of it before?  Nope, neither have I.  Just happened to read a small tidbit about it and here I am.

Detention

I haven't heard much about this film either.  I know that it has been playing at American film festivals and is a pretty big hit at the South By Southwest Festival.  I did hear that of all people Dane Cook is in this as the creepy principal and sure enough there he is.  I got a lot of mixed emotions from watching this trailer.  At times it didn't seem like much more than a campy cross between Jennifer's Body and The Breakfast Club.  The one nerdy guy sitting in detention looks like a cross between Napoleon Dynamite and Anthony Michael Hall.  Then as the final montage plays I am seeing a space ship and all kinds of other weird stuff that does peak my attention.  I'm not swayed either way but very interested.  All we can do is stay tuned!

Street Fighter Action In Real Life!

So we all know Street Fighter is a game we have grown up with and came to love like our favorite box of Captain Crunch.  So what is if in reality you were able to perform the stunning combination of punches and kicks to defeat your enemy?  Well, I came across exactly that. From what I understand a group of people called "The Thousand Pounds Fight Team" have made numerous videos doing just that.  I could sit here all day and watch these videos because they are actually beautifully choreographed and even though fake, still kick ass! You can check out their youtube page for even more videos!

Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Fan Trailer!

The countdown is over.   A website counting down to what fans and members of the press alike was hoping to be a trailer for the highly anticipated Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 trailer revealed itself.  It seems to be a little bitter sweet.  The good news is that it is a trailer for Modern Warfare 3 but the bad news is that it's fan made.



Kotaku has the full article here which doesn't reveal much other than it was made by "Canada's We Can Pretend" artist collective.  Whatever the hell that is?

Plug: Apocalyptic Portland Oregon in the year 2092!

I just came across this interesting piece of news over at Io9.com.  The story is about a concept designer by the name of David Levy.  According to the article he has done work on video games such as Assassins Creed and Tron Legacy.  He has been working on a series of shorts called "Plug".  What really peaked my interest was that it is actually set in Portland, Oregon in the year 2092.  After watching the first short I am hooked and can't wait for the next in the series.  Make sure and watch this with HD on.  Good job man!

Plug - teaser one from vyle-art on Vimeo.

Old School Review: Blade Trilogy

Here we are with another old school review with the Blade Trilogy.  Blade was first made in 1998 with the final film Blade Trinity in 2004.  All three films star Wesley Snipes as the vampire hunter Blade and Kris Kristofferson as Blade's mentor and best friend Whistler.  I had the chance to watch the Blu-Ray copy of these three films last week with my two oldest daughters, 14 and 16.  My daughters ideas of vampires mostly stem from films such as Twilight and that is about it.  As I pretty much despise Twilight I thought I would introduce them to a bit different of a vampire film.  I would say that all in all they had their eyes opened to a new but old genre of vampire films and I had the chance to relive a trilogy of films that I haven't seen in ages.

I really enjoyed the story of the Blade Series.  From what I understand Blade was originally a Marvel comic book.  When Blade was a baby in his mother's stomach she was bitten by a vampire and died.  Blade was saved and ultimately became a half human/half vampire.  He has all of the strengths of the vampires but none of their weaknesses.  Scouring through the streets as a young child he was picked up by Whistler and trained to be the vampire killer that he is today.  By the first movie Blade is a full grown man with only short flashbacks of his birth and childhood.  Whistler is an old man that walks with a gimp and a leg brace from apparent previous battles we know nothing of.  Even though Blade is not fully a vampire, he must inject a serum into his body every day to stop the effects of the vampirism.

Blade One also stars Stephen Dorff as Deacon Frost.  Deacon is not a pure blood vampire but was once human and turned into a vampire.  To get to the point.  He is a cocky vampire who eventually overthrows the head vampires in an attempt to decipher ancient vampire text to unleash an apparent blood god on the world. Personally, this was not my favorite of the trilogy.  Snipes is Blade 100%.  He is the man.  He is the character but I felt that he didn't have an admiral enough foe to really make this film solid enough.  Being the first film it is totally a watch but be prepared in the future films for an overall better story.

This brings me to Blade Two.  First and foremost this film was directed by Guillermo Del Toro.  He made other films such as Hellboy, Hellboy 2 and Pan's Labyrinth.  You can really see a departure in this film from the first.  It is alike in many ways that keep it in running with the first but the special effects are way better and the overall story takes a step up.  This time around their is a mutation in the vampire community.  It is a monster that was once a vampire but now craves blood so badly that it will feed on human or vampire.  Blade is asked by the vampire community to help them track down the source of the mutants.  He is joined by a ragtag group of vampires lead by Mr. Hellboy himself, Ron Perlman.  This idea almost reminds me a lot of the group of marines from Aliens.  I really connected with that and enjoyed the film even more.  The head mutant vampire is played by Luke Goss who you can see in the recent Death Race 2.  He is a budding actor and someone to watch out for on the horizon.  Blade Two makes a giant leap and is my personal favorite in the series.  It is very much worth watching and a film you will find yourself watching again in the future.

Blade Trinity is the last film in the series and the most commercialized in my opinion.  This time around we throw in Ryan Reynolds, Jessica Biel, Parker Posey and Paul "HHH" Levesque.  The previous films held on their own with Wesley Snipes and Kris Kristofferson.  I don't know why they think they have to add a ton of new actors to the mix.  Ryan Reynolds is well Ryan Reynolds.  He has a lot of smart ass one liners and is pretty much eye candy for the ladies as is Jessica Biel whom is supposedly Whistlers unknown daughter and is the eye candy for the men.  Neither of these characters brought much to the table for me and were pretty much worthless overall.  Parker Posey plays Danica.  Danica along with her group of vampires end up bringing back to life the real Dracula to for once and all destroy Blade.  I guess the film studios kinda billed this as the final film and from the direction that things were going it was probably for the best.

Overall, all three of these movies make a good companion set to any movie buffs collection.  Is the first one weak and the third pretty much stupid?  Yes but with the Blade Two being so good they all kinda equal each other out.  I would not be surprised to see another one of these films because frankly Wesley Snipes hasn't had a hit since the last film.  That is once he get's released from prison.  If you haven't seen the films then go out and rent them or you can probably purchase the box set for a reasonable price at your local store or online.

Vintage Toy Pick This Weekend!

Hey everyone!  I got the chance to hit the town of Eugene Oregon this weekend and visit some of the comic book shops that I don't normally get to.  In my searches I came across a really cool comic shop called Nostalgia Collectibles.  It is in downtown Eugene and actually sits behind the Smith Family Bookstore on the corner for Fifth Street and Willamette Street.  You would almost miss it if it wasn't for some old comic posters tapered to the side of the building.  I found this store to be very cool and unique.  I am told by the shop curator that they are the only shop in Eugene that buys vintage toys like the ones below.  I was ecstatic when I found this out.  I have spent many hours bidding on toys on Ebay only to lose at the last second to someone else.  This is my place to find a lot of the old toys that I have been searching for from my child hood.  Don't be swayed. They also have many comic books, new and old, character busts and other various fandom to meet any geek's needs.  Favorites of mine have been collectin TMNT or also know as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and He-Man Masters of the Universe action figures.  No, these are not "man dolls" like some of my relatives like to call them.  I have posted some pictures below and their names.  These toys are loose, not in a box or on a card, and surprisingly come with most of their accessories.  Enjoy!

The Neverending Story: 20 Years Later

Who didn't love The Neverending Story?  I loved the crap out of that film and still do today.  To me, it seemed like one of those films that was just different from the other run of the mill kids fantasy films.  Sadly, none of the sequels ever lived up to the original but at least we still have this morsel that we can continue to watch and share with our children today.  Now, the big question is, what happened to the three bullies that were forced to jump into the giant garbage can at the end of the film.  After bullying Sebastian they were finally scared to death and got what they deserved.  Find out where they are at below!

The Hangover 2 Teaser Trailer!!!

Here it is!  This is what you have been waiting for! Mechamania presents your first look at The Hangover 2!  In the follow-up, Phil, Stu, Alan and Doug travel to exotic Thailand for Stu's wedding. After the unforgettable bachelor party in Las Vegas, Stu is taking no chances and has opted for a safe, subdued pre-wedding brunch. However, things don't always go as planned. What happens in Vegas may stay in Vegas, but what happens in Bangkok can't even be imagined.