I Could Go On Praising G.I. Joe....

....but I'll just give some quick bytes on some stuff I've seen lately.

* The Big Red 1

World War II movie....really good. It's actually the 'reconstruction.' The film was made in 1980 with Lee Marvin and Mark (Luke Skywalker) Hamill...who's not as whiny as he was in Star Wars. As things go, it was severely butchered by the studio, and a few years ago some people restored it and cut back in alot of presumably lost footage. Pretty long, but has great scenes like delivering a baby in a tank (just imagine government issue condoms as gloves, gun belts as foot stirrups, and mispronouncing the French word for 'push' and you get a hilarious scene), and spanking a Hitler Youth sniper until he cries for his Papa. And some war stuff.

* Watchmen

I've seen the Theatrical Cut so far (bought the Director's Cut)...and since I actually read the comic beforehand, it is a pretty accurate interpretation. The only major difference is the ending, but it left me with the same two feelings after I finished the book: 1) Wow, that's kind of a downer, and 2) after all this buildup THAT's how they end it?? Nonetheless...it's really good.

* Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince

I've seen all the Harrys except the first one in theater (and haven't watched them since), so I didn't want it to leave before seeing the next to last one (actually two). It was OK, had a hard time remembering what had happened before.....with this franchise they REALLY expect you to know what's going on. But it wasn't as incredibly boring as the last one. Kinda wondering how it's gonna all end.

* Bruno

I shouldn't compare b/c they ARE two different movies, but it's definitely NO Borat. It had it's moments, but I really do prefer more real-life stuff than scripted when it comes to Sacha Baron Cohen (apparently...never seen any of the other stuff from Da Ali G Show).

Ummmmm......I really think that's it. There's been a few other things, but can't think right now, and nothing is standing out. It's been a busy couple of months, so the TV hasn't been on a whole bunch, much less long enough for a flick.

Yo Joe!.....

(DISCLAIMER: So....is this what those stupid Transformers fans felt a couple of years ago when THEIR movie came out? If so.....I respect them now. The Transformers movie still sucks, but that's mostly Michael Bay's fault. Anyway...........)

Because I was by myself in the theater, I actually didn't do it out loud....but there were several times when I was like "Yessssss..." to myself.

It was either something really neat happening, or something I wasn't expecting, or more often than not....it was something that I remembered from long ago that I saw brought to life.

I enjoyed every minute of it. I simply overlooked the cheesy one-liners and forgave the at-times bad acting......but overall...with enough to satisfy me: Good job, Mr. Sommers!!!

Now, I'm not a fan of spoilers......so if you DON'T want to know anymore, you now know enough of what I thought without the details to give anything away. And knowing is half the battle........hahahahahhaahah!

The best part of the whole thing: NOT based in reality whatsoever!

Earlier Saturday I was remarking to my brother how if I made the movie, I wouldn't have guns, they would fire lasers like in the cartoon. Well.....opening fight scene kinda made me put my foot in my mouth. I mean, the army had guns, but when a mysterious enemy ship returned fire on them....it had that sound and that blue tint to it that suggested it was NOT gunfire. I was like "yesssssss"!

Also, of course, like with the first X-Men movie, you have the problem of figuring out who the main characters are. I was OK with their choices of Joes...but the good AND bad thing was there weren't any really hints at secondary characters. For example, in the opening battle there were Apache copters, and one guy had a moustache. They could have easily been like "Hey Wild Bill, what is that thing shooting at us?" BUT....the copter got blowed up, so that would have ruled out Wild Bill showing up in a sequel. Also, that leaves it open where if new characters are introduced in sequels, they can opt for a bigger star than just a random extra. At the end, they could have turned and went "Hey, Shipwreck, tell the Admiral to take us home"----right before the camera pulled away to show they were on the U.S.S Flagg (again, I was like "Yessssss!")

There's actually only a limited number of main bad guys they can have also, so they used the big ones with the exception of a few that could show up later. Maybe Major Bludd can make an appearance later, or Dr. Mindbender can show up again. Actually, I'm sure he will b/c the guy that played him is that creepy character actor...so he could have higher billing in a sequel. Of course, once Zartan is done being disguised as ....a prominent U.S. leader....he can go round up the Dreadnocks. As long as Serpentor doesn't show up, EVER.

Oh, yeah.....I'm gonna agree that Cobra Commander's mask at the end wasn't all that great. The CG on Destro could have been a little tidier, or they could have just put makeup on him.

But all that aside, it was fantastic to see Snake Eyes in action. The vehicles and gadgets were really fun. The technology and base of operations for the good guys and bad guys were pretty awesome. The violence was incredibly stylized, and the way they made the Viper Guards was fun to see them get blowed up, but know they weren't technically people. The end credit sequence had nods to all the stickers you could put on your toys to make them more realistic.

So I can't wait for G.I. Joe 2. Maybe it'll be something like Attack Of The Dreadnocks, or I would even be happy with Slaughter's Marauders. Until then.....here's to hoping there will be an extended edition released on DVD.

Yo Joe.