08/05/2004 Entry: "Garfield's Pepperidge Farm Goldfish Crackers."

Lookie what I found yesterday – very nearly past its expiration date, it’s a bag of Pepperidge Farm Goldfish: Version Alpha Cat Garfield. I didn’t notice a horrendous amount of promotion for the allegedly horrendous movie, save for the usual gamut of bus-side banners and the like. Nothing Shrekish, that’s for sure. While I haven’t seen the movie and can’t offer a legitimate opinion on how bad it was, I’m happy that the ole fat cat became immortalized as a Goldfish cracker – it’s a distinction few pop icons enjoy, and if I had to pluck someone from the comics section for this honor, Garfield easily would’ve been my sixth or seventh choice. Right after the fat dude from Beetle Bailey.

I have a sneaky suspicion that I’ll actually like the film if I ever catch it on cable or while stuck on a train that forces movies on its passengers – having heard all of the terrible things I’ve heard, it’s got nowhere to go but up. There’s no pressure. If Bill Murray managed to make one line of the script funny, I could probably get through the two hours without setting your family on fire. I know it’s in style to bash Jim Davis and Co. for the increasing lack of inspiration in the strip, but it’s still one of the first I check. Mostly because Calvin and Larson’s cows are gone, but whaddyagonnado? Besides, it’s fun to go back to the particularly old Garfield books and make bets as to the nature of Jon and Lyman’s relationship. MARRIED I BET.

There’s the crackers – most are the regular fishies, but some, yes, some are Garfield-shaped. He’s done it. He’s become a Pepperidge Farm Goldfish cracker. So many have tried and failed at this. I don’t really have a point to this update other than archiving cat-shaped cheese crackers, but have any of you seen the movie? Post what you thought about it in the comments. Actually, let’s extend that: post what you thought about any movie you’ve seen recently in theaters. I’ve been out of the cinematic loop.

Chestnuts roasted by Master H @ 08/05/2004 10:58 AM EST

Napo Dyna is actually the talk of the office these days.

Chestnuts roasted by Matt @ 08/05/2004 11:00 AM EST

I have taken Matt's word on some of his movie faves: Gremlins 2 and Romy and Michelle and Friday the 13th Part IV The Final Chapter. I think Matt's review Of Friday 13th IV is one of his best articles to date. Ya buncha dead f---s... The movies are all exquisitely done and worthy of Oscar nods. Matt Rules!!! He shall one day be a journalistic icon rivaled only by Johnny Hildo.

Chestnuts roasted by El Bang @ 08/05/2004 11:01 AM EST

It's Jim Davis, not Jon Davis.

I corrected you, and this proves that I am better than you and everyone else on the Internet and in outer space.

Chestnuts roasted by Ubu Rex @ 08/05/2004 11:05 AM EST

Yeah I work at a movie theater so besides seeing the last 10 minutes or so of just about every movie I've also seen quite a few. And heard a lot of reactions. Hahaha. People seem to have HATED Catwoman and they always seem pissed when they come out. I think we got better responses for A Cinderella Story.

Ok...and The Village. Everyone is complaining about how much they hate it and how it sucks. True, the twist/s happened too soon and went on for too long. But I read an interview with M. Night and he said that the movie was actually supposed to be more of a romance movie than anything else. So I guess we have the movie companies, promoters, and even just M. Night's name to blame for making us think it was going to be this huge horror movie, which it wasn't. I actually kind of liked it...the movie was shot really beautifully and the acting was superb. But yeah...long post.

Chestnuts roasted by Emmaaaaa @ 08/05/2004 11:08 AM EST

Hey, those crackers aren't fish and cat flavored, are they? I don't care much for cat "flavored" things. Fresh cat's OK though.

Chestnuts roasted by KodaK @ 08/05/2004 11:09 AM EST

My brother saw Garfield and said he fell asleep so I don't think I'll watch that anytime soon.

Spiderman 2 was really good.
The Village was also good. In comparison to M. Night's other movies, it's a notch below Sixth Sense and Signs, but it's better than Unbreakable.

Chestnuts roasted by J-Dog @ 08/05/2004 11:31 AM EST

The Village did have one Bright Spot. The Daughter of Ron Howard, Bryce Dallas Howard. I'd hit it.

Chestnuts roasted by El Bang @ 08/05/2004 11:33 AM EST

I fully agree with J-Dog rankings of Shammalammadingdong's films.

Chestnuts roasted by El Bang @ 08/05/2004 11:37 AM EST

this summers movies in the order ive seen them.

farenheit 911- really good. funny too at parts.

spiderman 2 - very good, maybe too much relationship stuff.

the village - real good. and for those who said they predicted the ending, thats bs.

Chestnuts roasted by mikey @ 08/05/2004 11:47 AM EST

I likeded Spidey 2. It's gonna be a very long time before I see I, Robot because I'm a big reader of Asimov's Robot stories and I know there wasn't no killer robots in the original short stories of the book. Hate to Geek Out(tm) and all, but any Positronic Robot that even acted close to the ones I saw in the ads would have shut down, the brain paths slagged. Ok, before this gets out of hand, Geek In(tm)!

Chestnuts roasted by kingklash @ 08/05/2004 12:13 PM EST

The Village? Predictable? I oughta pop you mugs right inna kisser. The film certainly had its flaws, but predictability wasn't one of them. If you saw that ending coming, I need you to buy me some lottery tickets.
To be fair, though, the last M. Night movie I watched was "Unbreakable," so my standards may have been broken.
In other news: Harold & Kumar is worth sitting through if you ever enjoyed any movie in the Stoner Comedy genre.

Chestnuts roasted by Jedoc @ 08/05/2004 12:13 PM EST

Hate to double-post, but I just read the comment by kingklash. I'm also a big Asimov fan, but I promptly discarded any of my expectations when I heard that the film drew both from Asimov's works and a defunct John Woo script. With that knowledge, the movie wasn't quite as painful. Still a travesty, though.

Chestnuts roasted by Jedoc @ 08/05/2004 12:16 PM EST

The reviews I've read on The V have been incredibly split, but I can't help but wonder if the real crime committed was by those in charge of promoting it -- unless I'm reading things incorrectly, it was advertised as one thing and delivered as somethign else. The filmmakers aren't at fault for that. Course, if you thought the movie itself sucked, that's something else entirely.

Unfortunately, I've been completely spoiled to the entire plot. Oh well.

I'm very interested in seeing Open Water. Like, I'll be the first in line kinda interested. Anyone hear about this "Meg" movie, about the ol' prehistoric shark? Not sure what the status of it is, but God damn I will see that and love it no matter how much it sucks.

Chestnuts roasted by Matt @ 08/05/2004 12:20 PM EST

Mr. Magoo. Top notch comedy! TOP NOTCH!!

Chestnuts roasted by Slacker @ 08/05/2004 12:24 PM EST

Farenheit 9/11 was amazing and really brings to your attention the divisions in North America based on class- rich vs. poor. Its not so much George W. as the 'bad guy', but capitalism itself (and rightly so). Besides that, Spiderman 2 was good, but a little cheesy; The Day After Tomorrow- same thing; and Harry Potter was actually very, very good. I LOVE Bill Murray (paid full price to watch 'charlies angels' in theatre becuz of him) but I am not in any hurry to see Garfield. I wish he was voiced by the guy who did 'Garfield & Friends'- did that guy die?

Chestnuts roasted by Muppet Baby @ 08/05/2004 01:00 PM EST

A nicely-written review of GARFIELD:

http://www.filmjerk.com/nuke/article934.html

"If you’re a fan of “Garfield,” then I suggest you stay away from the fat cat’s big screen debut. Stripping away the essential cartooish nature of the character and his world, and replacing it with a wheezy story and shameless product placement, this new “Garfield” feature might not immediately offend children who are unfamiliar with the feline, but for the already initiated, this movie is an insult."

Chestnuts roasted by Todd Leroy Cummings @ 08/05/2004 01:01 PM EST

Matt, that's my thoughts exactly. The Village was advertised as a really creepy Horror movie, but it was more of a good philosophical Twilight-Zone-esque film.

And yeah, Open Water looks good, too, but again, it's hard to tell how it will play out, since the previews are pretty much just two people in the water. If I didn't see it advertised on "Shark Week" (Discovery Channel) I wouldn't have know it was a shark film.

And I haven't heard about the Megladon (sp?) film. Sounds intersting.

/Goes back to watching "Sliders" box set

Chestnuts roasted by Cameron T. @ 08/05/2004 01:04 PM EST

Farenheit 9/11 was total propoganda crap. That anyone would take a michael moore film seriously seriously disturbs me. He plays as well on the ignorance, naivete and stupidity of the average middle american joe sixpack as the Republican party does. I suppose that's why both are so successful at distorting the truth. I wish I'd seen Garfield instead . . . hell, even catwoman is probably more realistic.

Chestnuts roasted by Pedro @ 08/05/2004 01:09 PM EST

The thing about Bill Murray and Garfield is that Garfield's voice in the old cartoons was Lorenzo Music (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0615718/) who was also the voice of Peter Venkman in The Real Ghostbusters cartoon. Freaky, huh?

Muppet Baby: Yes, he died a few years ago.

Chestnuts roasted by Max Jenius @ 08/05/2004 01:22 PM EST

Well the good news is that Garfield isn't 2 hours, its actually less than 90 minutes for anyone who's crazy enough to watch it, though I haven't. How has it raked in 72 million???

As for movies this summer:
Dodgeball: Pretty damn funny. Though still no Zoolander.
Fahrenheit 9/11: An interesting opinion piece, enjoyable and disturbing. Clearly a one sided movie.
Spiderman 2: Jebus H this was awesome. Best movie I've seen all summer, probably all year.
Anchorman: Only okay. Dodgeball is funnier. However there is an interesting battle royale.
Bourne Supremacy: Not as good as the first since there's less character relationships.
The Village: Without trying to spoil the movie, its not a horror, more of an interesting look on things.

Still have to see Napoleon Dynamite, looks funny as hell. I wish it was playing somewhere near me.

Chestnuts roasted by machinesquad @ 08/05/2004 01:30 PM EST

Spider-Man 2= Fucking Incredible
Fahrenheit 9/11= Depressing, although there are funny parts
M. Night= fucking hack

Chestnuts roasted by Gnarkill @ 08/05/2004 01:51 PM EST

The last "new" movie I saw was Anchorman. Sure, most of the funniest stuff was shown in the previews, but, I love Will Ferrell, and he made it a worth while time waster.

Chestnuts roasted by Rob @ 08/05/2004 01:52 PM EST

saw the village sunday night... wasn't that impressed. loved his other movies more. the village kinda angered me a bit but ron howards daughter, bryce... did an amazing job.

farrenheight - liked it
harry potter 3 - it was ok...
13 going on 30 - really cute
dodgeball - hilarious
spiderman 2 - loved it... thought it was better than the first one.
shrek 2 - better than the first, loved it.

had no desire to c garfield.

looking forward to seeing napolean dynomite and cellular.

open water looks kinda interesting.

Chestnuts roasted by jessica @ 08/05/2004 01:59 PM EST

"Garfield And Friends - Volume One" is out now on DVD. I picked it up the other day, great stuff.

I didn't know that outside of the U.S. the "U.S. Acres" portion of the show was dubbed "Orson's Farm".

Makes sense I guess.

Chestnuts roasted by Danny @ 08/05/2004 02:03 PM EST

Meh...I'm just waiting for HG2G.

http://hitchhikers.movies.go.com/main.html

Chestnuts roasted by Blah...blah @ 08/05/2004 02:50 PM EST

Forgot to add my most anticipated movie to my last comment. "Saw" looks like the best horror/thriller since "Scream." You can find the uncensored trailer here: http://lightsout.movieweb.com/movies/film.php?2475

Chestnuts roasted by Gnarkill @ 08/05/2004 03:15 PM EST

Matt, here is the deal with Meg:
http://www.chud.com/news/july04/july21meg.php3

Here are some Napoleon Dynamite clips:
http://filmforce.ign.com/articles/522/522230p1.html
Ignore the info as they get the two actors named Jon confused. The lead, Jon Heder, would have been perfect for a live-action Butt-Head:

Chestnuts roasted by ME @ 08/05/2004 03:35 PM EST

I saw King Arthur and half of the remake of Around the World in 80 Days..See we were at the drive-in in Lake George and two movies for the price of one. King Arthur was pretty cool, liked it more than I thought I would but Around the World...good god...my boyfriend and I gave it about the first half hour or so and we HAD to leave. Even AH-NOLD's cameo didn't do it for us..by the way, I love the Garfield uh, catfish? It actually looks like Garfield unlike some of the cereal bits that you've reviewed where a green blob is supposed to be a monster.

Chestnuts roasted by Melissa Y. @ 08/05/2004 04:48 PM EST

Spidey 2, Shrek 2, and Harry Potter were all very good.

Am I the only one here who's seen Supersize Me? That was good.

Chestnuts roasted by JLAJRC @ 08/05/2004 05:09 PM EST

I boughta bag of those months ago. Remarkable likeness to the real garfield.

Chestnuts roasted by Former A1C Pete @ 08/05/2004 05:19 PM EST

Spiderman 2 and I, Robot. Saw Garfield too a while back. All I have to say is BORING, BORING, BORING.

...

And stupid.

...

Where's the chia plot?

Chestnuts roasted by Sucrose @ 08/05/2004 05:40 PM EST

I'm waiting for hitchhikers Guide to come out. I know where my towel is.

Chestnuts roasted by kingklash @ 08/05/2004 06:46 PM EST

yes! Napoleon Dynamite, pretty underground still up here, just north of toronto, playing in very select theatres but sooo good.

Chestnuts roasted by Cameron Lynch @ 08/05/2004 06:48 PM EST

I liked Spider-Man 2 the first time I saw it, but I saw it two times afterwords, and it sort of got old fast. I got past the initial geekness of it and started picking out the problems after a while. Still, decent film.

King Arthur really isn't about King Arthur, so don't expect to see a movie adaption of his legend.

Chestnuts roasted by Mr. Mr. Mr. @ 08/05/2004 06:59 PM EST

I sawThe Bourne Supremacy this past weekend. Not only were we stuck up front, but the camera jiggling was enough to make me pop a Dramamine. Like I mentioned in one of the other threads, seeing this movie has made me realize that my next car will be a Russian Taxi. Those things withstand.

Oh, and Matt Damon - did he get a nose job? I don't remember it being so perky in his other movies.

Chestnuts roasted by trajeal @ 08/05/2004 08:37 PM EST

Saw the crackers at the Acme, but I'm not a fan of Goldfish crackers, so I didn't try them. Have not seen the movie. Haven't been IN a movie theater in at least two years. I can't afford it, the theater in Wildwood is NOT great (and is only open during the summer), and I haven't gotten a chance to get to any of the big theaters offshore.

Chestnuts roasted by starwenn @ 08/05/2004 09:01 PM EST

Jim Davis has been inducted into something called the "Licensing Hall of Fame" (which makes me think of the "sellout" scene from Wayne's World), but is not in the Cartoonist's Hall of Fame like Schulz, Watterson, et al.

You can't even accuse Davis of selling out Garfield. Garfield was designed and built to be merchandise in a ploy so shameless and baldly obvious, it could've come from Yogurt's temple.

Chestnuts roasted by Monster Dog @ 08/05/2004 09:48 PM EST

I've been crying foul on that M. Night fella since day one, and people are finally seeing the holes in his work. He's a pompus hack of the highest order who enjoys likening himself to Hitchcock and thinking he's smarter than the rest of the public at large. Well...if he's so smart, you'd think he manage to bang out a more plausible script than one in which aliens who are allergic to water try to conquer a planet that is 78% covered by it.
Alien vs. Predator is going to be rated PG-13...wake me next year for King Kong.

Chestnuts roasted by The Yeti @ 08/05/2004 09:59 PM EST

The one thing I hoped they would bring back for the Garfield movie was his fruit snacks, but sadly they didn't

Chestnuts roasted by pikachulover @ 08/05/2004 10:10 PM EST

How can any one say I, Robot was good first it was based off Asimovs caves of steel novel; also having killer robots; they might as well have dug up his corpse, in the movie, and have Will Smith piss on it for the whole thing, then get in that crappy vintage car from the past (Mazda I think) and run over the urine soaked corpse. Asimov would never have any robot in his books kill a human being, or plan global domination. Not only that they released an I, Robot book based on the movie; God is nothing sacred anymore?
OK I think that counts as incoherent ranting so to some it up

Hollywood just raped my favorite authors corpse,
and Will Smith you suck you corpse raping, corporate, tool.

Oh good reading try his first Foundation book.

Chestnuts roasted by Geek @ 08/06/2004 12:20 AM EST

I liked it. But then again I saw it for free. My cousin took me to see it at the movie theatre she works at. So yeah it's hard to judge fairly. If you spend money on a movie your gonna have a stronger opinion. But yeah it's tv watchable indeed. Sort of fucks with the strip but you knew it would do that. Definitely a cat person movie though. If you don't have a cat then you prolly wouldn't like it at all.

Chestnuts roasted by Ally @ 08/06/2004 12:29 AM EST

I saw "The Village" in theaters today. Shittiest movie I've seen so far in theaters this summer. Basically, the previews make it look like it's some suspenseful thriller-type deal taking place in an 18th century. No, it's actually nothing more than a deceived corny love story that takes place in modern times. It's so stupid in every way possible. Not predictable at all, but that's because it's so stupid no one would dare predict such a retarded ending.

The other movies I've seen so far this summer are Fahrenheit 9/11, Spider-Man 2, Anchorman, Catwoman, White Chicks, and Dodgeball. I have yet to see Napoleon Dynamite.

And for the record, my mom bought me all the different flavors of those dumb Garfield crackers well over 2 months ago...

Chestnuts roasted by Bloodshed Goth @ 08/06/2004 12:53 AM EST

The Yeti:

"Well...if he's so smart, you'd think he manage to bang out a more plausible script than one in which aliens who are allergic to water try to conquer a planet that is 78% covered by it. "

Yeah, and if H.G. Wells wasn't such a Hack, he would have come up with a better story than aliens that die because of the common cold.

Seriously, I agree that M. Night Whatever his name is gets more credit than he deserves. In my opinion, his movies are tributes to the great Sci-Fi eras of Days gone by. "Signs" is a tribute to "War of the Worlds" "The Village," IMO, is a tribute to "The Twilight Zone"

The fact that the Aliens are allergic to Water in "Signs" is not stupid in itself: It's good irony, which makes for good storytelling. However, it's NOT an orginal idea...It was Well's idea to have the aliens be infected by something completely unexpected.

In sum: The technique is good, the fact that M. Night gets credit for it is not.

Chestnuts roasted by Cameron T. @ 08/06/2004 01:01 AM EST

Matt, you've completely hit the nail on the head about The V. It's really an excellent movie, but it's a lot more Unbreakable than Signs, while it was promoted quite the opposite. At the midnight opening show that I went to, it seemed like everybody hated it, but I've seen it grow on a few people.
I had spent tons of time on the official site (I visit the sponsers!), read news and watched "The Buried Secret" special. I expected it to be a creepy, slow burn, terrorfest that freaked me out like Signs, and I expected a period piece, served straight. But twenty minutes in, after the first twist (I say there's three), I'd already seen all the spooky footage from the commercials. That's when I knew I was going to be seeing a very different movie than I expected, and I consciously adjusted my state of mind and tried to enjoy it as it was. Once I got in the right frame of mind, I really loved it, and I say it's the best film in awhile. And not just in the "it's better than the typical fare" way.
Though I do hope M. Night gives himself a little more credit next time and tries forgoing the twists.

Chestnuts roasted by squee4242 @ 08/06/2004 01:40 AM EST

Speaking of snacks, anybody see these new Pringle chips with jokes and facts on em?

http://www.pringles.com/pringle_prints.shtml

Chestnuts roasted by Luap @ 08/06/2004 02:01 AM EST

I've seen them advertised, but I haven't actually tried them yet. I prefer the classic pringles.

In fact, I was somewhat shocked when I got a can recently and discovered that the plastic top was lucidly clear, instead of the normal opaque...

Chestnuts roasted by Cameron T. @ 08/06/2004 03:55 AM EST

I've got a home theater and have been watching Sledge Hammer on DVD. Does that count?

Chestnuts roasted by Brandon @ 08/06/2004 04:57 AM EST

Cameron T.,
That's exactly what I'm talking about. This M. Night guy gets all this praise for being such an innovative filmmaker (some call him the successor to Spielberg or the reincarnation of Hitchcock) when all he does is reheat old cinematic conventions while failing to bring anything new or unique to the table. This guy has such a hard-on for drawing parallels between himself and Hitchcock that he sticks his ugly mug in every one of his films in a hackneyed cameo spot just like Hitch did. Totally burns my ass. But then again, what the hell do I know? I'm head-over-heels in love with both volumes of Kill Bill which, many would argue, are unoriginal rehashes of old chop-saki film conventions rather than actual tributes to them. Oh well. At any rate, Sonny Chiba owns.

Chestnuts roasted by The Yeti @ 08/06/2004 06:22 AM EST

Let's fire up the RyborgMovieOmeter and see what we have.

The Village - ZZZ - (The Village earns three Z's because I nearly fell asleep during the first 45 minutes. The characters speak in whispers and nothing really happens until the movie's almost over. Pathetic. I've had more fun at funerals.)

Super-Size Me - \&&/ \&&/ - (Super-Size Me receives two pretzel bowls for finally showing a man puking after eating a Quarter Pounder on the big screen. Seriously, an amazing documentary.)

Fahrenheit 9/11 - ^^^^^^^ - (F9/11 gets seven emoticon noses for being either Liberal Propoganda or The Best Movie Ever, depending on your political stance. Personally, I think Bush needs to hit the bricks, so I dug the flick.)

I, Robot - _ - (I, Robot earned itself zero zeroes for being a lame pile of trash. This movie has more in common with the Jaws novel, the bible, or the instruction manual to Mike Tyson's Punch-Out than anything written by Asimov.)

The Manchurian Candidate - !! - (The MC earns two exclamation marks for being the rare remake that doesn't defile the original. Check out the original and impress the ladies with your knowledge of classic Sinatra films.)

Chestnuts roasted by Justin @ 08/06/2004 07:00 AM EST

Lets see, where to begin...

The Bourne Supremacy - 3 out of 5 - Decent movie, followed the storyline from B.I. quite well (although neither one of them had much to do with the books. I give it a 3 out of 5, mostly because the shakycam and quick edits gave me a slight headache. I couldn't have been the only one seeing as the theater was passing out Advil for free to everyone leaving.

I, Robot - 4 out of 5 - I liked the throwback chuck taylors, the special effects were very good and the story was believeable. That said, I agree with Justin. Very little to do with Asimov's stories. But they did state that it was inspired by the 3 laws, not by any particular story.

Spider-man 2- 4 out of 5 - Simply Spectacular. Nuff said.

Dodgeball - 2 out of 5 - Funny, but it seemed a little too rushed and hokey. Although the chick in the fetish gear was hot.

Thats all I've seen lately.

Matt, finish the Chia Plot!

Chestnuts roasted by bishopX @ 08/06/2004 08:27 AM EST

See, I though Signs was just M. Night's explanation of crop circles and why they're always done in huge fields away from the water. It wasn't really a "aliens are trying to take over a planet that's 78% water" and more like a "all of these crop circles in huge, 'dry' fields were put there by aliens who want to take over the Earth. Aliens who happen to be allergic to water". I'm not sure how to explain it. It's not like the aliens were creating whirlpools and ice sculptures. They were in 'safe' areas for themselves. Kind of like if humans landed on Venus and found one area where the gases and heat were bearable, and decided to set up house. The rest of the planet would be off limits (although may be safe for anything else already living there), but if we found one small place, you know we'd try to stake a claim in it.

That said, I'm not defending the movie. It was predictable ("There's a monster at my window. Can I have a glass of water?" right in the previews) and had a lazy ending. The one thing I was able to relate to was when everyone just sat in front of their tvs, watching the news for 24 hours straight. People were horrified but unable to look away. After the 9/11 tragedy, that one part of the movie just rang true for me.

Kerplunk! Ok, off my soapbox now. :-)

Chestnuts roasted by trajeal @ 08/06/2004 08:32 AM EST

Those crakers are pretty cool. When I remembered that those smiling goldfish creeped me out, suddenly the Garfield crackers became more sinister. They are happy to be devoured! This is insane!

Chestnuts roasted by fwfse @ 08/06/2004 09:16 AM EST

Comparing The Village to The Twilight Zone is a slap in the face to the brilliance of Rod Serling.

And I'm sorry, but the ending was predictable, and not shocking at all. Especially after they revealed the monsters. The idea of people wanting to get away from society is nothing new. The only good part of this movie was Bryce Howard, she's a remarkable actress.

I don't understand why Joaquin Phoenix was billed first as he wasn't even in the second half of the movie.

Chestnuts roasted by Cobra Soldier #18 @ 08/06/2004 09:33 AM EST

This summer:
Shrek 2 is about a 9.5 for me. I went in somewhat cautious of it being as good as everyone was saying but it was and then some.

SpiderMan 9.5 This blew away the first one. It seems like the comic dorks love this movie and the more casual fans find it good. I understand that because there is a lot of story going on in this one. The good news is that it is all good story and not crap to fill time between fights. The fights in this one make the Green Goblin fight seem like it might as well have been one of Sam's college movies. Excellent excellent flick. My only beef is that I can't get rain drops keep falling on my head out of MY head.

Troy 8.6 was really good a little on the long side, and no it was not brad's best work but was not horrible either. Bana was great and all the battle stuff was good. My only other complaint is the style everyone seems to love to do now of close up shaky camera filming of the fights. I know its the whole trying to make you feel the chaos and be in the action but i think for it to be done right you need to cut between that and wider steady shots to really see whats going on . There was not a lot of that in early fights here.

Man on Fire 8.5
Really good movie with great performances and kick ass revenge. They did a good job of getting the story between Washington and the kid over. My only complaints are that it was slightly long and they style of the movie (while awesome) got a little tiresome at times. When Washington went to the big techno bar I just needed a breather for a few minutes from all the filters, quick cuts and flashes of light.

Dodge Ball 8.2
This movie was a little slower than I expected but was still pretty funny. Stiller and Vince work well together and they did a great job with all of Vince's supporting characters. The cameos are wonderful especially Norris and Jason Bateman. This movie just goes to show that people getting hit with stuff is STILL funny, especially with the right ccompanying sound effect.

Shaolin Soccer 8.0
I had to update and add this one. It was fun, a little more goofy then I had expected but good. I put it ahead of Day after tomorrow because although it did not have the couple of amazing scenes over all it was more fun.

Day after tomorrow 7.8 i about what you would expect. The disaster stuff is great, just great. I think it gives a better impact here than in ID4 because this is real. Tornados and hurricanes are real, not where they happened in this movie but they do happen. Thus I think seeing NY and LA trashed was more awe inspiring here than in ID4. To me the tornado part is the best and is one of those things is still clear in my head and can send chills down my spine. Unforunately the rest of the movie is not as good. While not a disaster it just goes kind of flat. Jake and dennis do a fine job but unlike ID4 this movie seems to lose its world wide feel quickly. That would be my main complaint. In this kind of movie you have to balance between keeping your focus to wide and to narrow. Here it was to narrow. If they would have maybe kept some more focus on someone out in LA or something or atleast showed the disasters out in the rest of the world when they were talking about Europe getting destroyed too it would have been a little better.

Around the world in 80 days 6.5
This movie starts off embarrassingly bad and slowly works it's way into something better. If you do not like Chan then don't go. If you do it is worth catching an afternoon showing. The cameos are pretty good and there is this weird line the movie walks between being aimed towards kids and being a little wrong.

Van Helsing. 5.5 Ok so we say this at the drive in and the really dark look of the movie becomes almost to dark to follow at times at the drive in so maybe that effected my feelings of this movie but i'm thinking probably not. This is one of those few action movies where the action bores me and no matter how much they throw up on the screen it does not work for me. Hugh was alright and I liked Frankenstein a lot. It had a few funny moments here and there but over all its about what all the critics said it was.

Bourne Supremecy: Not quite as good as the first but not far off. Best parts are Bourne being a bad ass and the acting from all the major characters. The worst part is the shaky camrea work. During the car chase espcially, Nicole had to close her eyes, you just completely lose track of whats going on. It is the same when he is doing his one big hand to hand fight also. The is my other complaint, in the first movie he fought a bunch of people but this time he did not fight nearly as much. 7.5/10

Napoleon Dynamite: Where to begin with this one. IT is weird thats really all that can be said. It is extremely funny but the characters and setting are almost to weird for their own good. Napoleon becomes more likeable by the end but early on your just like...what the hell is wrong with these people. Matt attributes it to glue sniffing. Having said that, I have known people in school that were like him, which makes it all the more frightening. 8/10 I would say i found it as funny as anchorman.

The Village: Don't expect to see big scary monster movie.
Alot of people are not liking it but that is what happens with his movies. People go in expecting one thing and if they get another they can be annoyed. IT happened with unbreakable and I get the feeling this will be the same. Time will be this films friend.
8.4/10

Riddick: very Blah Vin can't act I mean really CAN"T ACT! 5.5

Chestnuts roasted by thejyav @ 08/06/2004 09:51 AM EST

How come they didn't make goldfish in the shape of Harold or Kumar?

Chestnuts roasted by Sweetie @ 08/06/2004 10:14 AM EST

GHETTO SPIDER-MAN DRIVING A RICKSHAW!!!!

Completely off topic: last night after coming out of a show (Wicked -- which was wickedly awful) the rickshaw men were lined up waiting to take the annoying, slow as snails on valium tourists back to their shitty third rate motels and one of them was wearing a crappy spider-man costume. Some stupid tourists actually got in.

Chestnuts roasted by Pedro @ 08/06/2004 10:25 AM EST

I am a restauranteur/zookeeper. My establishment is called Pedro's World of Delicious Animals. Basically, our zoo/restaurant allows patrons to watch, interact with, pet and devour all types of animals (what we call the ol' petty eatty).

Believe me when I tell you that my restaurant is a completely mindblowing experience. Imagine the insanity that comes with eating a big juicy burger while petting a cow. Or how about feeding little baby fawn deers while happily munching away on some choice cuts of our own "made-on-premises" hickory smoked venison jerky. We've got everything: cattle, turkeys, chicken, lamb, duck, gazelle, zebra, horse, gerbils, cats, owls, antelope, snakes, pigs, llama.

We also have a marine section called Tio Pedro's Palacio de Animales Deliciosos del Mar, which loosely translates to Uncle Pete's Palace of Delicios marine life. Tio Pedro's has hundreds of types of fish, crabs, lobster, shell fish, sharks, eels, you name it. In the "pick and eat" section, guests remove their own fish with a net from the tank, after which the fish is immediately slaughtered by your own personal chef (or you can do it yourself if you like) and turned in to delicious sushi, ALL RIGHT BEFORE YOUR VERY EYES!!!! How about throwing some of the freshest sushi around down your gullet while enjoying a icy cold bottle of Snout Stoudt, our home brewed beer made with 2% all natural pig extract.

Don't worry, there's something for the vegetarian too, (although not nearly as exciting if you ask me.) Vegans can stroll through our lush gardens aimlessly and mercilessly chopping away at our fresh vegetables while eating salads and drinking smoothies.

Why am I telling you this? Well, this year I plan to unveil my latest exhibit/entree. I plan to have a large pig pen where people can pet the little oinkers then, in the middle of the pen, high up an alter with candles burning and fires RAGING there will be a enourmous spits w/ succulent pigs roasting away, waiting to be devoured by my hungry guests. The little hogs will surely smell their impending fate on the spit, but can you imagine the insanity?

anyway, we may be able to use someone to affix the swine to the spits on the pig roasting altar. Typically, we like to do some for the early crowd while the pigs are still alive and kicking (literally.) Getting a spit through a live pig is no easy task and is quite messy and loud actually. Plus, there's this weird red pig costume with devil horns on the top that I like the slaughterer to wear. Think you're up for the task?

Chestnuts roasted by Pedro @ 08/06/2004 10:31 AM EST

Forget all that, has everyone seen this news?!? Either the best movie ever made or a fetid pile of stinkypoo, depending how they handle it...

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/film/brief_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000584188

Chestnuts roasted by Trash @ 08/06/2004 10:48 AM EST

i haven't seen the village, but because of the trailer ("you won't be able to keep from screaming" or something) how could you NOT think it was a horror movie? the teaser focuses on the evil things that live beyond, and screaming, and various eerie shit nuggets.

if it was meant to be a romance or an Emotional movie they gotta make it look like one in the trailer.

Chestnuts roasted by chrispy @ 08/06/2004 11:54 AM EST

Aliens vs Freddy?

Jason vs Predator?

Chucky vs PuppetMaster?

Wayne and Garth vs Harold and Kumar vs Bill and Ted vs Beavis and Butthead?

Chia vs Mare!

Chestnuts roasted by kingklash @ 08/06/2004 11:57 AM EST

Anyone who didn't see the twist at the end of The Village coming a mile away is absolutely retarded. Two weeks before it, I was talking to people about it. I brought up how dumb it would be if ((SPOILERSSS)), and lo-and-behold, there it was, when I went to see that waste of $6.50. I wanna write to Shayamalan and request my money back. Stupid movie.

Chestnuts roasted by DarKoz @ 08/06/2004 12:17 PM EST

The lastest movie I saw was dodgeball. It was much funny than I thought it was from watching the commerical. I heard Spider-Man 2 was good, but at last, I have not seen it.

Garfield's goldfish, no I haven't eat it, though seen it at my local Kroger, but this blog entry about garfield reminded me to post about a garfield-theme ride at Kennywood park. When I went to Kennywood (when on vacation) there was a two-hour wait to ride the Garfield's ride. But get this, the ride was actually over 100 years old with garfield and evil foods (don't ask) painted on the walls.

Chestnuts roasted by Beta-Theta @ 08/06/2004 12:30 PM EST

On related notice, though it did not come recently to theaters, I rewatch an old tape with Care Bears in Wonderland on it. For those who never seen or heard of this Care Bears movie (it could be made for TV movie) here the plot of the movie: A girl named Alice (hmmm wonder why),has low self-esteem to believe she can do anything. Soon enough the Care Bears (Tender-heart, the green one, Grumpy bear, Brave heart, the elephant, and Swift heart) came with the white rabbit, who need Alice to play princess of Wonderland for awhile as Brave Heart, Grumpy, Swift Heart, and green bear found the really princess. I can go on and on about the plot, but you know what going to happen at the end, Alice will soon begin to beleive in her self. For those don't like singing throughout the movie and Grumpy complaining that he hungry, this movie is not for you. However, this movie review can be a perfect article for X-entertainment.

Chestnuts roasted by Beta-Theta @ 08/06/2004 12:46 PM EST

You should see the comics we have in the papers here in Holland. They are really something else. The best is about a guy that has midgets in his house and it has Smurfs having sex and jokes about shit. It is AWESOME!
Oh yeah, we also have Garfield.

Chestnuts roasted by Thijs @ 08/06/2004 02:40 PM EST

I haven't seen a movie this summer because i think movies nowadays pretty much suck. I'd rather wait til they come out on DVD. The most recent movie I have watched was the MacGyver movie. It was a bunch of godawful crap but thats what makes Macgyver so great. It must be the mullet...

Speaking of garfield I always wondered what Lorenzo Music looked like. He never did any actual acting roles just voices. I honestly think he looks like one of the characters he voiced which is Tummy from The Gummi Bears. He was the one who looked like he was stoned all the time and he must've been considering he was so goddamn hungry all the time. Anywho I can't stand garfield anymore. After Garfield and Friends went off the air its all been downhill. Its really sad when you can tell a cartoonist has become totally bankrupt of ideas and just rehashes the same ol' crap over and over again. Well enough of my whining, see y'all later.....

Chestnuts roasted by phunqsauce @ 08/06/2004 02:41 PM EST

Oh, god damned Carebears in Wonderland. I work for a video dubbing place, and Nelvana is one of our major clients, so I see that damn movie go through at LEAST once a month, in every language you could imagine. Incidentally, they've just finished a brand-spanking new Carebears movie, entirely with CG animation, and none of the original voices...I dunno, man, they're cute, but they aren't the Care Bears we grew up with.

As for movies? Spiderman 2 twice, 'cause it's awesome, Napoleon Dynamite was odd but was good, and beyond that...um...I watched some 80s rock cartoon called Rock and Rule the other night. I doubt anyone would have heard of it, but if you have, props to you!

Chestnuts roasted by Mike @ 08/06/2004 02:57 PM EST

Thanks for the spoiler, DarKoz. You just saved me $7.00 and 2 hours. Hazaa!

Chestnuts roasted by Blah...blah @ 08/06/2004 03:07 PM EST

DarKoz,

Thank you so much for spoiling the ending for the rest of us. I'm sure you feel all warm and fuzzy now that you've ruined it for those who haven't seen the movie yet.

I can make my own determination if the ending was predictable, but I guess it will predictable NOW THAT YOU'VE OPENED YOUR BIG MOUTH AND BLABBED IT!!!!!

Sorry about that Matt. Maybe you want to take away his post (and my rant too) as a gesture of goodwill to your faitful adoring crowd?

Chestnuts roasted by Yzziefrog @ 08/06/2004 03:07 PM EST

The Dollar Store near my house has a bunch of classic cartoons on DVD. A bunch of Hanna-Barbara stuff, plus Casper, Woody Woodpecker, Superman, The Wind in the Willows, Popeye, Mighty Mouse, etc. I was hoping for the Roman Holidays, but alas, no luck.

Did you all see that Showgirls is coming out with a V.I.P. version on DVD? Should be grand.

Chestnuts roasted by trajeal @ 08/06/2004 03:50 PM EST

Holy Shit!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rick James is Dead!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No!!!!!

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=762&e=1&u=/ap/20040806/ap_en_mu/obit_james

Chestnuts roasted by Wills @ 08/06/2004 03:56 PM EST

holy shit....RIP rick james

Chestnuts roasted by phunqsauce @ 08/06/2004 04:00 PM EST

I saw Catwoman. It wasn't very good. Th' end!

Chestnuts roasted by Deathfrogurt @ 08/06/2004 04:01 PM EST

My Mom, my sister, and I had an all-liberal-movie night a few weeks ago. We drove two and a half hours to see Fahrenheit, then found out that Supersize Me was still playing there, and decided to see both in a row.

My sister's become a vegetarian, and as I went "ugh" many times during Supersize Me, she took the opportunity to try and convert me in the middle of the lobby while we were waiting to get into Fahrenheit. Which led to an argument about the effect of meat-eating on the evolution of the human brain, loud enough for everyone in the place to hear us.

A persnickety horse farmer came out of the showing of Fahrenheit before ours talking about "one of our greatest benefactors - one of the princes? - died last year. *Died* -"

Everyone has a "most freaky" part of Fahrenheit (I think, even if you despise Moore completely - which is easy to do - there's something in there that'll scare you); mine was the Baghdad footage, for reasons I think are pretty obvious. I'm now feeling creepy when I read my violent comic books.

Chestnuts roasted by Goz @ 08/06/2004 04:17 PM EST

I'm Rick James Bitch!

Chestnuts roasted by Rick James @ 08/06/2004 04:21 PM EST

I still check Garfield first every day, too...

...but that's mainly because it's the first comic on the comics page. XD

Chestnuts roasted by Quinkie @ 08/06/2004 04:21 PM EST

I went to see King Arthur with my Hot Cousin, and she and I ended up making out through the 2nd half of it.... Oh My God! I made out with MY COUSIN!!!! I touched her boobs! I mean, she's hot, but that's still a sin, right?

Uhm, King Arthur was ok, from what I remember.

Chestnuts roasted by Terry Johnson @ 08/06/2004 04:37 PM EST

Depends on how distant the cousin....

We used to try and claim Rick James as our Uncle. Never met him, though. Great music, miss him already. You younger dudes need to see some of his videos or blast his tunes on your car stereo at least once this weekend.

RIP Uncle Rick.

Chestnuts roasted by kingklash @ 08/06/2004 04:53 PM EST

$10 bucks says Terry's cousin is really a man w/ man boobs! Terry, you sick #@$%!!!!

Chestnuts roasted by J-Dog @ 08/06/2004 04:58 PM EST

Mike, see posts from ME and Steve Brandon about Rock and Rule.

The latest news on the DVD release:
http://www3.telus.net/jcannon/rocknrule/home.html

Chestnuts roasted by ME @ 08/06/2004 04:58 PM EST

Wow...this thread has taken a turn for the surreal. Weren't we talking about movies a second ago? It must make Rick James' family feel nice to know that he died as the butt of a nationwide joke that was spearheaded by one of his closest "friends". We should all be ashamed. I know I am.

Chestnuts roasted by The Yeti @ 08/06/2004 05:46 PM EST

Hey Cameron T, H.G. Wells had a great idea with the aliens being susceptible(sp) to the common cold. Think about when the whites invaded America, most of the natives died from influenza. It wiped out damn near a third of their entire population. M.Night is a hack, allergic to water is pretty weak when you're invading a planet that is almost entirely water. Didn't they frickin notice that it rains down here????

Chestnuts roasted by OldSchooler @ 08/06/2004 05:52 PM EST

it's all about Harold And Kumar Go To White Castle.

it's worth it just for the Neal Patrick Harris cameo.

Chestnuts roasted by Frank @ 08/06/2004 07:30 PM EST

What's with "her jaw was slack". I was with you up until that point

Chestnuts roasted by Kristal @ 08/06/2004 08:44 PM EST

The Micronauts are back in block form, and a movie is on the way soon.

Chestnuts roasted by ME @ 08/06/2004 09:32 PM EST

I should have said "may" instead of "is" for the movie, as the release states that nothing is definate. The interview with the block form toy company founder in the link above does reinforce though that a movie is being planned of some sort.

Bugeyedmonster has some good stuff on the original line and clones: www.bugeyedmonster.com/toys/micro/

Chestnuts roasted by ME @ 08/06/2004 09:42 PM EST

Um, Yeti, Rick James isn't the butt of the "I'm Rick James, bitch" bit. Didn't anybody watch the BET awards? RJ performed (amazingly) with Teena Marie, and he closed the performance out with several hollers of it, some of which they censored out. Not to mention the fact that he was IN the bit that the entire joke comes from. I do wonder what this means for the Dave Chappelle biopic they were planning to make about his life though.
BTW, I'm pretty sure Bloodshed Goth posted the first Village spoilers on 08/06/2004 @ 12:53 AM. Willy Whippit is still a jerk though.

Chestnuts roasted by squee4242 @ 08/06/2004 10:18 PM EST

Troy -- some people have really complained about the historical innacuracy of the movie, but i seriously enjoyed it, even though i thought it would be cheeseball. it does drag a bit in the middle. 4/5

Dodgeball -- meh, not as funny as i wanted it to be. 3/5

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban -- excellent atmosphere, it didn't go as into detail as i would have preferred as a fan of the book, but still a a great movie. 4/5

Farenheit 9/11 -- i think it's something that's good for people to see. Michael Moore's biased, duh. so's George W. Bush. there's a lot of things that are seen in a filter, but, it's not like he scripted everything, and i think that it has some good moments. 4/5

Shrek 2 -- loved it. all hail Shrek, etc. 5/5

Spider-Man 2 -- one of those 'what you go to the movies for' movies, whatever the hell that means. 5/5

Napoleon Dynamite -- off-beat movie made by and for Mormons who can't see teen comedies with curses in it, it's still hilariously funny. i was surprised that my Mom really liked it, even. 5/5

Anchorman -- hilarious. i figured it was gonna suck and i was in stiches the whole movie. 5/5

I, Robot -- not being an Asimov fan, i liked this movie, when i expected it to be crap. great popcorn movie. 4/5

Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle -- very funny, good jokes, a stoner movie that made me laugh even though i don't get high. makes you crave White Castle, though i've never eaten there being on the West coast. 4/5

Chestnuts roasted by sobriquette @ 08/06/2004 10:20 PM EST

Good for Matt-dawg. Way to show your opinion without the fear of...other people. I give you 30 cool points. That puts you in 5th place in the poll...behind Brett Favre and Shaq.

Chestnuts roasted by Walks @ 08/06/2004 10:29 PM EST

Long time no post because I'm currently using my brother's computer for the summer (mine's at school) and my brother's a total Nazi when it comes to me using his computer. He thinks this website is putting shit on his computer. Bullshit. I hate my brother, along with my whole family.

Anyway, I love Goldfish crackers, and I like Garfield, but I'm not so sure about that movie. I didn't se it, and I don't think I want to.

Chestnuts roasted by Nate @ 08/07/2004 12:29 AM EST

I work in a movie theater and I can tell you the following information: Catwoman Blows, Chronicles of Riddick has nothing on Star Wars, Bourne Supremacy Good, Harold and Kumar try and bring back the stoner comedies of Cheech and Chong, Manchurian Candidate is a good thriller, Village is M. Night Shymalan's final attempt at something spooky but he sucks again, Collateral and Little Black Book opened today and both sold well, and Thunderbirds has the most bizzare group of movie goers

Chestnuts roasted by Animal @ 08/07/2004 12:33 AM EST

oh yeah, and Dodgeball and Anchorman are both like 90 minute SNL sketches, and are alot of fun, I Robot is like Independance Day meets the droids from that weird room in Jabba's Palace, White Chicks was a movie to get every culturally confused teenager into the theater (in fact it sold out a few shows), Shrek 2 is still doing phenominally, Farenheit 9/11 was good at showing an issue that was a little touchy for america, Terminal was Heartwarming, and the Notebook was sad, and Cinderella story makes me feel dirty becuase of Hillary Duff not being 18 yet

Chestnuts roasted by Animal @ 08/07/2004 12:36 AM EST

Still can't post

Chestnuts roasted by MUGZY @ 08/07/2004 12:39 AM EST

ALRIGHT! Finally, that damn Greymatter thing let me through to post! Anyway. . .Crayola Crayola Rocks (remember that little jingle?) When I was little, I always thought PEA GREEN was a funny color to use. And Matt, as for a RAZZMATAZZ - you damn well know what that is!

~ Kicking, squealing, gucci little piggies.

Chestnuts roasted by MUGZY. . . @ 08/07/2004 12:42 AM EST

Harold & Kumar is awesome.

Go watch it now.

Chestnuts roasted by Why you kick my dog? @ 08/07/2004 12:57 AM EST

I can already see a VH-1 original movie in the making about Rick James. The guy they got to play Michael Jackson in their latest platter of diarreah looks really scary and nothing too close to the King of Statutory Rape. The movie looks like a prime candidate for an X-Eing. Gobbeldy Gosh....what a horrible night to have a curse....

Chestnuts roasted by phunqsauce @ 08/07/2004 01:33 AM EST

With a little bit of luck, Prince will be the next to go.

Chestnuts roasted by The Yeti @ 08/07/2004 07:21 AM EST

Well, only GARFEILD gets in the bag? It makes you wonder? Why hasn't Shrek, in all his mass marketing, been in the Goldfish bag? I mean did he think he was to GOOD for Goldfish? If so he is sadly mistaken. *starts singing the jingle from the commercial*

Chestnuts roasted by Purple People Eater @ 08/07/2004 01:00 PM EST

I already gave my opinion on the Garfield movie back in this X-E Blog entry back in June; not going to win any Oscars, but it's a movie about Garfield for kids, and I thought it was pretty cute. Other than Nermal, who was completely botched.

At Montreal's Fantasia festival, I saw the live-action Cutie Honey movie, based on the 1970s Japanese cartoon about a busty robot girl of the same name. Just a lot of silly, unpretentious fun fighting against Sailor Moon-like villains (Queen Beryl and her minions were obviously inspired by the bad guys from the original Cutey Honey anime, at least a little bit), full of T&A and lots of pretty, psychadelic colours (and a few animated segments). And, of course, the serious cop at the beginning of the film who is young, stern, and female and who tries to arrest Honey for her sweet vigilanteism will obviously become a reluctant ally to Honey by the middle of the film and learn to loosen up and smile by the end. It's a cliché in cheesy Asian action/comedy films with kick-ass female heroes... at least pretty much exactly the same thing happened in Corey Yuen's So Close, the only other movie like that I've watched in the past couple of years. Also, I love that the director of Cutie Honey is Hideaki Anno, the exact same person who brought us the Evangelion anime, but people expecting another deep mindfuck (or another load of pretentious bullshit with meaningless symbolism and hollow religious iconography, depending on your point of view regarding Eva) will be disappointed (or happy) that Anno has brought us a fun film as shallow as a children's wading pool.

Chestnuts roasted by Steve Brandon @ 08/09/2004 02:10 AM EST

I had to comment on Spiderman 2. I am not going to say I hated it, but I definitly thought it was sub-par. I think I went in with too high expectations. There just wasn't enough action for me. The train sequence was over too fast. Plus, I compared it to X-men 2. X-men was a great movie, but when X-men 2 came out, it completely blew it away. Spiderman was a great movie, and Spiderman 2 just seemed like more of the same. Also, my feeble intellect couldn't comprehend the Village. The ADD had set in and I found myself staring at my lap laughing to myself thinking of the Simpsons episode where ralph stands alone in the street and pisses himself. Ahhh that was a good one.

Chestnuts roasted by Scotty Boy @ 08/10/2004 03:10 PM EST

Maybe I'm a little flaky...but the movie wasn't half bad, Nermal was a bit of disappointment and Odie was a little too...real, and the Jon/Liz love affair that never really ever came into play before and shouldn't have EVER. Honestly it was a live action version of the first Garfield cartoon special, tweeked to try to pull in a larger demograph than 5 year olds and true die hard Garfield fans. I also enjoyed the thought given on the choice of Garfield's voice. Think about it, Peter Venkman of Ghostbuster was played by Bill Murray, Garfield's original voice, Lorenzo Music, offered his talent and vocal cords to the Peter Venkman of "The Real Ghostbusters", so the only logical step would have been to make Bill Murray the voice of Garfield in the movie since..well...Lorenzo is a little room temperature. Okay, maybe I am a little flakey.

Chestnuts roasted by Croliss @ 08/10/2004 08:04 PM EST

I agree with the post by Todd Leroy Cummings: "If you’re a fan of 'Garfield,' then I suggest you stay away from the fat cat’s big screen debut. Stripping away the essential cartooish nature of the character and his world, and replacing it with a wheezy story and shameless product placement, this new “Garfield” feature might not immediately offend children who are unfamiliar with the feline, but for the already initiated, this movie is an insult."

I am a huge Garfield fan, at least I was until I saw this movie. It made me cry. I only truly laughed once during the whole film. The rest of the time, I faked it because I was with my cousin who loves Garfield and... well... let's just say that you don't want him to know you don't like something he likes.

But, no, it just wasn't Garfield. First of all, it was live-action. There should be a law that cartoon-based movies should be CARTOONS and not live-action. With the exception of Scooby Doo since it was a camp and it was pretty darn funny. But I digress. Second, it lacked the ecclectic and sometimes acerbic charm of the original cartoons and comics. It was obvious that Jim Davis had little to no control over the film because it felt more like someone just skimmed through a bunch of old Garfield books and just collected all of the most used (and sometimes lamest) jokes. Lasagna and Mondays. That was it. And even the lines like "I hate Mondays" are spoken at such odd times that they're no longer funny. For instance, Garfield wakes up Monday morning and sighs "I hate Mondays." Why the hell would a cat hate Mondays? He doesn't work! Whereas, in the comics, every Monday, Garfield would be crushed by an anvil, hit by a pie, or some other strange thing. Now he has a reason to hate Mondays! Along those lines, all of the quirky running gags were gone. Not even a single Klopman Diamond joke. Not a one. And third, the villain wasn't your typical over-the-top sleazy corporate greaseball Garfield villain. He was sleazy and all, but I just got more of the opinion that he was a prancing nancy than a sneaky shyster.

Chestnuts roasted by Matt Garner @ 08/11/2004 12:05 PM EST

Taking Garfield from straight up animation in to cg is a big mistake. I don't plan on seeing the movie any time soon, considering the fact that I haven't seen it yet and I don't feel that I am any worse off.

The Village was a pretty decent movie (once you learned to just strike all of the movie's marketing scheme from your mind). For those of you who said you guessed how the movie would turn out; doubtful. I did get a sense that it was not really staying all that close to how life was back in that time period. I thought that they should have hired a historian or someone. Then it all turned out to be fake. Good one, M. you wise ass.

Chestnuts roasted by Random @ 08/14/2004 06:49 AM EST

hey Matt have you ever thought of doing a Pepsi vs Coke review?

Chestnuts roasted by theTrixBunnysEvilTwin @ 08/18/2004 04:53 PM EST

thats a good idea ( i vote coke)
lol

Chestnuts roasted by Rachel @ 08/18/2004 04:54 PM EST