My Top British B-List Actors

I'm in a 'British phase' right now. We have seen a lot of British actors in our favorite movies, sometimes we don't even realize they're British. There are a lot of A-list British talent out there for producers to fight over, but this is not about them. Forget about Jude Law, Orlando Bloom and all those pretty boys (sorry headbeats!). Lets look at the real Englishmen with proper manners and bad teeth, whose definition of chivalry is to not bash your head in if you get in their way, or , at least, warn you that they are going to pass gas before they actually do. Anyhoo, here they are.


Daniel Craig- He was Tom Hanks' incompetent brother in The Road to Perdition and Adrien Brody's confiding best friend in The Jacket. I am absolutely convinced that this guy is gonna be the next british action/drama star. But for now you can check him out in smaller projects such as the critically-acclaimed Layer Cake.

Cillian Murphy- I am not very familiar with his early indie work, but he definitely kicked major tail in 28 Days later.

Rhys Ifans- Everybody knows him as Spike. The kooky roommate in Notting Hill. He's been in many different supporting roles like the one as the devil's son in Little Nicky, but we haven't seen him that much these past few years. Hope he gets a good project soon. This guy is uber talented.

Clive Owen- Okay, okay. I know he's an A-lister now because of King Arthur and Closer. but Clive was a very effective leading men in many unpopular flicks like Beyond Borders and very impactful in The Bourne Identity (Ha! Betcha didn't notice. He was the Treadstone hitman who got shot in the last part of the movie). This guy has long paid his dues and is deserving of his popularity.

Simon Pegg- Anyone who's seen Shaun of The Dead will tell you that, in order to enjoy it, you shouldn't take it too seriously. Pegg is the catalyst that makes this movie enjoyable despite it's obsurdity. I hope that this guy will continue to make the same intelligently funny dumbed-down (I hope that makes sense to you) indie flicks in the future.

Jason Statham- No one can be any badder than this cat was in The Transporter. He was also the cool cat Turkish in Snatch. From his cameo in Collateral to his character as second banana in The Italian Job and lead villain in Cellular, this guy definitely has the chops to be a true action hero.

Vinnie Jones- This is one guy you do not want to mess with in a bar fight. He's the type of dude that eats bullets for breakfast. His characters range from humorous to just plain sadistic. Plus, Bullet Tooth Tony is the collest name any gangster can have. He will next be seen in Survive Style +5.

Ricky Gervais-Ever seen those MTV station IDs where this record shop owner comes over to Ronan Keating and starts to sing Backstreet Boys songs and Ronan embarissingly points out that he's not a member of the Backstreet Boys and starts to sing his Boyzone hits, and the guy doesn't recognize them and says "You should listen to the Backstreet Boys, they're a top band". That's Ricky Gervais. Nuff said.

I Got Listed!

Nobody had been posting in my blog the past few days. This kind of bummed me out during my shift, then just like any egotistical web blog guy I googled my name just to find out where and how my blog would be indexed.
Imagine my surprise when I found out that my blog was in a list made by Cosmopoetica listing websites containing a collection of 2004 best and worst movie lists. It had somewhere in the middle in the list My 2004 Top Ten Best Movies!!
Sure it's not exactly the Pulitzer, but among my "illustrious" group-mates are AFI Movies, Newsweek, The Detroit News, San Diego Film Critics, Rotten Tomatoes and somebody called uh,Roger Ebert.

Sweeet!

Straight Eye For The Queer Guy

I have been paying close attention to some sitcoms and reality TV shows recently, but nothing has caught the attention of everyone else in he house including myself more than the makeover-reality show Queer Eye For The Staight Guy.

Anyone who's been watching ETC definitely knows who the Fab Five are. What they do is they are assigned a guy each episode to completely transform from a slob to someone who is a uhh, well, not a slob. They do the guy's hair, fix his house, teach him manners and buy him a new Hugo Boss suit and then suddenly he turns into this metrosexual version of himself which his girlfriend loves better than the old slob of a man that he was before. Nice huh.
I can't deny that the show is really a great watch. You actually get to know a lot in such a small period of time you litterally have to take down notes. I especially like the tips on how to hang your clothes and all of that trivial stuff 'cause I've tried some of it. And they actually work. I also appreciate the level of culture these guys have and are able to share to the audience though their makovers. The popularity of this show is indeed well deserved.

I do have one comment.

Pampanga has a lot of homosexuals and is a haven for the close encounters of the third kind. And I have been seeing them on the street, in school, in the malls and in some occasions, in church since I was little. However, despite all this exposure, I am proud to call myself a straight guy. I also do not deny the fact that, just like any other straight guy, have homophobic tendencies. What does all of this have to do with anything?


Queer Eye kind of gives you the vibe that only Gay people know fashion, ettiquette and culture. Culture and Grooming have always been equated as very effeminate characteristics, so therefore, If you were to ask a person who is not a woman about such things,you would have to ask a "gay guy" since they are more in touch with their feminine side. This is the impression that I get.
Don't straight guys know stuff like this too. I know for a fact that some, no, most of the stuff I see in "Queer Eye.." I had already encountered with some guys I know that are straight. My brother knows a lot on how you can take care of your clothes from rainwater and how to use Lysol and stuff. And I know for a fact that he is NOT gay. You see, straight people, yes, straight GUYS also know about culture, ettiquette and grooming, not all do, I can give you that. But I know a lot of guys who are aesthetically talented but are not gay. What exactly is a "Queer Eye", anyway? Do you have to be gay to have an eye for aesthetic? I know "Aesthetically Inclined Eye for the Straight Guy" is not exacly a catchy title, but does being aesthetically inclined have to be equated with being gay.

Movie Review "The Jacket" (2005)

I watch a lot of movies. I usually make reviews of movies that are either obscure or what others consider irrelevant. There are thousands of blogs out there talking about the same movies> I try as much as possible to steer away from those movies (if possible) and try to review the small movies of world.

I haven't been out watching movies for a long time. It's been a busy time for me since I had been doing some extra work in the office after my shifts. I haven't had any time for myself for more than 3 weeks. Then I decided to take the time to watch a movie in G1.
Now let me tell you about The Jacket. But first, let me tell you about Adrien Brody.
Adrien Brody is an effective actor. "Effective" means that he is a well honed, well skilled tool for his director in helping him make a great script come to life.His physical features helped Roman Polanski bring across a weak but resourceful Jewish survivor in The Pianist. His erratic persona made him effective as the cocaine addicted photojournalist in Harrison's Flowers and the mentally retarded best friend in The Village.He may not have the same charisma as DeNiro, Cruise or Crowe, but he sure does make his director look good. In The Jacket, Brody plays Jack Starks, a Gulf War vet who gets shot in the head and survives but gets into a series of situations where he gets committed into a mental institution with a Frankenstein like doctor played by Kris Kristofferson who performs experimental 'simulation' procedures on his patients to 'correct' their behavior. Keira Knightley is Jackie Price, a woman from his alternate reality who is helping her solve the great mystery of his predicament.

I have to be honest, I have read one or two articles about The Jacket previously. When I actually got to see it, It wasn't the movie I expected it to be. Actually, the movie starts out as some sort of war-realted drama and has the feel of an independent human drama. Then it turns into a Seven-ish scratchy, blippy, synapse filled eye trip that could get you into an epileptic seizure.



The story is very original and it doesn't have any of the overdone twist endings that are grossly overdone these days. It's a very effective drama/thriller as that it has both elements and they interplay with the story in a very realistic manner. I thought this was going to be another controversial Gulf War drama with political undertones, which was my original idea , however, early in the film it steers a totally different direction and totally abandons the war angle and concentrates on the uncanny adventures in the jacket he gets to wear and the 'box' he gets inserted into.
For some reason, this movie reminds me a lot of The Machinist, probably because it's darkly lit sets and the anemic looking protagonists of both movies, but for the most part because of the 'jumping' time dynamics of the story.
Don't look for any idealistic opinion-changing viewpoints here. Instead, enjoy it as it really is, a story of a man in an extraordinary circumstance that borders the paranormal, trying to find himself and gain true happiness.





"Long Live the Organization for the Organized!"

Rocketboy's Rating: *** (3 out of 5)

More Updates for You and Your Mother

I've got some pics of Brandon Routh as Clark Kent, here if anyone wants them. Personally, I think the new Superman flick is looking very promising. I thinkdirector Brian Singer is doing a very good job keeping it loyal to the original, which everybody loved, including myself. Too much departure from the original feel of the first movie is just asking for trouble. It's good that Singer is humble enough to recognize the imprtance of the masterpice director Richard Donner did for Superman. I cant wait for shots of Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor. Gene Hackman did a great job as the original Luthor, but i think Spacey is 'da money when it comes being Lex.

Here are some more:

Picture 1
Picture 2
Picture 3



Meanwhile ( I'm trying to stick to a somewhat comics-related theme here), Ghostrider is very much a sure deal and Nicolas Cage is set to be the biker superhero with a burning skull (that actually funny when you think about Nicolas Cage). Its a good thing his Superman project with Tim Burton was trashed. It's good that they came to their senses that it was a bad idea to begin with. We dont have any Ghost Rider pics, but I've got his sweet hog!


In the video game-to-movie franchise department, probably the most anticipated VG gilm in the works right now is Silent Hill. Probably one of the creepiest games ever concieved, it spawned other similarly scary games such as my cousin's favorite, Fatal Frame. Check out the synopsis:

"Silent Hill the Movie is about a woman desperate to save her dying child finds herself trapped in an alternate reality as she searches for her daughter in a dangerous world of demons. Rose cannot accept the knowledge that her daughter Sharon is dying of a fatal disease. Over the protests of her husband, she flees with her child, intending to take the girl to a faith healer. On the way, she ends up driving through a portal in reality, which takes her to the eerie and deserted town of Silent Hill."

It sounds cool already. I think it's gonna come out kind of like a 28 Days Later type of movie.

I'm all giddy just like back when I was in elementary. What do you guys think? (about the movies, that is.)

Growing Old Sucks

Just when you think there's nothing else to look at in the web after hours of surfing, you grow old right before your eyes.

To watch yourself grow old, click here.

No, I'm not gonna show you mine.


Props to attuseesall.

Choose Your Own Stupid Adventure

Here's another retro mind-trip. Choose Your Own Adventure Books. I remember reading at least five of these when I was about 9 years old and I remember loving them. I had that book with one of King Arthur's Knights and his adventures with a dragon or something like that. The thing is I can never remember how the stories went because there were so many friggin' endings. In retrospect, I think the books suck now after having read John Irving. Of course, we have to take into consideration that these books were designed to cater to the tastes of 10 to 12 year olds with short attention spans induced by playing long hours of Nintendo. I actually saw some guy back in fourth year read this crap and I thought to myself.."What a loser".

Then I went back to playing with my G. I. Joes in my lonely corner.

Here's a link from SomethingAwful.com. It's a hilarious collection of what if..covers.

Enjoy.

Props to Robert Berry of retrocrush.

An Idiot's Guide to Contra

Some months ago I wrote an entry about My Best Family Computer Games. Contra was one of my all time favorites and I considered every playing moment a special treasured memory, especially when I get killed after stage 2 and my pinsan would finish the game all the way through without losing life. We finally figured out how to get 30 lives and game play was never the same. I still recall fantasizing about a Contra movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as the blonde guy and Sylvester Stallone as the guy with the dark hair.
Anyway, to those of you who played(and actually finished the game) here's a hilarious guide to thr world of Contra.



Props to Mike of ProgressiveBoink.com

10 Best Rock Movies Ever Made

Most rock movies suck.

"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," "Give My Regards to Broad Street," "One Trick Pony," "Magical Mystery Tour," Oliver Stone's "The Doors," and every Elvis flick other than "Love Me Tender" are some that spring immediately to mind.
But on those rare occasions when a movie gets rock utterly right -- the exhilaration, the communion, the attitude -- there is cause for celebration.



Props to attuseesall

Michael Bay to Direct Transformers? Noooooo!!!

Say it isn't so. Michael "USA is No. 1" Bay, Director of American capitalist propaganda movies like Armageddon and Pearl Harbor is being mentioned in message boards everywhere to be the anointed one for taking the helm of Speilberg's Transformers movie. This is bad bad news for me. Not only am I not a fan of Bay's style-over-substance techniques, I am terrified at the prospect that he might Americanize the movie too much. Sure it was originally American, bu I dont want to see Prime waving the red, white and blue like some Iwo Jima soldier. He coud do G.I. Joe, maybe. But I could care less.

Props to movieblog.com

Rocketboy is 28 Years Old!!!

And I don't feel any older

They say that, in space, you age slower because of your relative distance to the sun and the absence of the reckoning of time. For me, it's just because I'm "isip-bata."