Adam Selvidge's Website
My Wedding Vows
I have a marriage anniversary coming up, thought I’d share the vows from that fateful day: I’ve played a few video games in my life, so it’s no big surprise that I see the world through those experiences. I feel that relationships are much like First Person Shooters, in that when you’re first learning the game, you don’t know the rules, how to play or how to keep staring at the ceiling and spinning in circles for the entire game, but after some time, you get a handle on how to navigate the world, and you begin move forward. There’s...
Skiptrace
Martial arts superstar Jackie Chan and comedy favorite Johnny Knoxville team up to take down a notorious Chinese drug lord in this explosive and hilarious action-comedy. There’s a good movie in there somewhere, the story is familiar and it’s great to see Jackie Chan again. Unfortunately it appears that the director (Renny Harlin, director of Die Hard 2) missed a great opportunity to bring a true Jackie Chan experience, with way too many choppy cuts and painful CGI. For every choppy scene or misplaced CGI scene though, there were gorgeous scenes of the Gobi Desert or stepped rice patties, so...
Keanu
Cousins hatch a plot to retrieve a stolen cat by posing as drug dealers for a street gang. I’m in love with Key and Peele, they’re pretty damn funny dudes and this movie feels like just a long skit from their tv show, in all the right ways. Also, this movie introduced me to Tiffany Haddish, who’s just great.
Corvette Summer
Mark Hamill (“Star Wars”) heads towards Vegas in pursuit of a stolen Corvette he built. He’s helped along the way by a sympathetic runaway, portrayed by Annie Potts (“Designing Women”). Mark Hamil’s first film after Star Wars, it also stars Annie Potts, who I know better from the Ghostbuster films (sorry Designing Women fans!). The films one of those great summer flicks that feels like it was done on a very low budget, as there’s no special effects and only a couple major stunts in the whole film. We don’t see many of these types of movies any more, not...
Pushing Ice
2057. Bella Lind and the crew of her nuclear-powered ship, the Rockhopper, push ice. They mine comets. But nothing can prepare them for the surprises in store when Janus, one of Saturn’s ice moons, spins out of control. That synopsis is correct, but holy moly there’s more to the story that absolutely blew my mind. I loved every moment of it, and it went places that I couldn’t have even imagined. I would have been ok with just a comet mining story, but the story went far beyond.
Ratatouille
In one of Paris’ finest restaurants, Remy, a determined rat, dreams of becoming a renowned French chef. Torn between his family and his true calling, Remy and his pal Linguini set in motion a hilarious chain of events. A well done movie with a really stupid premise, I only watched it because I ran into a quote from Anthony Bourdain that was in praise of the film. The visuals and VO work were top notch, but I do have some minor issues with it’s anti-capitalism and cleanliness stances.
Space Station 76
Welcome to a 1970s version of the future, where the pants are wide, the music is groovy, and the new frontier is interplanetary. When a new assistant captain arrives on the Omega 76, tensions spark, and more than asteroids collide. Big name actors, tiiiiiny budget. Didn’t do it for me, but maybe it might for you?
Side Effects
Channing Tatum, Rooney Mara, Jude Law and Catherine Zeta-Jones star in Steven Soderbergh’s psychological thriller about an experimental drug that has chilling and deadly side effects. Somewhat disappointed in the amount of Channing Tatum, but the story and acting more than made up for it. I really enjoyed this one.
Independence Day: Crucible (The Official Prequel)
Cities were crushed by the falling spacecraft—but one ship didn’t crash. It remained intact, and disgorged hordes of alien soldiers determined to fight to the death. The abandoned vessels also contained a wealth of advanced technology. Led by David Levinson, the greatest minds of our world developed deadly new hybrid weapons. Bases were built on the Moon, Mars, and beyond. A new generation of defenders had to be trained, for the invaders would return. In the headlong rush to prepare, however, not everyone would survive… Independence Day: Crucible (The Official Prequel) This prequel is something you should only read after...
Independence Day: Dark Fathom
Twenty years after the events of the first film, the international community recovers and builds up Earth’s defenses using technology salvaged from remains of the alien forces. However, the aliens were able to send a distress signal before their final defeat, which results in a new task force of alien ships coming to Earth and threatening the human race once more A great idea: One of the City Destroyers is underwater and up to no good. A great idea: Have a submarine full of Marines invade it and fight the aliens. How it falls apart: reusing the drilling storyline from...
