Author: tiki god

Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One: Directed by Chris Palmer. With Jensen Ackles, Josh Duhamel, Naya Rivera, Troy Baker. Batman investigates a murder spree that takes place on holidays. The first of two movies adapting the 13 volume comic book series by Tim Sale and Jeph Loeb, originally written in 1996/1997, and I still have both the single issues and a omnibus of the story sitting on a shelf in my office. It was one of the better Batman stories at the time, which is saying something, as this was near the height of the Batman comic universe at the...

The Hunt for Bin Laden: Directed by Leslie Woodhead. With Allen Farmer, Richard Clarke, J. Cofer Black, Pat D’Amuro. Witness the 20-year, billion-dollar hunt for the Al-Qaeda leader, as told by the main players who finally brought him down. Released in 2012 just a few years after the arrest, death, and dumping of Bin Laden’s body into a deep dark grave in the middle of the ocean, this is a good summary of the lead up to the American incursion into a foreign country without their knowledge or permission. It didn’t go as well as we had hoped, one of...

The Adam Project: Directed by Shawn Levy. With Ryan Reynolds, Walker Scobell, Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Garner. After accidentally crash-landing in 2022, time-traveling fighter pilot Adam Reed teams up with his 12-year-old self for a mission to save the future. “Straight to Netflix” can mean many things, usually a movie that would have just barely made it’s budget back in theaters, but this “Adam Project” film turned out to be better than I was expecting, with the interactions between Walker Scobell and Ryan Reynolds being surprisingly earnest and seemingly legitimately emotional. It helps that there’s some eye popping spaceship scenes with...

Old Dogs: Directed by Walt Becker. With John Travolta, Robin Williams, Kelly Preston, Conner Rayburn. Two friends and business partners find their lives turned upside down when strange circumstances lead them to be the temporary guardians of seven year-old twins. Made in 2009, it’s a free spirited movie made right after Travolta’s kid died, and released right after Bernie Mac died from sarcoidosis complications; they both get appropriate dedications in the final credits. An interesting point of fact: they had to shave Robin’s chest for a few scenes of this movie, and considering I know how hairy that guy is,...

The Villain: Directed by Hal Needham. With Kirk Douglas, Ann-Margret, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Paul Lynde. Facing hanging, a bank robber makes a deal with the corrupt banker to avoid execution in exchange for a dirty assignment. It’s a stupid story with increasingly ridiculous and contrived plot points, but if you knew that it was a parody / love letter to the WB cartoons from the 1930 like I did, I bet you’d enjoy it much more than if you didn’t. The obvious name here to look for is Arnold’s, it’s only his 7th role and he’s obviously still getting his acting...

Wish Dragon: Directed by Chris Appelhans. With Will Yun Lee, Jimmy O. Yang, Constance Wu, Natasha Liu Bordizzo. Determined teen Din is longing to reconnect with his childhood best friend when he meets a wish-granting dragon who shows him the magic of possibilities. A heartfelt mix of Disney’s Aladdin and Disney’s animated version of Mulan, the entire cast of this movie appears to be either Chinese or Chinese American, which is fine, but I was surprised that a movie that was so clearly marketed to that audience would go to the lengths that it went to in showing the utter...