::A Geek in Korea::

It comes to no surprise to people that know me that I’ve taken an interest in what the cast and crew of the cult hit show Mystery Science Theater 3000 have been up to since the show has stopped being produced.

Mike and the “Scifi” era cast of puppeteers are involved with Rifftrax. Rifftrax is brilliant. It works like a bonus track to a DVD that you put on an mp3 player. You hit “play” at the same time, and then pause the track if it gets out of sync. It’s low tech, but it works surprisingly well. I’ve downloaded multiple movie riffs from this service. It’s cheap, fast, and often hilarious.

The downside of the Rifftrax method of heckling movies is that acquiring the movie and playing them is separate from the riffing experience. You can buy the movies at their site, but nothing connects the two to keep them in sync. If you have the movies on hand, or can rent them, this works perfectly however.

The Film Crew is a sort of “professional comedic commentary”. They are the same guys doing Rifftrax, but their commentaries are added to movies on commercially released DVDs of old movies. They have short skits and whatnot. This is basically a way of repackaging an old movie one more time. I haven’t heard much about this as a method of releasing DVDs or continuing the idea of MST3k.

The newcomer to the post-MST3k era is Cinematic Titanic. Basically anyone that isn’t involved in the Rifftrax is now part of Cinematic Titanic. This is more of the old Comedy Channel and even KTMA crew, although Mary Jo Pehl has worked with both era crews, and has even been featured on a rifftrax of Glitter.

Cinematic Titanic’s take on the riffing process is a little different. Rather than treading the same ground that Rifftrax does by hitting the current crop of bad movies in any rental store, they’ve purchased the rights to a bad film. They have live studio riffing sessions in front of a green screen, and superimpose themselves in front of the film, much like on the original MST3k program.

This means that while you get a terrible movie being heckled by old school MST3k pros, they are distributing it as a DVD unto itself, not as a small audio file you listen to in addition to the DVD. You buy the DVD, which has the movie, as well as their commentary track imposed on top of it.

This is a much more expensive endeavor. They have to film actors on a set, do post production, and all sorts of other things Rifftrax doesn’t have to do. They also have to find and purchase terrible movies and own the rights to distribute those movies. Rumors have linked George Lucas as to have put up some cash for this, and the people at ILM have had their own private viewings of this process.

The first movie for Cinematic Titanic looks extremely bad and befitting the name. I can already see how licensing the movies will cause nightmares for this service. Their first movie was originally titled “Brain of Blood”, but had to be renamed “The Oozing Skull” to satisfy the owner.

Also, while Cinematic Titanic currently owns DVD distribution rights, they don’t own “Burn to DVD” download rights. This was one of their promises at the beginning to distinguish them from Rifftrax. They were supposed to allow anyone to download the video, burn it to DVD themselves, and be able to watch it at home without ever needing to go through the process of physically shipping a DVD anywhere.

Not only that, but due to the high demand of this first DVD, the online service that lets you purchase the movie is back ordered. The service they are using is requesting people wait up to 10 days for them to burn enough copies to get them sent to everyone. Way to miss the point of digital distribution entirely.

Not only that, but the service isn’t even available in Korea according to their website. I hope this means they are only not shipping physical DVDS out of the country. If this means I’m not going to be able to purchase a digital copy, I’ll just give up on the idea of Cinematic Titanic entirely.

I hope in a few months I’ll be able to watch a movie that should already be available, but isn’t due to technical limitations and distribution rights. Cinematic Titanic is great in theory, but in practice has yet to deliver any laughs to me.

Tags: MST3k, Cinematic Titanic, Film Crew, Rifftrax

A movie called Idiocracy came out. The basic premise of the film is that people got radically stupid over 500 years in America, and that an average man now will be the smartest man on Earth soon enough. Furthering their demise is “Brawndo: The Thirst Mutilator”. Agriculture in the future is weakened when people try to give an energy drink to plants. This kills the plants and pushes the world to the brink of destruction. The “Smartest Man on Earth” saves the world by teaching everyone to use water “from the toilet” to use on plants.

This movie is a bit of a cult favorite of mine. Not many people have seen it, but I think it’s genius. I’d recommend checking it out despite the fact that the company that made it basically released it without fanfare and did no advertising. Their low key approach to the movie makes the next bit of news really odd.

Brawndo: The Thirst Mutilator. There is a company now producing the energy drink from the film. It gets better. The makers of this drink used to make an energy drink called “Cocaine”. The maker is a total sleaze, as exposed on the Daily Show. The maker had to stop calling the drink “Cocaine” due to legal reasons.  He said he understands living in an “Idiocracy” because he was forced to rename drink. Yeah, whatever.

To make it even weirder, the advertisement for Brawndo is TOTALLY ripping off POWERTHIRST. I wouldn’t buy Brawndo, because that’s the point of Idiocracy. I also don’t drink energy drinks. I hate anyone trying to market an item off the chic appeal of illegal drugs. Basically, this entire episode has got me annoyed.

Blogged with Flock

Tags: brawndo, idiocracy, cocaine, energy drink, powerthirst

Looking over CineCine for a movie worth watching, I saw that Beowulf was available in 3-D at Lotte Cinema ONLY early in the morning. The first show was at 8 am! The last showing was 1:00 PM! Holy crap that’s early! We decided to split the difference and hit the 11:00AM showing.

From everything I hear on the ‘Net, if you are going to see Beowulf, see it in 3-D. I have already been burned once on the new “3-D” fad with Superman Returns. What a waste that was to see in the theater. I was more optimistic about Beowulf better using the technology because it’s filmed entirely in 3-D. It wasn’t like Superman Returns, where only certain scenes were barely adapted to use the glasses. (Seriously. Superman Returns in 3-D sucked. Hard.)

The last “Burly Near Naked Men Fighting” movie I saw was 300, which I came away conflicted. Now that I’ve seen 300 Rifftrax’d, I’ve made my peace with the genre and was willing to go back to seeing swords and gore in the theater once again. Beowulf is better than 300. Much, much better, and I’m glad I went to see it.

The story of Beowulf is about power, lust, betrayal, and naked people fighting deformed things. I liked how they adapted the story, and I thought that the 3-D enhanced the storytelling. It wasn’t always subtle, but they always made good use of the technology during the action scenes. As good as the effects and the digital performances are, there was a great story going on here too. Unlike 300, you can actually care about the characters. There are BRUTAL fights that are as intense as anything in 300. I wonder what the 5 year old child at the viewing we attended will be dreaming about tonight. It was entirely over the top and completely awesome.

The bizarre double standard about nudity was in full effect. The character acted by Angelina Jolie was a dripping golden goddess that had every inch of her anatomy on display for the camera. Beowulf, on the other hand, fought in an Austin Powers like set of scenes where something was comically placed in front of his genitalia. Everything SUGGESTED he was naked, but they never showed anything more than a digital ass. I mean, a CANDLE between the legs of a naked man? A SWORD? We GET what you are trying to say movie. I don’t go to movies for their nudity, but when you’ve got a guy wresting a monster ripping people’s legs off, is nudity REALLY the most shocking thing on the screen?

Anyway, the direction the movie took was ambiguously enough that I had to respect the courage of the director to end it in the manner he did. There were a few cliches along the way, but it worked on a deeper level. I’d HIGHLY recommend checking it out in 3-D. There was a scene where I actually flinched and rubbed my head because I felt like I had been hit by something. That’s an amazing effect. I really enjoyed the film, and so did my wife. We had a nice talk about it at lunch. I’m not sure if I like the early movie in the morning, but I felt like I got out of the house and did something early in the day. We had the best seats in the theater too. We might have to try it again.

Blogged with Flock

Tags: Beowulf, 300 sucked, movies, 3-D

Truth be told, one of the reasons I’ve been interested in seeing movies at the theater again is because of Rifftrax. What’s the danger of seeing a complete bomb of a movie if there is almost a near certainty that it’ll end up being mocked by the old MST3k cast? When I went to see 300, I was kind of bored. I sat through it, but walking out of the movie I thought “Well, I’ll buy THAT when it hits Rifftrax“.

I was an early adopter when it came to Rifftrax. The first time I bought a movie commentary from them, they were still using Paypal to handle all their transactions. These days, you can pay with a credit card directly, or muddle around with Paypal services. This time, I decided to try to pay with my wife’s credit card. I had been using my own for a while, but I wanted to try something different so I could get a quicker confirmation of payment.

When I first went to try to buy the 300 rifftrax, the drop down menu for addresses listed “North Korea”, but not “South Korea”. I sent a note over to the tech support forum and they had the issue fixed in literally a few minutes. Now that I could actually tell them where I lived, I went on to the second step of the process.

I hadn’t used a Korean credit card to shop online before, so when I went to process the order for the Rifftrax, I hit a snag. My order didn’t process completely. I went to the forums for support again, and they told me it might have been a problem with my address. Since I had written the address in Korean, I decided to try again in English. Also, there were a few security measures I might have done incorrectly. After the fourth attempt, I was finally able to get to the download screen. Perhaps I should have kept up with using Paypal. At least I ended up with the mp3 file on the last try.

Anyway, my wife’s phone receives and update whenever we use her card. An hour later, we got an update. The processing was complete. We got one update. Then another. Then another. Then ANOTHER. Yes, we got billed for each time I had tried to purchase something, even though the item was made available until the very last attempt. My wife was unbelievably cool about it. She said since Rifftrax is so cheap per track ($2.99? For that much entertainment? Forget-about-it!) that she’s not worried. I dodged a bullet there. She did give me a good ribbing about it just the same.

Yet ANOTHER post in their tech support forum, and now they’re willing to either credit my account for some more downloads, or do a charge back for the amount I paid. Their responses are minutes after my postings, so even if I had a few problems for this download, as long as the refund/credit process goes well, I’ll be using it again when another riffable movie comes along that I have to see with the Rifftrax treatment.

Verdict: The 300 rifftrax was alright. They pointed out some of the absurdities of the movie, and there were a few good jokes, but there were a bit too many fart jokes, even for a Rifftrax commentary.

It’s been a long time since there has was a blockbuster movie released that caught my interest. After seeing Spider-man 3 (Hated it.), and not being excited by the thought of even going to see Transformers, I was doubting that any movie this summer was going to get me in the theater. Well, other than The Simpsons movie.

I was listening to NPR:movies podcast, which is now my once a week source for finding out what is worth watching in the theaters. They talked about the reviews for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I was surprised to hear that most of the people were exceedingly positive about the movie.

The book was the first in the series that I really disliked. It was very angst driven, what the kids like to call “emo“. Half the book was Harry being a complete dick to his friends. Then he would whine when Voldemort was bugging him in his sleep. “No one understands me!” Yeah, yeah, he’s a teenager. I get it.

While the book wasn’t my favorite, I’d say the film actually was the best of the series so far. It worked as an actual movie instead of feeling like a movie adapted from a book. There was no lame Scooby Doo style “twist” where someone reveals their evil plans just in time to be stopped by some pesky kids. For that, I’m thankful.

[spoiler]

Dolores Umbridge, the new “Professor of the Dark Arts” teacher, and all around bad person, was perfect. You remember that same uptight administrator at your school that just didn’t understand your angst.

Also, the kitten plates in her office? I was laughing the ENTIRE time a scene took place in that location. The juxtaposition of her cruel treatment of Harry while the cute kittens looked on in the background was great.

Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix Lestrange? That’s PERFECT casting. Even if she only went around cackling and looking evil, she was perfect. I loved her interaction with Lucious Malfoy, who plays one evil mofo.

[/spoiler]

The film felt much more “grown up” and spent far less time on the charming things of the wizarding world. It’s more dark and brutal. Sure, there was angst, but it was very well acted.
I liked the direction the series is headed. After five films, I’m actually more excited about what’s to come on film, rather than the last book due out in a few days. I want to see the story finish with these actors as soon as possible. Waiting for the next two movies is going to be tough.

I’d recommend the movie for any fans of the film series, or books. It’s the best one yet!

Me, as a Simpsons character. Made here, at the official movie website. I haven’t watched the Simpsons, apart from the DVD box set of the brilliant season 7, for years. I’ll go see the movie as a final farewell to the series when it comes to Korea.

Since it’s the beginning of the rainy season, no picnics in the park would be possible this weekend. My wife was busy too, leaving me at home with the dog. I decided I’d surf the web for a little while, then make every effort to get out of the house.

I was multitasking, watching some videos via Democracy (soon to be Miro) and surfing the web. I stumbled upon Boxhead, which is my new favorite flash game ever. You are a heavily armed character that fights off hoards of zombies and devils throwing lightening while running around a level. You are granted upgrades, and can pick up boxes left by defeated foes containing more ammunition. There is a strategy involved in keeping your combo timer ticking upwards as you slaughter the undead. I wasted around a hour or more on this game alone today. It’s quite violent and unforgiving of mistakes at higher levels too.

After a nap, I was ready to leave the house. I hadn’t seen a movie at a theater in quite some time, so I was hoping to catch something playing down the street. I grabbed my umbrella and was out the door after putting the dog on the veranda. A little rain wasn’t going to stop me from enjoying myself.

I ended up seeing Hot Fuzz. I had heard some positive comments about it on the forums, so I decided I’d check it out. It’s by the “Shawn of the Dead” guys, which makes it a very easy sell. This is about the only movie in the theater not getting a heavy advertising campaign in Korea, so the theater wasn’t packed either.

I liked the film. It seemed like it was doing a few things at once. It was part “Scream” gory horror with a concealed killer running around, part comedy, part buddy cop flick. For being a comedy with a few action sequences, there were some extremely graphic deaths in it. I had spent the morning blasting zombies, but still.

There were quite a few red herrings, but I liked the fact that it rewarded you for paying attention to the details. I disliked the ending. The movie had an anti-climatic resolution, then did the horror “fake out” ending that left a bad taste in my mouth. It mixed genre well, but the second ending seemed forced into the story.

I’d recommend the movie, and I’m glad I got out of the house even on a rainy day to enjoy myself for once.

We’re heading out to see Spider-man 3 today. Tomorrow happens to be Children’s Day, where parents are obligated to spend the ENTIRE day spoiling their children. It’s not pleasant to be in public spaces that would entertain children on Children’s day, so we are going to catch a late movie tonight instead.

I’ve seen ever Spider-man movie in Korea. I used to go on the opening day and geek out for the week or two before the release in anticipation. Now it’s, “Oh, that came out. I’d like to see that sometime.” Age isn’t kind sometimes.

I stumbled upon Idiocracy through a link to Youtube on Fark. I don’t even read Fark anymore, but for some reason the line was titled was “Wonder why Fox dumped Mike Judge’s “Idiocracy?” This clip will probably clear that up (not safe for work language)“

 This was the video I watched. I was interested in the movie after the clip so I went to find out more about it. Turns out, it’s a Mike Judge (Office Space!) movie that received little to no promotion, wasn’t screened in more than a handful of theaters, and was pushed out to DVD.

Wow, if they such low expectations from a movie, it must have been a total bomb, right? Think again. Now that I’ve seen the film, I’m surprised this is so under the radar. Just like Office Space, a quotable cult classic, this movie has a lot of great humor. I want to get the word out about this undiscovered black comedy.

The premise is this: In the future, idiots out breed intelligent people, and over the course of 500 years the IQ of America plummets. The world is in crisis due to overwhelming stupidity. A few people, put into a state of suspended animation and later forgotten about awaken to find themselves the smartest people on Earth. They try to fix their situation while living in a comedic moron-filled dystopia.

The movie has a lot of hilarious quotes that would have made it a hit on campus or between friends. It’s also got a lot of anti-corporate jabs that probably got it in trouble with it’s distributors, prompting it’s quiet release. It’s a satire in low brow form that gets it’s point across. I also like it’s jab at advertising and politics too. It’s a crime this movie isn’t more popular.

The saddest thing about this movie was this described what it was like for me to be in high school in any “general” level class. I think I connected to the protagonist after he had an argument shot down for how he talked or the words he used being “to big”. This sort of  behavior irritated the hell out of me in High School. Ironically, one of the biggest sources of annoyance was “Beavis and Butt-head“, also created by Mike Judge.

Usually I don’t go into movies with the intention of analyzing them for male gender and sex roles. However, I went to see the movie [tag]300[/tag] today, and my brain simply clicked into "analytical" mode. I wish it hadn’t, because I would have enjoyed movie a lot more. The movie would entertain film studies students for hours trying to debate all the "issues" encapsulated by this film. There are all sorts of images of the idealized man, gender roles, patriotism. However, I don’t remember a move I’ve rolled my eyes more at than this one.

The first battle scene at Thermopylae featured the king of Sparta, King Leonidas, holding a spear at crotch level stabbing people in the waist. I thought to myself, "Damn, that’s awfully [tag]phallic[/tag]". Then he killed like four people with his crotch-spear…you know what…my brain just overloaded. There were thongs and spears and every single scene was some sort of assault on the senses. There are so many layers to the masculinity in this movie that the Spartan washboard abs simply scrub all coherent thoughts from your brain.

You’ve got monsters, action, and dialog always being shouted at people, not to people. The movie was very gory, very visceral, and really dumb. It’s a bloody violent comic book made into a movie. They accomplished what they wanted to do, which makes the film a success, but it wasn’t a "good movie". Once the adrenaline drains from your system and you have to think about the characters and plot, all that is left are the fights and action. It looks cool, but that’s about it for me.

It’s gory movie with a bunch of nearly naked guys running around killing each other. If that’s what you want to watch, you’ll love this movie. I felt nothing for any of the characters or themes presented in the movie. The glorification of the Spartan "ideal" isn’t compelling to me, which is why the movie failed to entertain. If that doesn’t bother you, or you like really gory action movies very loosely based on history, you’ll probably enjoy it.