Mark Neveldine & Brian Taylor, 2012
It's about time someone made a documentary examining just what it is to be Nicolas Cage. I now understand that being Nicolas Cage is like being on a mean hallucinogenic drug that can, at any time, kick in to high gear and make you uncontrollably insane between bouts of percolating rage and suicidal depression. The creative choice to depict the man's full-blown psychotic breaks with a flaming skeleton is inspired, though it leaves me desperate to view a pre-effects version highlighting the "afro-caribbean voodoo paint" Cage claims to have adorned. Read the full review at Reel Time.
Further first-time viewings:
Double Dare - Amanda Micheli, 2004
Nothing spectacular, but a perfectly passable biographical documentary profiling Zoe Bell and Jeannie Epper, thereby female stunt performing in general. Fun and interesting enough to validate the time spent.
Total: 2
Rewatches (8): Star Wars: The Phantom Menace Review x2 (Stoklasa, 2009), Star Wars: Attack of the Clones Review x2 (Stoklasa, 2010), Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith Review (Stoklasa, 2010), Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Review (Stoklasa, 2011), Star Trek: Nemesis Review (Stoklasa, 2009), Avatar Review (Stoklasa, 2010)
- These count! I love that one person with good humor dedicated such intricate care to utterly destroying the "Star Wars" prequels from the bottom up - while being entirely fair to George Lucas & Co., in my opinion. Watching Stoklasa's expertly assembled and punchy reviews is a cathartic experience that validates my own burning ideas of why, in general and specifically, the unnecessary and money-grubbing shams of over- and underloaded backstory films suck so bafflingly hard. As it is put in the reviews themselves (referencing both positives and negatives of character and story development, or a lack thereof), you might not have noticed it... but your brain did. And what can I really say about the prequels that hasn't been said about them a thousand times over? I have my own sentimental stories about my times as a "Star Wars" fanatic and even my stubborn repeat viewings of the first two prequel installments (this one is particularly soft, for me), just as almost everyone and their own fathers do. At first I couldn't shake the obligation... I was supposed to like these movies, so I liked them (but my brain was most certainly noticing, and "Episode III" has never seen as much of my forgiveness as "I" and "II" have). Thing is, Stoklasa lays it all out so elegantly from technical and storytelling positions with very little left to ponder. Plus he's just friggin' hilarious.
Episodic Television (1): 30 Rock (Idiots Are People Three! - Today You Are a Man)
Video Games (1): Mario Kart: Super Circuit
- Finally managed an A on... well, it's the Mushroom Cup, but still. This is the most difficult "Mario Kart" I've played simply due to graphical and control limitation, so I'm counting it an accomplishment. Don't know how it happened... do ranks B or C even exist? I'm sure I've completed the Cup better, previously, anyway. Weird game. Now I'm working on getting better than an E on the Special Cup. Maybe I should just pick up a book, instead.
