The Adventures of Priscilla – Queen of the Desert (2007)

“The Adventures of Priscilla – Queen of the Desert” ain’t no “Brokeback Mountain”, so relax. OK you don’t care anyway? Good. Then you may also be able to enjoy the “Abba turd” joke, after all this is a movie about tolerance. If so, you are in for a wild surreal ride of laughter or if you are more for the emotional drama you can laugh less and smile more. One thing is for sure, this movie oozes positive energy and makes you feel good, contagiously so. If you say this ain’t so then I am afraid we have to agree to disagree and let bygones be bygones.

This “Extra Frills Edition” is a new release of the originally 1994 released Australian indie movie about three drag queens on a road trip through the Outback. It is a “gay” movie indeed, in the original meaning of the word. Personal interests aside, this is not a kids movie and some may not have any interest in musicals and even less so in musicals where male actors dress up in women’s clothing, wear tons of makeup and all sorts of silly stuff is happening on screen. Having said that, “Priscilla” isn’t quite a musical, it has quite a lot of music in it but it is not a musical per se, yet the actors move their lips to the sound of music, they don’t actually sing, just like in a musical, huh? OK, it is a musical, sort of… and yet it is a road movie, too.

Twin Peaks – Definitive Gold Box Edition (2007)

When “Twin Peaks” aired in 1990 no one thought it would have much of a chance as a TV show and even today one must wonder why or how it did become such a phenomenon. Was it because of the cherry pie and the fine cuppa Jo? Was it because the mystery of Laura Palmer’s murder kept people coming back to “Twin Peaks” each week? Was it Dale Cooper’s (Kyle MacLachlan) messages to Diane on his Dictaphone? And who the hell is Bob?

“Twin Peaks” was and still is full of mysteries, mysteries that will never be answered. Some of them should have better remained unanswered but such is life, you seek the answer until you finally get it and then you move on. And what about Laura Palmer’s murderer? You really needed to know, didn’t you? I won’t spoil it for you here, so read on!

Rambo is back!

“Heroes never die… They just reload.” And here I was hoping they retire and shut up eventually! OK, is there ANYONE out there who has not seen or heard of Rambo? It is possible, you know. For them and for the rest, let it be known: Rambo is back on the big screen this week, January 25th 2008, written & directed by Mr. Pudding Mogul, err you know who. View at your own peril. [ Trailer ] [ “Rambo directs Rambo” interview ]

Addendum: Some Rambo fun stats

Casshern (2004)

For those not familiar with the anime series “Cashan, The Robot Hunter” which “Casshern” is based on, this movie may be a tiny bit confusing. Additionally, there is a lot of text to read with subtitles racing by (as there is only a Japanese audio track) and on top of that, the subtitles are not beneath but across the film which can be distracting and since they are burnt in, you can’t switch them off either. Also, cutting the movie by 24 minutes for Region 1 DVD release may have been a marketing decision, somehow I am not so sure it was the right one. Enough of these technicalities and on to the story then!

In director Kazuaki Kiriya’s debut effort we meet “Casshern”, a young man killed in war and risen from the dead by supernatural powers, reincarnated to fight against evil – but let’s rewind a bit.

Life – Fill it up

“Life” is currently one of my favorite cop shows and episode 11 “Fill it up” from season 1 is easily one of the best examples of what television should be like. Absolutely thrilling. More please.

To watch or not to watch

Want to save time? Stay away from these three shows, they suck.

Reaper (2007)
Sorry Kevin, this one is just poop. I am very disappointed in you. What happened? I predict “Reaper” will not make it to Season 2. And sorry Tyler, after “Invasion” you yet again stumbled into another doomed series.
Ihad says: Stay away from the Reaper!

Bionic Woman (2007)
Another 70s remake. Give me a break! Who needs this crap? Horrible acting, horrible script writing. Please axe this show now.
Ihad says: One of the producers quit after 1 week … he was smart. Be smart too, switch channels.

Flash Gordon (2007)
And yet another remake, this time of one of my sacred childhood memories. Granted the classic series is horrible but it is classic and charming in its own way. This remake is just horrible. What were you thinking? Lucky you, Season 2 is already canceled.
Ihad says: Watch at your own peril. I will tell the real Ming!

What you may want to watch are these shows, though!

Pushing Daisies (2007)
Ned, a pie maker, can bring dead people back to life by touching them. The catch? After one minute someone else will die if he doesn’t touch the victim again. Surreal, witty, funny, obscure and refreshingly delicious. The show premieres on ABC, Oct. 3rd.
Ihad says: Watch it!

Damages (2007)
High-stakes litigator Patty Hewes (Glenn Close) is the head of this twisted legal thriller series. Trust no one. There will be blood.
Ihad says: A must watch!

How I met your mother (2005)
No new series and I only have seen the pilot so far. Hilarious… no, legen… dary! The series has been highly recommended to me by a friend. It is returning with Season 3 this Monday, September 24th, on CBS.
Ihad says: A must watch.

And of course Heroes, House and Boston Legal, all returning next week.

Dexter Season 1 DVD

With Dexter Season 2 starting Sunday, September 30th 2007 on Showtime, it is high time to watch Dexter – The First Season again, soon! The 4 disc DVD Box will be released on August 21, 2007 – at a great price, too.

Veronica Mars axed

Take out your hankies and wave bye-bye to Veronica! It was nice having you around Veronica. No truck load of mars bars can save you now. CW just canceled the series. There will be no Season 4 of Veronica Mars, ever. Pity, now we’ll never know who will win the sheriff election! Bummer.

300 (2006)

Zack Snyder brings Frank Miller’s graphic novel “300” based on the Battle of Thermopylae onto the big screen. This movie is oozing with glistening manly chests (not one chest hair to be found) and (you may have guessed this much) 300 stout Spartan warriors from tip to toe clad in only the most necessary garments, wielding a hefty spear and shield.

Do not look for character development or historical accuracy here, if you want that go see the 1962 version “The 300 Spartans“. Here you get digitally enhanced muscles, lots and lots of slow-motion battle scenes tinted in Sepia, severing of heads and limbs in slow motion and some heterosexual activities.

Lost: Locke’s Dad did it!

This week on “Lost” we meet “The Man From Tallahassee” and so does Locke. Anthony Cooper did it. Oh my, so we finally know why and how Locke ended up in a wheelchair. Never mind it only took 3 seasons and a total of 61 episodes each running approx. 45 minutes which adds up to a total of 2745 minutes, to clear up that little yet super important incident. Anyone who still thinks that this way of advancing a plot line is a good idea, think again.

Locke faces his greatest fear now! His father! I can already hear youtube fake episodes sprouting up: “Locke, I’m your father. The force is strong in you my son. Come join me and together we shall rule this island!”

OK, maybe not. Despite all this flashback nonsense people still rave about Lost and rate this week’s episode as high as ever while in fact if you ponder about how the second season ended and how Lost so far failed to pick up on “that” story line (Desmond-wife) and how so many “other” story lines are in limbo, abandoned, underdeveloped, changed, mended and otherwise rewritten to fit whatever circumstances (think DUI) then one cannot help but wonder why one should bother with all this mystery anymore. Yet, one does and is quite lost about the “why”.

The big black box awaits and Charlie still has to die.