Super (2010) Almost super....

I recently watch Super (2010) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1512235/.

All around I think it is a fantastic film. There have been a number of films recently that have focused on an average person trying to be Batman (Kick-Ass, Special (2006), ....uh....); ok just those three then. But of all of them Super does the best job of being funny, being real, and still coming to a satisfactory conclusion.

Except....

Ugh. There's this one small problem. There is an effect that is used...that quite frankly felt out of place; I am also convinced that it ruins the pacing of...well...one scene. This effect only appears twice in the film, which is part of the reason it feels out of place.

The Effect: Super punches a criminal. Freeze in mid contact. A "Adam-West-Batman" Pow cartoon pops up (words in front of criminal, "pow" explosion behind criminal).

So first it happens when he punches a criminal, totally in the middle of the film! I am watching the film, and then I do a double-take. "What?-What?!" He's punched criminals before and nothing, and he punches criminals later and nothing happens. Out-Of-The-Blue.

The next and last time it happens is in the middle of the climatic fight sequence. They do it four or five times here, but each time the screen freezes for a sec. The pacing slows and this monumental emotional vengeance fight sequence starts...then stops...then starts...then stops....

Don't misunderstand the effect, perhaps graphic is a better description, looks freakin' awesome. It's just doesn't belong in this film.

It's almost as if the creators had finished production and were almost done with post-production, when Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010) came out in theaters. "Oh we need cool stuff like that in our film too!"

NO. No you do not.

Weird Al: Still Doing What No One Else Can

With "Weird Al" Yankovic's newest album, Alpocalypse, I have found myself revisiting his older albums. I was a great fan of Weird Al since UHF. I acquired as many albums as I could get my dirty fingers on. And I was there when Off The Deep End was released, greedily buying the cassette tape (hey it was '92!). But I hadn't sat down and listened to all his albums in at least a demi-decade.

Great stuff! But I noticed something.....he has a few outdated songs.

We don't often think about songs being outdated. Most bands sing about relationships, feelings, experiences, or tell stories, which, no matter what time period, can have relatable elements. While Weird Al often sings of food, television, and "those-things-we-do-not-mention", which can still cross time periods (I was listening to "Taco Grande", and thought "hmmm...I could go for a taco, or a chimichunga..hmmm, delicious...), he does occasionally writes songs that are very specific. Too vague to be a story, too detailed to ignore the specifics.

I found three-ish outdated songs.

1. "Phony Calls" (from Bad Hair Day (1996)): This was the song that got me thinking about this. The chorus goes...

'Don't go making phony calls,

Only dial the seven digit numbers you're used to.'

The song is about how peops should not make prank phone calls. There are two things that make this song outdated. First, with caller ID, prank phone calls are mostly a thing of the past. You can get a blocked number, but seriously who answers those calls. Second, there is a repeated reference to seven phone numbers. Hey, many big cities have at least two different area codes. And with cell-phones spewing out like electronic vomit parasites...few places can afford to ignore the 3 digit area codes. SO, ten digit numbers is more accurate now.

2. "The Check's In the Mail" (from "Weird Al" Yankovic (1983)): Er...so I'm not actually sure what this song is about. It sounds kinda like an investment scam. I am aware, though I was not writing checks, that in the 80's and/or before it was common to say "the check's in the mail," as a way of dodging immediate liability. The idea being that if the check is in transit, than it is honored...and just hasn't reached your hands yet. BUT with the internet (like freakin' paypal) and the abundance of credit cards, it is no longer a viable dodge. In fact checks are mostly obsolete; except for a few inconsiderate jerks, like me, most bills are now payed paperlessly.

3. "Nature Trail to Hell" (from In 3D (1984)): This is my favorite, because first it became outdated and then it became relevant again. It's just a simple song about a slasher flick, a la Friday the 13th, IN 3D!!! In fact Friday the 13th Part 3 (or Part 3D) came out 2 years earlier (1982). So this song must have come out around the peak of the slasher flicks, with their gimicky 3D effects. But by the 90's no one gave a crap about slasher flicks, and there was even less interest in 3D films. Outdated! But ho! what yonder light shines bright? 3D got better. By 2000's 3D came back, and so it was tested on the most forgiving crowds: horror fans and kids. The 3D slasher flicks came back! and so the song became relevant again.

I have difficulty thinking of any other musician who has accomplished such a feat. Some might consider this a negative quality. They might say that an artist ought to "create works that will stand the test of time" or some baloney. But HEY! isn't accomplishing something no one else has ever done before worth some praise?

In my book, "Weird Al" Yankovic is tops!

Chain Letter, Stop Irritating Me!

Chain Letter, a slasher flick released in 2010, is a low budget film with only one notable actor, Keith David.

Slasher flicks are about a "troubled" individual who kills many people, who tend to be rather innocent, usually in a gruesome fashion. There's not a lot of opportunity to reveal an inner truth or make a profound statement. In fact the important variaitions tend to be the killer, the motivation, and the deaths. So I don't expect a lot when I watch a slasher flick, but it is hard to dissappoint me too; I know what I'm getting into.

Chain Letter fails in both motivation and deaths. There is a gruesome/interesting death of a jock, and a glossed over gruesome/interesting death of some chick. The other deaths are boring. One girl is slapped in the head by a chain...just the once, really hard so it indents her skull. Another guy is impaled and lifted by a hook, until dead. Just so boring. There might be other deaths...but they must be unmemorable.
As for the motivation...some Luddite nonsense. They argue that a Luddite might use the weapons of technology against technological users...um, I don't know. Using the weapons of the enemy against them?...I guess. Anyway the Luddite is clearly far more technologically advanced then anyone else in the movie. Oh, I'm just assuming that the killer is part of some old violent Luddite cult that disappeared after Y2K amounted to nothing. It's never truly established....just hinted at, rather heavily, in extensive "flashbacks."

Which brings me to the most irritating aspect of this film! The "flashbacks"! I get that you can kinda show someone's thought process by using flashbacks from previous scenes: "Oh remember Moment A, and Moment B and Moment C? Well, that's how I came to this revelation!" But there are too many and they are too long. And worst yet, they don't even reveal all that much useful information. The film is only 1 hour and 23 min. (without credits), but, since the "flashbacks" take about 15 min. and the first scene is mostly repeated at the end (another 10 min.), the film is barely an hour long.

IMDB (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1148200/) lists the budget at an estimated 5 million dollars. The gross of the film $143,000.
I am flabbergasted. I could make a better (more coherent, more gruesome, more interesting) slasher flick for $143,000.