Common Thought of Sir Rantsalot

Let’s face it peeps, Sly > Arnie. His roles are more memorable and unlike arnie; they carry on a legacy. Rocky was the shit even though some were garbage, Cop Land’s tight, i dont care what anybody says. Cliffhanger was cool, and alot of his other roles (though garbage they may be) are just gold. Even though he and his two other toadies who started Planet Hollywood are Republicans, I tip my hat to his corner.Anyways, RAMBO!FYI: Rambo in Japanese: (ranbou) ?? means violence! I saw part 2 a long time ago at a friends house, and all I remember thinking was, damn! this is cool! so I kinda liked Rambo, he had a cartoon that wasn’t half bad for a cartoon spinoff of an R-rated movie. The NES game sucked, it was a total ripoff of Zelda 2, and thats pretty much all i remember from the time Rambo rolled in to the desolate suburbs of spokane county. Anyway I’ll get to reviewing. First BloodJohn Rambo is an ex-green beret from vietnam turned drifter who wanders through a remote washington town (sultan i think), in search of a former member from his battalion, as he’s passing through, a power-hungry sheriff spots him and tells Rambo to leave, and Rambo flips out on not just the sheriff, but the whole town.3.9 out of 5Rambo: First Blood part 2For Rambo’s crimes, he gets put in a military prison. The US government finds that there are more POWs in Vietnam. Rambo gets hired by a bureaucrat to go and take pics of the prisoners… FUCK THAT! It’s Rambo we’re talking about, he’s going to rescue them and spill blood of the guilty ones. 1 oscar nomination and 5 razzie nominations?! This is 1 of the best action flicks in my opinion. Don’t believe hollywood.4.0 out of 5Rambo IIII’m not gonna bitch about chronology order. An old as dirt colonel gets put on a mission to rescue Afghanistan from being over run by Russians, enter Rambo to save him. It’s worth a peek but it’s got some cheesy dialogue and a little ridiculous in some parts.3.5 out of 5RAMBOHOLY SHIT! After watching everything that has to do with Rambo, you would definitely expect these elements in a Rambo movie these days: The violence just flatout crazy and there were disturbing parts. Anyway the story; good old Rambo has been at peace and living in Thailand. A group of missionaries come by and ask Rambo to take them up the river to a nazi esque Burma/Myanmar. I cant go any further because then I’ll have to type whole movie. It was good but it just didn’t quite cut the mustard. Rambo is Japanese for violence, and that’s what this movie delivers.3.95 out of 5A fifth one is on the way…Catch ya on the flipside 

After years of being a fan of Bob Kane’s vision of a superhero with a dark and haunted past, I begin to wonder who my favorite villain was… there’s too many.

A guy who wants vengeance by freezing everybody? NO

A refugee from Latin America who injects a steroidal compound into his skull? NO

A seductress with a fetish for felines? NO

A scientist who likes to deliver brain farts? No

A mutant juggernaut lurking in Gotham’s sewers?… ok he’s cool too (Killer Croc)

A psychopath with a profound vision of anarchy?

HELL YEAH!

That’s right the Joker. With an attitude as apathetic as the next, and a lone-wolf attitude to taking over, The Joker reigns supreme when all others have failed.

You’re probably thinking that I’m just another moron posting about how good the Dark Knight was, but I’m here to say that I had to say to the lot of you that Batman and the Joker haven’t been shown properly till this movie.

In the live-action show, the Joker was played by Cesar Romero as a joyful being  who just like to cause slightly bad problems.

Mark Hammill  got the character of the Joker down good but was way too comical to be thought of correctly as how the Joker is displayed.

Jack Nicholson definitely filled the void of where the psychoticness that is the Joker to a good spot, but lacked certain anger towards Gotham.

For so long, the media has displayed the Joker as some villain who’d willingly tell a joke at a hospital once he’s released.

But seriously,

Does this look like that kind of person?

Christopher Nolan’s vision of The Joker was spot on, he’s no comedian but a total psycho who would without hesitation open fire on a a sweet little kitten who would rub up against his leg.

Heath Ledger (RIP) had the right idea when preparing to play the Joker. He dug deep into insanity to see get a feel for what this character truly is. Explosives galore, chaos, an attitude that says, who gives a flying fuck about the rest of you? Not only did he play a magnificent Joker, but he played on of the most memorable roles by means of insanity. His role left us with a question that will make us question our own sanity…

Besides all that, he sucks in Mortal Kombat VS DC Universe

Catch ya ya on the flipside

AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Ok the big finish,

The main point of this series of blogs, is that for years Ghostbusters has plagued our society with thoughts of the great beyond, I’ll bet you have wanted to immediately think, “who ya gonna call” after hearing creepy sounds in the attic. But, since they are an imaginary supernatural removal group, there’s only one way we all could get the thrill of catching ghosts ourselves, video games.

When the first wave of Ghostbusters games came out, they all had the same idea, going around and doing the same boring routine until you had to enter the building that had Zuul. It gave me a bad headache.

See for yourself:

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Then a couple years on came the release of Ghostbusters 2, and the games concept escalated into something that kept you wanting more

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But it was the same thing over and over + the ending sucked… BOO!

But another company made a better Ghostbusters 2 which consisted of a free-roaming map with a positive, fun attitude.

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It’s really fun.

Then there was an arcade game and a gameboy game based on the cartoon. Both of which weren’t that good. The arcade game consisted of a overlaying shoot-em up like Contra, it had the right idea, but it just didn’t feel right.

No vid here.

The game boy game was a puzzle game…

Who thehell wants to play a game entitled “Ghostbusters” when all you’re doing is solving puzzles, and not catching ghosts?

Sega went their own way and made a pretty damn fun 2-d shooter where you catch ghosts, and make $$$

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The point of these blogs talking of Ghostbusters is that there has been some happenings. Bill Murray agreed to do a Ghostbusters re-union as long as it was CGI, and since it’s not the big rage, the original cast decided upon creating a video game.

Ghostbusters has always been awesome by the likes of me, and I would absolutely hate to see another game go down the drain since there’s been only 2 good games in the history of this franchise. So with that in mind, I give you the trailer for the game to be released in the fall.

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Thanks for reading!

Catch ya on the flipside

Note: To anybody reading these, sorry it took so long; I’ve been busy with my new job.

Aah yes, the commercials full of the stuff you need to blast imaginary ghosts. I had about 80% of the toys shown, but the rents gave them all to Goodwill when I moved, (thanks mom). I suppose it is for the best, they were fun toys, I probably would have still been playing with them… and that would be creepy.

The cereal was a typical marshmallow cereal from what I remember.

Ecto Cooler was probably the best Hi-C I’ve ever had, it was limey and orangey. About 6 years ago, I was at a block party, and some of our neighbors brought a  Costco sized package of the stuff, and the taste brought back many a memory Slimer was even on the box. I recently discovered that the recipe still lives, but the name “Shoutin Orange Tangergreen” is what it’s labeled as.

With all of this merchandise making such a huge impact, I can honestly see why Bill Murray had to decline a Ghostbusters 3. One of Murray’s most remembered roles was Peter Venkman, and he said that it just wasn’t his forte, with hype of all this crap that came along.  But not all of the hype was bad…

This (believe it or not) holds a record for the longest running cartoon spin-off of a movie, it ran for 7 years! The stories were original, it kept in tune with the 2 movies, and it was just good!

It had two spin-offs of it’s own, one where Slimer had his moment in the sun, and where it’s 97 and the team has long since retired and a new squad formed that was targeted at generation X, entitled EXTREME Ghostbusters… it wasn’t that good.

In the midst of introducing these thoughts of Ghostbusters to yall, I had recently found out that they might be working on a third one soon, but it won’t be old guys chasin after ghosts, instead the torch will passed to Steve Carrell, Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd and Romany Malco, aka the 4 guys from the 40-year-old Virgin. It ought to be good, because that on-screen team just flat out rocks! But don’t quote me on that, it’s just a rumor.

Catch ya on the flipside

Next blog will be a good-un, talking about the video games.

With the incredible success of the first one, a sequel had to be made. The hype got even bigger due to mass merchandising (more on that later), and brought about a fan base as big as Star Wars!

In 2, Manhattan is getting ready for the last decade before the new millenium, and a river of slime is overflowing beneath New York. A painting of pure evil is put up in a museum, and it’s believed to be the root of all the bad happenings. There’s definitely a lot more comedy involved. I remember seeing this in theaters and dying from laughter.

Eddie Murphy was originally supposed to be Winston Zeddemore, but we all know how annoying that would have been. Ernie Hudson is more down-to-earth and has a perfect fit as Winston.

After the films and the cartoons (more on that next blog), the DVD’s were released, and were on high demand, that re-ignited the fanbase who’ve been longing for a 3rd to be released but, due to the stubborness of Bill Murray and high budgets, it’s on hold… possibly forever.

It didn’t stop the fans from making their own visions of what could’ve happened after the second film.

A good majority of fans have done films online, such as Ghostbusters: The Animated Series (In one of the episodes, they encounter the Necronomicon from Evil Dead… TIGHT!), and Freddy VS Ghostbusters, which features Freddy Krueger from Nightmare on Elm Street (obviously it’s a shot at Freddy VS Jason).

More is to be expected.

Next will be about the merchandise.

Catch ya on the flipside

DON’T CROSS THE STREAMS!

If you’ve seen this symbol before, you know of all the buzz behind it. I was watching the overrated “Be Kind Rewind” the other day and they did a poorman’s remake of this movie, and it got me thinking about why this film is #1 in my all-time favorite movies.

The film’s title is Ghostbusters, and I have been a fan long since I can remember. How? I’ll never know.

These next few blogs are in memoriam of pretty much everything Ghostbusters in honor of the highly awaited video game coming in the fall.

The phenomena started on SNL with John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd traveling through time and space under the name Ghost Smashers, and that didn’t work out too well because of John Belushi’s passing.

The name Ghostbusters was already in use by a live action series, and it’s nothing like the guys with the proton packs. This one followed two guys and their gorilla, going around and stopping werewolves and other mythical beasts. It wasn’t bad actually, the intro was kinda catchy too.

How the name got licensed is still a mystery to me. Because the name went on with that company. But I’m not going to get into that.

The year was 1984, the month was June, and a comedy with an all star cast came out. Supposedly, this was to be one of the highest profitted comedies to rake in during opening week.

The film is about 3 college drop-outs who go into business eliminating paranormal. Combine the comedic talents of Harold Ramis, Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd poking fun at what would be scary to a majority of us, and it’ll do. Ernie Hudson didn’t get enough credit though, Winston happened to be my fave ‘buster. I quote a good majority of the lines to this day as well.

Next blog will be about the aftermath of this movie: the sequel(s), cartoons, merchandise, and lastly, the games.

Catch ya on the flipside

Remember: Don’t cross the streams!  

Trye Parker and Matt Stone have solidified themselves in comedy concrete not by just doing South Park, but the films they’re involved with as well. With Team America: World Police, they’ve pulled many a gutsy move as far as statements about certain countries go.

Team America: World Police was done completely by use of puppets, which can be signified only as strange nowadays, now that there’s CGI Animation, special effects and others. The inspiration for use of puppets was brought about by a children’s show called Thunderbirds. If Matt Stone and Trey Parker are present, you can imagine that a lot of rauchy, screwball-esque type comedy is headed your way.

The plot is down right ridiculous, but like I said in one of my previous blogs, “it’s a comedy, it’s supposed to make you laugh.” Terrorists are overrunning the globe, America’s had enough, and a team of specialists are hired to stop it all. Kim Jong-Il is pissed at the world so he wants to make every thing right by bringing chaos to the world. Enter an actor named Gary to sneak information about whats going on with Jong-Il’s master plan.

This movie is still talked about to this day, myself and most of my friends included. Some of the best one-liners you will ever hear, “Durka Durka”, “I’m so Ronery”, “Matt Damon”, “America, F*** YEAH!”… I could go on. There’s tons of swearing, a sex scene, vomiting, gay slurs, and more galore! Bear in mind that these are all done by puppets! The only “real” cameo is done by two black cats who claim to be panthers.

All in all, it’s wacky and it’s smart. Trey Parker actually shipped 5 copies of this movie to Kim Jong-Il himself in hopes that he’d see what kind of person he truely is. For a movie that screams America, but takes a potshot at America as well, this stands out in a sea of crappy movies.

F*** YEAH!

4 out of 5 salutes to Old Glory

Catch ya on the flipside

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

When I think “gang movie”, I usually can’t help but think of films like The Warriors, The Wanderers, Deuces Wild, etc. and expect straight up violence along with rivalry, betrayal, and gang wars.

With this movie, there is the element of gang movie, but there also is a different depth to the whole feel of this movie. Something wholesome, upbeat and deep. Based on the novel by S.E. Hinton, Francis Ford Coppola delivers this film with something for everyone… plus Matt Dillon & Mickey Rourke! An all-star cast made this movie mesh together pretty well also.

After reading the book, the backdrop seems very colorful and alive, but the way it was shown in the film made it look like an art film that was made in college or a commercial for Calvin Klein, it worked pretty well. There was hardly any color, some scenes contained color but they were only shown on certain objects, more on that later. In almost every scene, there is presence of a clock and smoke (or at least something like it, steam, etc.). Rumor has it that the clocks represent that the main character, Rusty James (Dillon), is running out of time with his life and he has to move on or else something drastic might happen. The smoke I’m not too sure about for it serves as little purpose for when characters are present, I think it might represent the anger level Rusty James is at, which is probably why he’s smoking cigarettes all the time.     

Living day by day keeps getting harder and harder, especially with keeping everything in order. Rusty James is 18 and in high school, in a gang and trying to find a balance within himself. He lives in an industrial part of Tulsa, Oklahoma (very similar to  SoDo) with no drive and ambition towards life. All he wants to do is hang out with his friends, get drunk, fight here and there, and just doesn’t want to grow up. His brother (Rourke) has been gone for a while, and somewhat turned his back to all of his gang, so Rusty James was left in charge of taking care of everything gang-wise. Since the Motorcycle Boy left, the idea of ”gang” seemed a little scarce. One day, Rusty James receives word that he has been challenged by Biff Wilcox to a fight, and of course accepts. In the midst of the fight, his brother “the Motorcycle Boy” arrives back on the scene. Except this time, he’s not the usual badass everybody thought he was, it’s almost as if he had a spiritual awakening, and he’s deep in thought. Throughout the film, it’s almost as if there’s an inner war going on with Rusty James, and he’s just figuring out whats with himself and how he thought he wanted to be just like his brother.

By now, you’re probably wondering why this movie’s been entitled “Rumble Fish”, with all the deep storyline of a see-the-light-kind of deal. Rumble fish is another name for a Siamese fighting fish. The Motorcycle Boy is intrigued by how it’s in the fish’s genetics to fight each other fish to the death when he walks into a pet shop one day. Since the rumble fish are put in tanks, they have no choice but to fight. The Motorcycle Boy wonders, “If they got put in the river, would they still fight each other?” That’s the way he feels as if that’s what Rusty James should do, since he’s fighting all the time. The Motorcycle Boy wants Rusty James to go out to the ocean, and find the same peace he’s found within himself. When I was talking about color, one of the only colors being shown were the bright flashy colors from the rumble fish. When Rusty James realizes how boxed in he was, color is shown.

All in all, this film’s a very good one, no matter what kind of person you are, tough as nails or soft as feathers. It made me ponder for days on end about where I’m going with myself and if it’s right. If you find it on a video store shelf, don’t hesitate, rent it! You won’t be disappointed.

4.9 out of 5 Filleted Halibuts

Catch ya on the flipside