Two of my main pop-cultural experiences for the summer brought me face-to-face with the reality that I’m far more willing to spoil myself for a movie than I am for a TV show — and I’m not sure why.
Needless to say, SPOILERS AHEAD!
Continue reading “Thoughts On Spoilers In TV and Movies. Spoiler Alert!”
In this unruly and completely unnecessary article, CC2K’s Tony Lazlo wonders who would have played the members of the Justice League had they appeared on the classic 1960s Batman TV series.
The universe depicted in the old Adam West Batman series could have sustained the entire DCU, but who would have played the other heroes?
As comic-book fans, it’s rare for us to see more than one hero onscreen at the same time. To be sure, there are exceptions, but for the most part, Hollywood presents our heroes to us in hermetically sealed packages — one per movie or TV series. Exceptions to this rule include the upcoming movie The Avengers as well as the long-running CW series Smallville, and it was while I was thinking of Smallville that I got the idea for this article: What other actors would we cast as DCU heroes in the universe depicted in the classic Adam West Batman series?
Continue reading “Let’s Cast The DCU in The Adam West-verse”
In this classic book review, Tony Lazlo sounds an extended dirge for the disappointing final chapter in the Harry Potter book series.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
The empress is naked.
After 10 wonderful years of books whose release dates arrived with the anticipation of fresh boxes of Wonka bars, we’re left with the disheartening reality that J.K. Rowling couldn’t write a Harry Potter novel set beyond the walls, curriculum and classes of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is a stunning disappointment with a great ending — and let me stress: The novel itself has a great ending. The seven-book series doesn’t.
Continue reading “A Lament for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”
CC2K’s Tony Lazlo imagines how George Lucas’ Star Wars prequel trilogy could have rocked.
When I left the theater after seeing Attack of the Clones, I was already pissed off and devastated. I felt this way because the movie sucked, and even if the then-untitled third episode was a perfect, sloppy, wet blowjob of a success, two-thirds of the new Star Wars trilogy would still suck.
An essay ostensibly arguing that Temple of Doom is the best Indiana Jones movie, but which veers into a larger analysis of the trilogy and the Indiana Jones character
Let’s talk theme. Ideally, a great movie should be about something great, and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom — like Aliens — is a sequel that tops the original, and it tops Raiders of the Lost Ark not because it’s a bigger, grander movie, but because it goes to a dark, scary and different place to explore a worthy theme: parenthood.
Continue reading “Fortune, Glory and Fathers: Why Temple of Doom is the Best”
CC2K’s Tony Lazlo offers us one of his insanely long and detailed examinations of a major movie series. This time it’s Batman.
A look back through the six modern-era Batman movies yields some unexpected results, including the revelations that Batman Forever isn’t as bad as I remember, that The Dark Knight isn’t as good as I remember, and that Batman & Robin is good for one thing: reminding me how much I like the 1960s TV series.
And finally, that Batman Returns just might be the best damn one of them all.
Those statements may shock you, but I encourage you to keep reading.
A self-loathing Meat Loaf fan discusses his cultural memory of the Loaf’s mid-90s resurgence, the RPG Shadowrun and the Jackson 5’s plan to brainwash the planet.
I’m not much of a music fan.
That much should be obvious by the mere presence of any Meat Loaf songs on my personal radar, guilty pleasures or otherwise. I make no apologies for my secret affinity for Mr. Loaf and his overwrought, bombastic mini-operas, but in my defense, I’ll offer this: I love movies, and Meat Loaf’s songs have some killer videos.
Continue reading “Guilty Pleasures: Meat Loaf (With Some Extra Discussion of the Jackson 5)”
CC2K’s Tony Lazlo brings you another unwieldy recap of a major movie series. This time, it’s Harry Potter — with a look back at the books, too!
SPOILERS! HUGE, MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD! BEWARE!
My friends and geek confidantes are all familiar with the trajectory of my relationship with the Harry Potter books: It tracks a deteriorating orbit from the stratosphere of delight back down to earth. Oddly enough, down to earth is exactly where the latest Potter film, Deathy Hallows, part 1 (hereafter HP7.1) needed to go to work on any level.
Which it does. Work, I mean — on some levels, at least — and not surprisingly, the penultimate Potter movie includes a roll-call of previous actors and images from the long-running series, all of which made me look back wistfully over my own experience ingesting (and sometimes inhaling) the Potter books and movies over the last 10 years. Here follows yet another overlong recap of a major literary or cinematic series, but in this case, I plan to include a measure more cultural memory than I usually do.
And don’t worry — I’ll keep my personal anecdotes brief, and I will deliver a review of HP7.1 in all this mess.
Continue reading “Arresto Momentum: A Look Back at the Harry Potter Series”
Through the novels of Andrew Vachss, I’ve learned a new meanings for brother, sister, mother, father, andmost important — family.
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Robert J. Peterson, Author 