Posts by Michael Durr

Even though I have found my soulmate, I often consider myself to be a loner at heart. If I was born in another time, perhaps I would be roaming the earth searching for a purpose. In some ways, I could consider myself to be like the lead actor in Warrior’s Way. A warrior who is the best swordsman in the land but empty in his heart. That however would change when one day I found my purpose. Will it change in his?

Yang’s (played by Jang Dong-gun) only purpose in his life is to become the greatest swordsman in the entire world. As a member of the Sad Flutes clan, he eventually accomplishes this goal by killing the former greatest swordsman in the land and every one in the opposing clan. However, there is a wrinkle in his future ambitions when he decides to take pity on a small baby who was daughter to one of the members. In deciding to watch over her, he incurs the wrath of his fellow members and he has take refuge.

My childhood was full of cartoons from all walks of life. There are classics such as the Jetsons and Daffy Duck (notice I did not say Bugs Bunny) and then more recent products of my time period like Transformers and X-Men. But I always had an eye out for those cartoons that were anything but conventional. I recently got the chance to review Thundercats and I hoped that my childhood memories would hold up. Thundercats, HOOOO!

We are aboard a spaceship flying away from a planet. Jaga, an elder tells a younger Thundercat, Lion-O to watch as their home planet, Thundera explodes and is no more. The spaceship represents the last of the creatures as they try to find a planet that is like theirs in air quality. Jaga also introduces the young cat to the Sword of Omens which contains the legendary Eye of Thundera.

I never had a big momma growing up. My mother and each of my grandmothers were never what I would call big. My mom and her mom barely cleared 5 feet tall and my grandma on my dad’s side while pretty tall was very wiry and thin. So I never had the huge momma experience and it was probably for the best. However, I am not foreign to the concept of Martin Lawrence playing a Big Momma as I saw the first movie. Two movies later, does it still have its magic?

Malcolm Turner (played by Martin Lawrence) is a FBI agent who specializes in the art of disguise and witness protection. But today, he is threatening his local mailman (played by Ken Jeong) to pull the postal vehicle over. Eventually he does and then the two get into a fight because the mailman has to deliver the mail. Malcolm gets the letter he was looking for. His son has just been accepted to go to the school he went as young adult, Duke University.

“Hail to the King, baby.” That phrase through the years has escaped my lips on plenty of occasions. Most of the time, it has also ended by me being pushed onto the floor with a blanket and pillow and/or the eruption of laughter. Since Duke Nukem 3d debuted in 1996, I have always found new and not so appropriate situations to spew his catchphrases. Fifteen years later, nothing has changed, I still speak the Duke and I am still waiting for Duke Nukem Forever. Well today I shall wait no more.

When development for Duke Nukem Forever largely came about, the Playstation 2 and Xbox combination were ruling the console airways. As a result, this game looks straight out of that era with dated graphics that at best could be labeled as an early Xbox 360 first person shooter. The video is fairly rudimentary and detail can be found to be severely lacking or blurry.

As I have mentioned before on this site, I was married to somebody else before my lovely Sarah. So unfortunately, I know a thing or two about controlling spouses. People who try to force them their loved ones into things they would not normally do and make the least insignificant things into overly important ones. It is a terrible harmful practice and leaves both partners scorned. Thankfully I learned to love again. Let me see what I will think of another controlling drama entitled N-Secure.

A horse carriage rides across the city. We see a young couple, David Alan Washington (played by Cordell Moore) and Robin Joyner (played by Essence Atkins). Later at Chez Philippe, they enjoy some dinner and share some time at their fireplace where David gives Robin a necklace and then we get a romantic night. The next morning, David wakes up and starts his meticulous daily routine before telling Robin to get up and make him breakfast.

When my webmaster asked if I would like to rehash my dvd review for Priscilla: Queen of the Desert for the new blu-ray edition, I jumped at the chance. After all, I did love the movie. But in this blu-ray era, this was strangely the first time I had to do this. I wrote that review almost four years ago to the day. As many would argue, my writing has changed considerably in that time. But without further adieu, let us take a look back at the review.

From the DVD:

One of the most commonly asked what if questions, is the question about superpowers. If you were a superhero, what would be your superpower? My initial reaction is X-Ray vision because I am after all a dirty old man. After some thoughtful moments, I do however come up with the ability to instantly adapt. There are many moments where I might feel out of place or unable to help. But with that power, I could change that. Or maybe I will just wear a green amulet and fight bad guys like Callan in the film: Cross.

The movie opens to the pages of a comic book flipping. Wait, is this a Marvel Comics presentation? Okay, not exactly. They mention that amulets are some of the most powerful source of power in the universe. The strongest amulet, that would be the Cross of the Isles. It is green, it glows a lot. Hey, was that Machete (Danny Trejo)? Doesn’t matter, he isn’t in the rest of the movie. We also learn about the Staff of Sekhmet which has the potential to kill the whole word.

More often than not, I don’t listen to too many female musicians. Most of them fall into the hard rock (Lita Ford, Donnas) or 80’s/90’s pop dance (Taylor Dayne, Sheena Easton). Occasionally, I will be wowed by good looks and a magical voice. I am a man after all. But when I received Sheryl Crow: Miles from Memphis – Live at the Pantages Theatre, on Blu-Ray, I was not sure what to think. Sure, she had looks but Crow’s music is ever-changing. However, I am certainly willing to give it a listen.

Most people know Sheryl Crow from her multi platinum albums, and selling well over fifteen million records domestically and probably a good thirty five million records worldwide. However, her start was kinda ominous. When she left college, she was teaching music to elementary school kids in Fenton, Missouri. Then came a couple of McDonald’s and Toyota commercial jingles. Before she knew it, she was a backup vocalist for Michael Jackson during his Bad tour.

It is that time again boys and girls for the movie of the week. This week, we visit a genre that is staler than your grandmother Edna’s cookies: the romantic comedy. *boo* *hiss*. Okay, okay before you start throwing those almond cookies, I think I need to let you know that there is a $5 bill in it for each of you. *whisper from editor* “Do we have that in our budget?” “No silly, just go with it.”. Audience – “What was that?” Why, our movie today is the Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston picture: Just Go With It. Roll the film!

Twenty years ago, Danny Maccabee (played by Adam Sandler) ended his wedding day with a big broken heart and an even bigger nose. Man, was that thing huge. Be sure to never invite him to a coke party. Coke party? Yes, this review is brought to you by Cherry Coca-cola. No, you can’t have any because I drank it all. Anyway, Danny goes off to a local bar to drink the night away (not Cherry Coca-Cola) and strikes up a conversation with a hot girl who notices his wedding ring.

As one could probably guess from my tender age of thirty five years, I listen to lots of 80's music. Not only did I grow up in it, the music was energetic and often thoughtful (without being too depressing). But the thing I remember most about the music on a whole is the brilliant videos behind them. David Byrne of Talking Heads was the head (literally) of one of my favorites, Burning Down the House. A great musician and pop legend, David Byrne is back to entertain us in Ride, Rise, Roar.

David Byrne was born in Scotland in the spring of 1952. He knew how to play the guitar, accordion, as well as the violin before he even entered high school. David went through a couple of minor bands before landing his first major gig with the Talking Heads in 1975. The band went on to do great things and several of their albums went gold with sales well over 500,000 copies. Unfortunately, the group broke up in 1991 after creative differences and David Byrne went on to a solo career.