Author: Shmee

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Shmee Enjoys His Time Running The Maze!

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The Scorch Trials opened in theaters this last weekend, but since I have a toddler and am cheep, I watched its predecessor The Maze Runner on HBO Go.  I went in with pretty low expectations, with some notable exceptions, the YA (young adult) novel genre has not generated a lot of good movies, but I have to say The Maze Runner was a solid effort.

The movie follows a young man (Dylan O’Brien) who wakes up in an elevator with no memory, and at the top of the elevator he finds himself in idyllic glade.  The problem is that the only way out of the glade is through a giant ever changing maze that is full of monsters.  He and the rest of the boys in the glade will have to figure out the maze’s secrets in order to get home.  Wherever or whatever that is.

Much like all, or almost all, YA novel adaptations this movie takes place in a not so distant dystopian future.  Though unlike most YA movies at least you have no idea what is going on.  Even after watching the movie, I am pretty sure they have not explained everything to me.  The little extra mystery helps separate this movie from the rest of the ever increasing pack.  So much so that Mrs. Shmee almost wanted to drop off Lil’ Shmee with a babysitter so we could continue the filmic adventure.

The cast all did a good job.  I am not sure that anyone is going to make this film the first item on their resume, but no one turned in a bad performance either.  Workmanlike jobs all around.  It was refreshing to see so much competence out of a young cast.  Plus it featured Will Poulter from Son of Rambow, and I am all for any of those kids getting more work.

The special effects could have used a little more cash, but since they were used sparingly they didn’t detract from the film, and the direction by Wes Ball was fine.  Nothing stunning, but much like the acting and the story it was done well.  If you are getting the feeling that this was just a well made movie all around, you would be correct.

I don’t believe that The Maze Runner is going to be anyone’s favorite movie, unless they have a crush on one of the leads, but it was still a quality movie made by people who knew what they were doing.  If only most movies were as well made.  I stated in the intro to this review that it was a “solid effort”, and I do believe that is the best way to describe The Maze Runner.  Solid, and there are worse things being an entertaining and competent movie.

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//Sobbing Noises// Pacific Rim 2 May Be Canceled…//Continues Sobbing//

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This has been a hard week.  There have been some difficulties at work, and now this.  I can barely bring myself to type the words: Pacific Rim 2 has been put on hold indefinitely and may be canceled.  What is wrong with this world!  We were this close (imagine my fingers really close together) to getting a movie about giant robot proliferation!  “Giant robot proliferation” might be the greatest thing I have ever typed.  I mean I want to just keep typing it (giant robot proliferation).  Nuclear proliferation might be questionable, but giant robot proliferation is a defense that I think we can all get behind.  A movie about it?  Even freaking better!

I guess I need to hold out hope until there is more to go on, but the picture that The Hollywood Reporter paints isn’t pretty.  This movie needs to happen.  I will get a big hat and we can all put money in it to fund this film independently.  If 190 million of us all just give a dollar we should be good.  Well at least Crimson Peak comes out soon, so I can get my Guillermo del Toro fix that way, but creepy gothic horror is no substitute for giant robot proliferation.  Anyway I think I need some alone time…

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Why Does Warner Brothers Even Want To Make An Akira Movie?

Akira

So there is a new rumor going around that Christopher Nolan is going to produce not one, but three Akira movies for Warner Brothers.  Now the Christopher Nolan part of this rumor isn’t what surprises me, he has made a lot of money for Warner Brothers, so having him in charge of what WB sees as a massive franchise makes sense.  No, what surprises me is that Warner Bros thinks this is a massive franchise.  I mean I don’t even see it as a medium franchise, or a franchise at all.

The anime movie and the manga are both classics, and they should be seen and read by most sci-fi lovers at some point, but they are both super Japanese.  I don’t mean that as a slight, I love that Akira is over the top crazy Japanese, but most people will not.  Exploding telepathic humans and tentacle monsters are not things North Americans usually go in for (unless there is a Marvel logo), and if we change it to be more “Western” Akira will loose so much of what makes it great.

I am pretty sure that Christopher Nolan can make something watchable from the Akira source material, but I don’t think it will be the Akira anime fans want, and if it is a sci-fi move that is not Star Wars, Star Trek, or Marvel, I am not sure that it will reach a large enough audience.  Sooner or later Warner Brothers will make an Akria movie because they are so heck bent on doing it.  I am just not sure why they are so determined.  I mean they haven’t even made new Akira movie in Japan yet, so if the Japanese think it is too crazy to reboot, I think WB should stay far, far away.  Though when it gets made, I will of course have to watch it to prove how right I was.

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Where There Is Milk There Is Hope!

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Neil Gaiman has done it again.  He has make me super envious of his whimsical brilliance.  “Fortunately, the Milk…” is a short children’s book about one father’s adventure to save his children from a breakfast without milk.  Dry cereal is a horror which no child should be forced to endure.  The father in question will travel though time and space to insure his children have the milk they need, and no of number of green aliens, pirates, volcano gods, or wumpires will stop him.  He will need a little help from a stegosaurus, but milk must be served!

While “Fortunately, the Milk…” is most certainly aimed at kids, there are a couple of jokes in there for adults, and the story is so well done that it will entertain readers of all ages.  Well I guess I can only guarantee that one man in his 30’s will be entertained by it, but still, I am fairly sure everyone else will like it too.  There aren’t enough lighthearted time travel adventures being written, so I am glad that Gaiman took it on himself to try and rectify that.

There are two different versions of “Fortunately, the Milk…”, one illustrated by Chis Riddell which I read, and the other by Skottie Young.  Riddell’s pictures were wonderful, and they captured the story’s charm perfectly.  I loved that the father in question looked an awful lot like Neil Gaiman.  It made the book feel like Gaiman himself was telling me the story, which was great.  I looked at Young’s work on Amazon, and it looked very good as well.  I may have to buy his version too.

If you have kids or you just want to read a fun short story, you should pick up “Fortunately, the Milk…”  I thought it was a lot of fun to read.  While the whole book took me less than an hour to read, it was an hour well spent.  Just remember, “Where there is milk, there is hope!”

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It Might Be Good For Radeon To Get Away From AMD…

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I am an AMD/ATI fanboy from way back, so in 2006 when AMD bought ATI, I was pretty excited.  I thought that they would work well together, and that together they would bring us some incredible technology.  While they still do produce good stuff, they just can’t seem to keep up with Intel or NVidia.  Now due to declining revenue and continual financial losses AMD is starting the process of spinning off ATI, or the now named Radeon graphics division.

It is kind of sad that they were never able really compete with the big boys, but now that Radeon is on its own (and I am sure up for sale), maybe we will see some cool new video cards come out that really put NVidia to task.  Good competition helps us all.  AMD on the other hand will probably continue to decline.  In a world that doesn’t need desktop computers it hard to be the guys making the slower less efficient chips, even if they are a really good dollar/performance value.

It is kind of hard to be the fanboy on the loosing side, but I will get over it.  I just hope the new Radeon group will be able make me proud.