Badger Bits - Vol. 184

The master badger is back. I've been absent on this blog for quite a while, due to three factors:
1. I was out of town for over a week.
2. I was sick for over 2 weeks.
3. I'm a lazy bastard.
Luckily, AlterBadger has provided wonderful postings in my absence. Thank you AlterBadger. you are truly a gentleman and a scholar of the badger world.

First off, I saw The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo a few nights ago. I had heard great things about it, so I was looking forward to it. It is a foreign film, so if you're one of those uncultured swine that doesn't like subtitles because 'you don't go to no movie to read', then stay away from this one. Everyone else should see it. I'm not sure if I think it's as great as people say, but it is well-made. There are definitely some powerful scenes though, especially near the end when all is revealed to the audience.

I do have one major gripe with the movie: The main female character, named Lisbeth (Yes, she has a dragon tattoo), is TOO troubled. I think too much time is spent trying to explain that this chick has a shitty life. We are shown scenes of the childhood incident that changed her life, her being abused in the present by her new legal guardian, AND her getting attacked by hooligans in the subway. Yes, we all get it, she's been through hell. Had I made this film, I would have cut out the subway scene.

I have the 2nd film, The Girl Who Played With Fire, on my Netflix instant que and plan to watch it this weekend. I read a basic plot synopsis of it, and it doesn't sound as good as the first, but we'll see.

Stephen Sommers will NOT be directing G.I. Joe 2. This is good news as I think Sommers is a no-talent hack who could benefit from a basic film course. Andy said I shouldn't be too excited as they could pick someone worse. I'm not sure if there is anyone worse. Andy seems to think Michael bay would be worse, or at least equally as shitty. I think Michael bay would be an improvement. A huge improvement? Hell no, but an improvement nonetheless. Look at all of his films that have a military aspect to them, and you'll see that he handles those scenes quite well. It's almost as though he respects the military enough not to make a joke out of it. Since G.I. Joe is a military-based film, I think Bay could do alright. There are directors that I think could make a great Joe film, but the chances of Paramount getting one of those is slim. Just get an average director and give him a great script to work off, and it has to be better than the first attempt.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance is filming now. At first, I had NO interest in this. Who can blame me? The first one was absolute shit. I've read a bit more on Spirit on Vengeance and I'm changing my tune a bit. It seems as though more effort is being put into this to make it good. I think the co-director choice of Neveldine and Taylor is a bit odd. They seem to be a bit more "style over substance" filmmakers than I'd like, but I'll keep an open mind until I see the final product. It also doesn't hurt that they're ignoring the 1st film.

I recently picked up Night of the Hunter. God damn this is a fine film. I remember watching this as a kid several times, and you better believe it had me scared shitless of Robert Mitchum. If you've never seen this, do yourself a favor and check it out. I don't have a lot of black and white films in my collection, but this was a must-have, and you'll agree with me when you see it. I'm not one to use the term Masterpiece a lot, but this film is pretty damn close. There is also a Blu-Ray Criterion edition available. One more thing: stay away from the 1991 re-make, not that you have a choice as I don't think it's currently in print nor is it on Netflix.

Recent/Upcoming DVDs worth looking at:

• Inception: I liked it quite a lot. One certainty is that you can always count on DiCaprio for an amazing performance. Released on Dec. 7th.
  
  
• Futurama - Vol. 5: The Comedy Central episodes. Released on Dec. 21st.
  
  
• Archer - Season 1: All of the 10 first season episodes are worth watching, but if you can only watch one, make it Skytanic. Dec. 28th for this one.
  
  
• The Social Network: I can't say that I was interested in seeing it, but I've heard so much fucking buzz about it, that it's hard not be be a bit interested. It hits in Jan. 11th.
  
  
• Justified - First Season: Is it a western or is it a cop show? I don't fucking care, because it's good. What sets this apart from a lot of other television shows is that the characters are likable. I'm eagerly anticipating season 2, which starts pretty damn soon. You'll have to wait until January 18th for this one.

Recent/Upcoming NOT DVDs worth looking at:

There's a shitload in this category, so why waste time talking about what you shouldn't see?