Debt Ceiling: The Movie

Debt Ceiling: The Movie. The political popcorn blockbuster you’ve been yearning for. “What’s the debt ceiling” (you might, but probably won’t ask unless you spent the last few months stranded on a desert island reality TV show). Is it what the IRS lowers on tax dodgers to squash them into submission in their secret torture chamber and squeeze out payments (Star Wars trash compactor style)? No, rest assured it, it’s not that horrible. It’s much, much worse (or so we’ve been warned).

What it is:
Until 1917, Congress had to pass a new law every time the government wanted to borrow money. But when the U.S. needed financing for World War I, a law was passed that gave the Treasury Department the authority to borrow on its own – as long as it didn’t exceed a predetermined amount. Hence the debt ceiling – the total the Treasury can borrow without going back to Congress for permission – was born. Since our country has made a habit of spending more than it makes, that limit has been raised ten times in the past decade. To date, we’re in the hole to the tune of $14.3 trillion.

Why it’s in the news now:
Recently it’s been the catalyst for yet another showdown between our democratic president and the republican-dominated House of Representatives. Said Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, when it comes to debt ceiling issues, the president should not “expect any more cover from Republicans on it than you got on health care.” Or loosely translated “suck it, Obama”. Republicans refuse to raise the ceiling without spending cuts. Obama wants a revenue increase (i.e. a decrease in tax breaks for the wealthy). And so on … as the squabbling continues.

Why worry:
If the debt ceiling is not increased by August 2 (a date arbitrarily established by the administration), the United States will no longer to be able to pay its obligations potentially resulting in default to creditors, the suspension of Social Security checks and other benefits, an increase in interest rates, zombies roaming the earth, and a host of other catastrophic economic consequences.

What’s Debt Ceiling: The Movie?
Wall Street, W … why not a movie about the debt ceiling debate (please don’t answer that question)? We as usual had a few suggestions for the screen incarnation of our nation’s financial and political hot mess.

Debt Inception
In a desperate bid to win the debt ceiling standoff, both parties send in their subconscious agents to plant the seeds of a favorable decision (for them) in the key opponents brains. Agents will include political opposites Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver. (Maybe a gravity-defying screen tussle will rekindle their romance, or at least afford Maria an excuse for a few crotch punches to Arnold’s terminator).

The Washington Lawyer
It’s a legal dog fight led by, who better, but John Grisham alum Matthew McConaughey as Obama must dodge impeachment in his bid to invoke the 14th Amendment (which states the “validity” of government debt “shall not be questioned”) and simply ignore the congressionally imposed debt ceiling. It will also be chock full of McConaughey’s signature Southern-style profanity.

Harry Potter and the Debt Ceiling Chamber of Despair
Or Papa Potter’s first fatherly adventure (wherein he turns his children’s bank-account-draining ivy league American wizarding college tuition into an actual ceiling he can just ignore).

Crouching Panda, Hidden Loan Payment
China wants its money back, and it will do whatever it takes to get it—including sending its deadliest army to force stubborn republicans to hike up the debt ceiling—Kung Fu Pandas. (Not to be confused with Jack Black’s roly poly animated hero, these pandas are the real deal—with real teeth and real claws (and did we mention, they’re also really pissed off).

Politically Incorrect & In Love
A loosely based on reality romcom starring Ann Coulter (as Republican House Majority Leader Erica Cantor) and Bill Maher (democratic President Mobama). If you’ve ever seen the two on television together, you know the screen chemistry will sizzle.

M. Night Shyamalan’s The Ceiling
In the midst of a heated debt ceiling debate at our Capitol Cantor rips off his human mask, reveals his hideous lobster head, and announces the party’s refusal to raise the limit has all been a bait and switch designed to distract our government from his superior race’s imminent alien invasion.

Or, scientists discover it’s an environmental virus that inhibits the government’s ability to agree on anything. Spread by the outraged trees we massacre daily to print our money.

Debt Ceiling: The Musical
Featuring actual members of congress wearing nothing but dollar bill costumes designed by meat-suit pop artiste Lady Gaga.

Armadebtdon 2011
The unusually fit baby boomer elderly don’t take social security cuts lying down, they take it standing up, with shotguns, and crossbows, and molotov cocktails. Think a healthier, hipper Hobo With a Shotgun meets Red.

Tags: Debt Ceiling, harry potter, inception, Our Take, w., wall street

Review: The Smurfs

It was the best of times, it was the Smurft of times. There, with that out of the way we can safely avoid all future punning. What will be impossible for you to avoid, should you take on this mission, is about 100 minutes of physical comedy. Pratfalls and kicked CGI cats, Smurfs being tossed to and fro. Still, this is to be expected, and for the young humans amongst us these moments should prove relatively hilarious. For the adults in the room? I remained unmoved.

Before we break down the plot of The Smurfs, let’s pause for a moment to reflect on the 3-D aspect of the film. It’s pointless, completely superfluous, devoid of any value to the consumer. It’s as if we’ve been asked to pay a toll for a road that we don’t want to drive on. Why do I need equipment to watch a film? I’m there to be entertained, or enlightened, and wearing glasses for average 3-D does neither. Ugh, enough already. /Rant

As for the plot of The Smurfs, it’s relatively straightforward. Gargamel, the evil wizard in Smurf-land, attacks the Smurfs on their own territory. Through the magic of product placement they are transported to New York City. Gargamel (played by Hank Azaria in massive levels of makeup) follows them, along with his excellently evil cat, so it’s fortunate the Smurfs are taken in by Neil Patrick Harris and Jayma Mays. Smurfette, Papa Smurf, Grumpy, Clumsy, and Gutsy are the five smurfs on the run, and they use “smurf” for every third word or so. The gang needs to escape back to their enchanted village, while Gargamel wants to extract their magical blue essence for use in his spells. Clearly, we’re not dealing with anything too complicated here.

The “smurf for every sentence” topic is discussed, and Smurfette’s disparate gender is considered. Tim Gunn makes an appearance, as does Madison McKinley, she of “I wore fangs on The Bachelor” fame (which, for the record, was amazing). The fact that The Smurfs basically admits to the adults, “We know, we know” leaves one less bitter. They aren’t peddling Pixar, but they aren’t pushing Poppers either. A basset hound makes a prominent appearance. We can build on this.

What doesn’t really fly is the cat vomit scene. And the occasional potty humor. Product placement and 3-D have already been mentioned, but they’ll feel overtly annoying should you enter the theater with your child. But for all the film has going against it, it never reaches the true depths of despair. They made about 100 Smurf jokes, but they left another 100 on the table. The CGI cat was fun, and likely saved them from a Humane Society lawsuit. Hank Azaria deserves a paycheck after his years of service. Finally, Neil Patrick Harris is impossible to work up a good hate for, he’s the perfect Smurf liaison to the real world. Once the solid factors are considered The Smurfs ends up being just below average, it won’t give you nightmares, and small ones might dig it. Smurfs up.*

Grade: C-

*Sorry, that’s terrible.

Tags: Madison McKinley, smurfs, Smurfs 3-D, the smurfs, the smurfs movie, Tim Gunn

FILM INSIDIOUS (2010)

Tanggal Rilis : 1 April 2011 (USA)
Jenis Film : Fantasy | Horror | Thriller
Diperankan Oleh : Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Ty Simpkins

Ringkasan Cerita FILM INSIDIOUS (2010) :

Semula Josh Lambert (Patrick Wilson dan Renai (Rose Byrne) mengira rumah mereka telah dihantui. Ada banyak kejadian aneh di sana. Kejadian yang tak bisa dijelaskan dengan logika. Celakanya, ternyata bukan rumah mereka yang berhantu. Ada makhluk dari alam lain yang ternyata sedang berusaha masuk ke tubuh putra mereka berdua.

Dalton (Ty Simpkins), putra Josh dan Renai terjatuh dan mengalami koma. Renai yang pertama sadar kalau ada yang tak beres namun Josh sepertinya tak percaya. Setelah mengalami sendiri barulah Josh setuju untuk pindah. Ternyata pindah ini juga bukan solusi. Sepertinya hantu itu mengikuti ke mana mereka pergi.

Ternyata, bukan rumah tempat tinggal mereka yang berhantu. Makhluk dari kegelapan ini berusaha masuk ke tubuh Dalton yang kini sedang koma. Satu-satunya yang bisa mengembalikan roh Dalton ke dalam tubuhnya hanyalah Josh yang ternyata juga memiliki kemampuan melepaskan diri dari tubuhnya dan masuk ke alam lain. Masalahnya bisakah Josh kembali setelah ia menyelamatkan Dalton?

(Sumber : kapanlagi)

[IMDb rating : 7.0/10]
[Awards : - ]
[Production Co : Alliance Films, Automatik Entertainment, Blumhouse Productions]
[IMDb link : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1591095]

[Quality : BRRip]
[File Size : 600 MB]
[Format : Matroska >> mkv]

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Re-Views: For Love of the Game (1999)

My relationship with baseball is complicated. I grew up with brothers and a dad who were enthusiastic players and fans, and so my childhood memories of summertime are filled with Dodger games on TV and many warm nights at the Little League field, where it seems like my brothers were always playing, or my dad was always umpiring, or my mom was acting as official scorekeeper.

The complicated part is that I never had any interest in playing baseball, and only passing interest in watching it. I’ve never made the choice to watch a game on TV — but if I’m with people who are watching one, I will gladly follow along. It feels like an essential part of America, and I’m a fan of America. Baseball is also part of my family, and since I love my family I guess I also love baseball. The sport has personal meaning for me.

I suspect that’s why For Love of the Game, Kevin Costner’s love letter to baseball, worked so well on me when I saw it in 1999. Not only is it about the pure joy of the sport, it has Vin Scully as the play-by-play announcer — Vin Scully, who’s been calling Dodger games for like 80 years and who is basically the voice of my childhood. Even if I wasn’t paying attention to the game on TV, I could hear good ol’ Vin describing it. I probably have a Pavlovian response to that man’s warm, friendly voice.

What I Said Then

“After a string of disappointing (and even downright bad) films, Costner reminds us in this one why we ever liked him in the first place. He IS capable of acting, even emoting at times. When he wants to be, he’s an effective Everyman, a guy that both men and women find appealing and enjoyable to watch…. It’s a genuinely compelling storytelling format, and the leisurely sport of baseball lends itself nicely to such reflection…. If any movie can restore America’s love for this game, it’s this one. The outcome of the game is fairly predictable, but still quite thrilling, as all good sports movies are, and the casting of real-life announcer Vin Scully as the play-by-play man was pure genius…. If Vin Scully tells me that baseball is a fantastic game, and a metaphor for life, and all the other things this movie tells me it is, I believe him. You’ll believe, too.” Grade: A- [complete review]

A majority of critics gave it favorable reviews, but just barely: Rotten Tomatoes has it at 54 percent. Very few of them, other than mine, were all-out raves, instead falling into the three-stars-out-of-four range. Some of the negative reviews explicitly said that the movie doesn’t work at all if you’re not already a baseball lover (and I agree). Others found the whole thing just plain boring. Would a second viewing, 12 years later, have the same effect on me?

The Re-viewing

Remembering very few details and not having read my review before I watched it, I was surprised by the opening credits — Sam Raimi directed this? I’d have sworn it was Costner himself. I’d also forgotten that it has three guys in the cast who have since turned out to be among my favorite actors: John C. Reilly, Brian Cox, and JK Simmons. This was shaping up to be a fine film, and for reasons I wouldn’t have even appreciated in 1999!

Ugh, then there’s Kelly Preston. She performs without distinction a role that is the film’s weakest attribute anyway, that of Costner’s love interest. The film’s structure has Costner’s Billy Chapel pitching what may well be the last game of his major-league career, and reflecting on his past as he does so. Some of those flashbacks relate directly to baseball — old teammates being traded away, new guys looking to him as a mentor — but most of them concern Billy’s relationship with Preston’s character, Jane. He’s a celebrity athlete who lives for baseball; she’s of secondary importance; yada yada. My notes contain this rather diplomatic observation: “non-baseball scenes are a little flat.”

Sometimes the movie is too on-the-nose, as when Billy injures his hand during the off-season and must be rushed to the hospital. He tells Jane to call his trainer: “He’s the most important person for me right now!” Jane is devastated to have it spelled out in no uncertain terms that the man responsible for saving her boyfriend’s career is more important to him than she is. (Being married to John Travolta in real life, she is probably used to bitter disappointment.)

On the other hand, some of the movie’s hokeyness is charming, in that old-fashioned, take-me-out-to-the-ball-game kind of way. The first few scenes lay it on thick: it’s the last game of the season; Billy’s beloved team owner has sold the team; Billy will probably be traded; Jane is about to move to London. This is truly the Big Game. It ALL COMES DOWN TO THIS!! I roll my eyes at that, but I have to admire the earnestness. And the fact is, baseball often does come down to do-or-die situations. “Bottom of the ninth, two outs, three runs behind, bases loaded” is a cliche — but it happens! Those off-the-field circumstances that can fill a game with added meaning are part of the reason sports fans love their sports.

Raimi does a terrific job switching back and forth between putting us on the field with Costner and putting us in the TV viewing audience, with Vin Scully guiding us. Scully’s lines must have been scripted, but he delivers them naturally, and they all sound like things he would really say. Look at how he sums things up:

“You get the feeling that Billy Chapel isn’t pitching against left handers, he isn’t pitching against pinch hitters, he isn’t pitching against the Yankees. He’s pitching against time. He’s pitching against the future, against age, and even, when you think about his career, against ending. And tonight I think he might be able to use that aching old arm one more time to push the sun back up in the sky and give us one more day of summer.”

Reading that, I think it’s corny. Hearing it delivered by Vin Scully, I think it’s beautiful. The game’s final stirring moments build suspense the way most sports movies do, before delivering a cathartic and satisfying finish. Scully says: “The cathedral that is Yankee Stadium belongs to a Chapel.” Yeah, it’s hokey. But tell that to the lump in my throat!

Do I Still Love this Movie?

No, but I honestly do like it. Costner’s running monologue as he pitches, his interaction with his catcher/friend John C. Reilly, all the commentary that encapsulates the simple pleasures of the sport, Basil Poledouris’ rousing musical score — that stuff works, and it works well. If it weren’t for the just-average relationship story on the side, this would be a classic of the Baseball Movie genre. Grade: B

Tags: Brian Cox, for love of the game, JK Simmons, john c. reilly, kelly preston, kevin costner, re-views, sam raimi, vin scully

Eric’s Bad Movies: Cyborg (1989)

What’s that you say? You’ve got a brutally violent movie called Cyborg that stars famed oily Belgian Jean-Claude Van Damme? Count me in! I’d love to see Van Damme play a cyborg! Oh, he’s not the cyborg? Well, I’d love to see him battle a cyborg! That would be cool too! Come again? The cyborg is neither the hero nor the villain but merely an ancillary character with about 90 seconds of screen time? And her name is Pearl? I politely decline your offer.

Eh, I guess we’re already committed, so here goes. Like 62 percent of all bad movies, Cyborg is set after the apocalypse. An ominous whispery voice tells us in narration that after the collapse of civilization and its attendant anarchy and starvation came the plague, aka The Living Death. The few scientists left alive are working on a cure, but our campy narrator is not in favor of that. “I like the death!” he declares. “I like the misery! I like this world!” Our narrator is a make-lemonade-out-of-lemons kind of guy. He sounds like an intriguing character! Is it Jean-Claude Van Damme??

Ugh, no. It’s a dude named Fender, played by a dude named Vincent Klyn, a professional surfer who somehow wandered into a couple of movies, including this one, sort of. Van Damme isn’t here yet. Fender is the leader of one of those post-apocalyptic gangs that dress in hilarious costumes and kill people for fun. They call themselves “pirates,” but instead of singing jaunty songs and engaging in ribald banter and firing cannonballs at ships, all they do is rape, pillage, and murder. Some “pirates” they are!!

Fender and his merry band of comically outfitted sociopaths are in New York in pursuit of a woman named Pearl (Dayle Haddon), the aforementioned cyborg. She has the cure for plague in her possession and must get to Atlanta, where the country’s only remaining scientists are hanging out, either because they’re all that’s left of the Centers for Disease Control, or because they’re all that’s left of Tyler Perry’s top-secret laboratory that produces full-body fat suits and melodrama. In any event, Fender’s gang captures Pearl and forces her to take them with her to Atlanta so that they can stop the plague from being cured. But if Pearl HAS the cure, couldn’t they just kill her? And if some key components of the cure are in Atlanta, can’t they go to Atlanta on their own? What do they need Pearl for? It’s not hard to get to Atlanta from New York. You take I-95 south until it meets I-85, just outside Richmond, Va., and then take I-85 straight to Atlanta. You can’t miss it.

Meanwhile, remember how Jean-Claude Van Damme is in this movie? Well, he is. He plays Gibson, a mercenary who was Pearl’s bodyguard for about five seconds, until Fender knocked him out and kidnapped her. Instead of responding to his embarrassment honorably by committing ritual seppuku, Gibson pursues the pirates. Along the way, he meets a chesty gal whose name the movie doesn’t mention but IMDb says it’s Nady, so we’ll go with that. Nady (Deborah Richter) politely takes off her clothes and offers to have sex with Gibson, but now that Gibson has already botched his mission once, he’s REALLY focused on it. No sex for him! Nady should consider herself lucky, since doing it with Van Damme is probably like doing it with a seal, all slippery and shiny and inarticulate.

Gibson is tormented by flashbacks to an earlier time, when he settled down in a country house with a hillbilly girl named Mary and her two siblings, only to see Fender kill Mary and one of the kids and take the other one hostage. Basically, what we are learning about Gibson is that he has never successfully protected anyone from anything.

Gibson and Nady run into a lot of bad guys on the way to Atlanta. That means there is a lot of fighting, as fighting is the one thing that the star of this movie is reasonably good at. Gibson has a gun, but he prefers to fight hand-to-hand. And what he mostly likes, really, is kicking people. He LOVES kicking people! It’s his favorite thing. You put him up against a band of villains trained in the martial arts and he will throw down his gun and kick every single one of those S.O.B.’s. until they are unconscious, or at least lying on the ground, kicked.

But his kicking skills fail him when he encounters Fender and — what do you know — loses to him, again, as is his custom. The two things Gibson is best at are kicking people and being humiliated by Fender. Fender should probably just kill Gibson, but what kind of movie villain would he be if he actually did the thing he claimed he wanted to do? No, standard procedure once you’ve captured the hero is to put him into a situation where he’ll probably die, then leave him unattended so that you can be shocked later on when he escapes.

Fender’s choice is to have his men crucify Gibson, a method of punishment fraught with symbolism, as I’m sure you’re aware. Is Gibson meant to be some kind of “Savior” figure? That would be a bit of a stretch for a character whose main attribute so far is being unable to save himself or anyone else. Then again, Gibson does one-up his most famous crucifixion predecessor by escaping from the cross, which he does in a manner befitting the rest of the film, i.e., with a lot of gore and grunting.

It all comes down to an epic battle between Gibson and Fender (who, yes, are both named after guitars, for no reason). Fender has very pale blue eyes that the movie keeps showing in close-up, I guess because the movie thinks they’re … scary? Creepy? Pretty? I don’t know. When we’re not seeing his eyes, we’re seeing him and Gibson kick the crap out of each other, accompanied by much monster-like roaring, the screenwriter having been made aware that neither actor is very handy with actual words.

Eventually, Pearl the cyborg, making a cameo appearance in the movie called Cyborg, gets to Atlanta with the plague cure, accompanied by a finally-somewhat-helpful Gibson. Pearl tells her scientist friends that while she has the serum, “I feel like [Gibson] is the real cure for the world.” The only way this statement makes any sense is if it comes at the end of a different movie, one where the hero has proven to be noble, valiant, or even competent. Rudy, for example. You could argue that the world would be a lot better off if everyone were more like Rudy. Gibson, not so much. And besides, if he’s so awesome and he’s the real cure for the world, why isn’t the movie called Passion of the Gibson or The Last Temptation of Gibson or something? I rest my case.

Tags: cyborg, eric's bad movies, jean-claude van damme

FILM SCREAM 4 (2011)

Tanggal Rilis : 15 April 2011 (USA)
Jenis Film : Horror | Mystery | Thriller
Diperankan Oleh : Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox and David Arquette

Ringkasan Cerita FILM SCREAM 4 (2011) :

Lima belas tahun sudah lewat dan Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) merasa bahwa ia sudah terbebas dari mimpi buruk yang ia alami sebelumnya. Ternyata, mimpi buruk itu masih mengikuti Sidney. Dan saat mimpi buruk itu kembali, tak ada pilihan buat Sidney selain menghadapinya.

Sebenarnya Sidney kembali ke Woodsboro untuk mempromosikan buku yang barus aja ia tulis. Sayangnya, Sidney datang di saat yang kurang tepat. Beberapa saat sebelumnya terjadi kasus pembunuhan terhadap dua orang siswa SMA. Pembunuh itu menggunakan topeng yang sama persis dengan topeng yang dikenakan pembunuh berantai yang menghantui Sidney 15 tahun silam.

Kontan saja Sidney diduga terlibat kasus penyerangan ini dan tak boleh meninggalkan Woodsboro sebelum kasus ini tuntas. Benarkah pembunuh berantai itu bangkit lagi dan menghantui Woodsboro? Atau ada orang lain yang memanfaatkan peringatan lima belas tahun pembantaian Woodsboro? Mau tak mau Sidney harus terlibat urusan berbahaya ini sekali lagi.

(Sumber : kapanlagi)

[IMDb rating : 6.9/10]
[Awards : - ]
[Production Co : Dimension Films, Corvus Corax Productions, Outerbanks Entertainment]
[IMDb link : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1262416]

[Quality : BRRip]
[File Size : 550 MB]
[Format : Matroska >> mkv]
[Resolution : 1280x448 ( Korean hardcoded SUBS cropped )]
[Source : 720p.KORSUB.BAUM]

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Wet Hot American Summer: 10 Years Later

“Hey, let’s all promise that in 10 years from today, we’ll meet again, and we’ll see what kind of people we’ve blossomed into.”

The absurdist comedy troupe known as The State earned a fair cult following with their ’90s MTV show of the same name, but not enough to get Wet Hot American Summer — directed by David Wain and starring many of the troupe’s members — more than a modest theatrical release and a middling critical reception in late July of 2001.

Thankfully, it seems that time has only been kinder to one of my favorite comedies from the past decade (no, maybe not one of the very best, but high among my personal faves). It’s an affectionate send-up of ’80s summer camp romps like Meatballs, not to mention the era’s regrettable fashion trends. The skewering of underdog sports clichés, horny teen staples, and Vietnam-trauma melodrama is long overdue and perfectly irreverent in execution.

Wain juggles an exceptionally game ensemble that includes Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Janeane Garofalo, David Hyde Pierce, Michael Ian Black, Michael Showalter, Christopher Meloni, Amy Poehler, and a then-unknown Bradley Cooper, and together, every last character thread is escalated to maximum effect.

Nice guy Coop (Showalter) is this close to getting the girl and instantly takes that too far, hearing wedding bells when she’s just looking for a fling. When teacher Gail (Molly Shannon) vents to her class about her own marital woes, one young boy in particular sagely consoles her … to the point where they announce their own January-May romance come the end of camp. And when camp manager Beth (Garofalo) falls for astrophysicist neighbor Henry (Pierce), they top everyone with an immaculate conception, just because.

When the counselors go on a day trip into town, they manage a crime spree and record amounts of substance abuse over the course of what we learn was a mere hour. Our narrator (played by Liam Norton, but voiced by Samm Levine) is lambasted for not having showered for all eight weeks of summer, but sadder/funnier still is the reveal that poor Arty’s been talking into an unplugged microphone the entire time. Ultimately, a falling piece of SkyLab threatens the fate of the campers (yes, really), and who saves the day but a socially awkward deus ex machina who just happened to have powers beyond belief.

It’s all so gleefully manic, alternately astute with regards to coming-of-age formula and utterly ridiculous. Rudd’s ultra-obnoxious routine is priceless, and if you can find a movie with a more quotable can of vegetables, then keep it to yourself. Even now, Wain and friends have floated the idea out there of doing a prequel that would see the whole cast return, now older than ever in roles that would require them to be younger. If they do manage to make it, I hope it doesn’t take an additional 10 years to get the gang back together, and then another 10 on top of that just to find its rightful audience.

In the meantime, I’ll be back at my bunk, fondling my sweaters.

Tags: american summer, amy poehler, blockbuster, bradley cooper, david wain, elizabeth banks, michael ian black, michael showalter, paul rudd, wet hot american summer

FILM KISS OF THE DRAGON (2001)

Tanggal Rilis : 6 July 2001 (USA)
Jenis Film : Action | Crime | Drama
Diperankan Oleh : Jet Li, Bridget Fonda and Tchéky Karyo

Ringkasan Cerita FILM KISS OF THE DRAGON (2001) :

Film Kiss of the Dragon adalah film action martial arts yang di produksi tahun 2001. Disutradarai oleh Chris Nahon dan dibintangi oleh Jet Li. Sebenarnya film ini dibuat untuk merespon request dari fans Jet Li yang menginginkan film dengan adegan laga yang lebih realistis. Film ini tercatat sebagai film dengan adegan laga yang paling sedikit menggunakan “trik kamera”. So, sudah bisa dibayangkan kan, bagaimana seru dan “asli” nya adegan laga dalam film ini? Apalagi film ini juga berdasarkan cerita yang ditulis langsung oleh sang super star Jet Li.

Film ini memulai kisahnya dengan kedatangan Liu Jian (Jet Li), seorang agen pemerintah Republik Rakyat Cina ke Paris, Perancis. Ia datang untuk membantu menangkap seorang bos narkoba asal RRC yang sedang melakukan bisnis terlarang. Untuk itu Liu Jian bergabung dengan skuad polisi pimpinan detektif polisi Perancis, Inspektur Richard (Tchéky Karyo).

Tetapi Liu Jian tidak tahu bahwa Inspektur Richard adalah tokoh bermuka dua. Selain sebagai polisi, Richard pun adalah tokoh dunia hitam yang menjadi gembong pengedar narkoba sekaligus germo. Bos narkoba Cina yang seharusnya ditangkap, malah dibunuh oleh seorang pelacur suruhan Richard. Lantaran Liu Jian tidak mau terima, maka Richard pun memfitnah agen Cina itu sebagai pembunuh bos narkoba tersebut. Terpaksa Liu Jian melarikan diri dengan membawa video rekaman pembunuhan itu yang dapat membuktikan dirinya tidak bersalah.

Liu Jian berniat menyerahkan video itu pada kontaknya, seorang diplomat Cina. Masalahnya diplomat Cina yang diharapkan dapat membantu Liu Jian malah menjadi korban Richard. Tidak hanya itu, Richard pun dengan liciknya memutarbalikkan fakta bahwa Liu Jian adalah pembunuh sang diplomat. Liu Jian makin terdesak dengan buruan para polisi Perancis dan juga anak buah Richard dari dunia hitam, sehingga terpaksa menerima bantuan dari seorang pelacur cantik, Jessica (Bridget Fonda) yang dari awal terlibat dalam kasus pembunuhan gembong narkoba Cina itu.

Jessica saat itu, menyaksikan bagaimana temannya sesama pelacur itu membunuh gembong itu, namun mati di tangan Richard. Jessica rupanya adalah pelacur yang bernaung di bawah Richard. Sebenarnya Jessica ingin lepas dari inspektur korup itu tetapi tidak berdaya melepaskan dirinya lantaran putrinya dalam cengkeraman Richard. Liu Jian pun mengharapkan Jessica menjadi saksi mata yang dapat membebaskannya dari fitnah Richard. Tetapi Liu Jian harus mencari akal untuk membereskan Richard sekaligus membebaskan putri Jessica dari inspektur jahat itu.

Bagaimana Liu Jian menghadapi pihak polisi pimpinan Richard yang berjumlah banyak itu? Akankah Liu Jian bisa membuktikan dirinya tidak bersalah?

[IMDb rating : 6.4/10]
[Awards : - ]
[Production Co : Europa Corp., Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation]
[IMDb link : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0271027]

[Quality : BRRip]
[File Size : 525 MB]
[Format : Matroska >> mkv]
[Resolution : 1280x544]
[Language : English | Hindi]
[Password : urgrove.com]

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FILM THE LAST EXORCISM (2010)

Tanggal Rilis : 24 September 2010 (Indonesia)
Jenis Film : Horror | Thriller
Diperankan Oleh : Patrick Fabian, Ashley Bell and Iris Bahr

Ringkasan Cerita FILM THE LAST EXORCISM (2010) :

Pendeta Cotton Marcus (Patrick Fabian) akrab dengan acara pengusiran setan atau exorcism. Marcus bahkan sering melakukan ritual ini pada orang-orang yang dianggap telah dirasuki setan. Sayangnya keyakinan Pendeta Cotton goyah saat menyaksikan seorang bocah autis dibunuh karena dianggap telah dirasuki iblis.

Sejak saat itu, Pendeta Cotton tak lagi percaya pada ritual itu. Suatu saat Pendeta Cotton diminta menjadi bagian dari sebuah film dokumenter yang akan mengungkapkan bahwa sebenarnya ritual pengusiran setan hanyalah penipuan belaka. Ia pun lantas memilih orang yang bakal jadi objek dari dokumenter yang dibuat oleh Iris Reisen (Iris Bahr) dan Dave Moskowitz (Adam Grimes) ini.

Pilihan jatuh pada Louis Sweetzer (Louis Herthum). Louis adalah seorang warga Louisiana yang sangat percaya pada tahayul. Louis yakin Nell (Ashley Bell), putrinya, dirasuki setan dan tak ada cara lain selain meminta bantuan Cotton Marcus. Louis yakin kalau ia terlambat maka akan terjadi malapetaka besar dan sepertinya apa yang diyakini Louis memang benar.

Pendeta Cotton pun mulai mempersiapkan segala sesuatunya. Ia memasang kamera, speaker dan peralatan elektronik lain yang akan membantunya membuktikan kalau ritual pengusiran hanyalah penipuan belaka. Setelah ritual berakhir dan rekaman sudah dibuat, Pendeta Cotton, Iris, dan Dave kembali ke hotel tempat mereka menginap. Malam itu, Nell tiba-tiba saja muncul di hotel tempat Pendeta Cotton menginap dan sejak itu serangkaian kejadian aneh mulai terjadi.

Pendeta Cotton tetap pada pendiriannya bahwa sebenarnya tak ada acara pengusiran setan. Semua itu hanya dusta belaka. Celakanya, keyakinan itu ternyata tak bisa bertahan saat dia menghadapi fakta yang berkata lain. Benarkah, Nell sebenarnya tak dirasuki setan? Atau malah acara pengusiran setan kali ini adalah ritual terakhir Pendeta Cotton?

[IMDb rating : 5.7/10]
[Awards : 2 nominations]
[Production Co : Strike Entertainment, StudioCanal, Arcade Pictures]
[IMDb link : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1320244]

[Quality : BRRip]
[File Size : 500 MB]
[Format : Matroska >> mkv]
[Resolution : 1280x720]
[Source : 720p Bluray x264-CBGB]

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Review: Crazy Stupid Love

Almost everyone in Crazy Stupid Love has strong romantic feelings for someone they shouldn’t. That’s one of the reasons love is crazy and stupid, you see. Another reason is that love has this habit of looking pathetic until you fall into it, and then you can’t see how you were ever opposed to it. See? Crazy. And stupid.

Those are the observations made by the film, a multi-threaded and well-organized comedy full of pleasant surprises and appealing characters. Perhaps most surprising is the movie’s provenance: It was written by Dan Fogelman, who has worked mostly on children’s films (Cars, Bolt, Fred Claus), and directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, who wrote the naughty “Bad Santa” before making the darkly comic I Love You Phillip Morris. Crazy Stupid Love lies at the intersection of those paths, a PG-13 story for grown-ups with a hint of subversiveness and a lot of sweetness.

It begins with good-hearted family man Cal Weaver (Steve Carell) learning that his wife of nearly 25 years, Emily (Julianne Moore), wants a divorce. She has been unhappy for a while, and has recently slept with a co-worker, David Lindhagen, whose name comes to be the movie’s favorite swear word, like Seinfeld’s “Newman.” Wounded and sad, Cal dutifully moves out of the house and into a condo.

While moping and drinking in an upscale cocktail lounge one night, the pitiable Cal draws the attention of Jacob (Ryan Gosling), an impossibly smooth and sharply dressed ladies’ man who can take a different girl home with him every night if he chooses to (and he does choose to). Jacob finds Cal’s pathetic dishevelment and dorky fashion sense fascinating. “I don’t know if I should help you or if I should euthanize you,” he says. He opts for the former and gives Cal one of those dress-and-grooming makeovers that movies love so much, in addition to supplying him with guidelines on how to pick up women.

But this is not just a smooth-guy-helps-nerd-find-love comedy, thank goodness. Jacob’s tutorial is effective, in its way — Cal finds a woman (Marisa Tomei) who admires his desperate honesty — but that’s accomplished while the movie is still young. Meanwhile, Jacob himself is in pursuit of his Great White Whale, Hannah (Emma Stone), a law student who is so far the only woman to resist his charms. (She has a sappy boyfriend, amusingly played by Josh Groban, whom she’s considering settling for.) The last thing Jacob wants is to fall in love, but he’s intrigued by the idea of someone who won’t sleep with him.

Then there’s Cal and Emily’s 13-year-old son, Robbie (Jonah Bobo), who is madly in love with his babysitter, 17-year-old Jessica (Analeigh Tipton), and tells her so. She wants nothing to do with a 13-year-old, obviously — and besides, she’s secretly in love with Robbie’s dad. So there’s another coupling that isn’t ever gonna happen.

Maybe we’re so accustomed to formulas that any slight deviation seems remarkable, but the way Crazy Stupid Love veers from the beaten path is, well, remarkable. You could make a good movie out of the Jacob/Cal story, each man teaching the other something about love and romance, each eventually finding his way, and so forth. But Fogelman’s witty, astute screenplay gives us more than that. The characters you’d expect to be supporting ones, like Hannah and Emily and the teenagers, are fully developed, and their stories are given due attention. The movie expands from a two-man piece into an ensemble affair.

Carell, funny as usual, is the more restrained version of himself here — more Dan in Real Life than Date Night. We’ve seen that before, and we like it. Gosling, on the other hand, is breaking new ground. In perusing his IMDb page, I’m astonished to realize that he has never starred in a comedy before. And yet here he is, giving his suave, sensitive persona a hilarious tweak as an unflappably confident pickup artist who winds up having some depth, too.

Emma Stone, who ought to be a bigger star than she is, continues to charm my socks off; Julianne Moore helps us sympathize with Emily, who’s hurting over the break-up almost as much as Cal is; the kids, Jonah Bobo and Analeigh Tipton, are confident performers; and hey, there’s Kevin Bacon as the oily David Lindhagen.

After being quite smitten with the first 75 percent of the movie, I feared all was lost when suddenly the plot threads began to converge in a contrived and farcical manner into one of those “they’re on a collision course with wackiness!!” scenarios. And then, somehow, the ship righted itself — only to go off-course again with a gooey, disappointing, formulaic finale. But most of the film rings true, reflecting all the humor and tragedy to be found in that crazy, stupid emotion.

Grade: B+

Tags: crazy stupid love, emma stone, julianne moore, kevin bacon, ryan gosling, steve carell

Review: Cowboys and Aliens

No one does labored breathing in conjunction with a bloody face like Daniel Craig. Starting with Layer Cake and perfected in Casino Royale, he’s dialed in on this particular acting method. So it makes perfect sense that Cowboys and Aliens opens with a confused Craig, bloody and battered. Longish opening credits play over the scene, where we see (gulp) five people worked on the screenplay. Still, the quiet stoic western mood is set.

The year is 1873 and we’re talking Cowboys, plus Aliens. The title alone really works in terms of setting the table, no? At the beginning of the film Daniel Craig has no memory of where he’s from, who he is, or how he ended up wandering around in the ol’ west. He beats up / kills a few guys before heading into town to try and make sense of it all. A mangy dog shadows him, tumbleweed in the foreground. In town he comes across Harrison Ford’s son, played by Paul Dano (of There Will Be Blood fame). Harrison Ford is a grizzled war vet, name-checking The Battle of Antietam with verve. Olivia Wilde appears on the periphery in a bar Craig visits, she’s instantly concerned for him, though slightly wary of his apparent predilection for violence. Perhaps his handiness with a weapon will come back to help them? Yes indeed, all personal vendettas are abruptly put on hold as aliens invade via spacecraft to abduct a few of the townsfolk. A posse is gathered, the fight must be taken to the non-Earthling interlopers, and we’re off.

The first compelling aspect of Cowboys and Aliens is the much appreciated lack of price-gauging 3-D. Glorious 2-D! The effects are solid throughout the film, Aliens and horses intermingling in perfect harmony.  The chemistry between Wilde, Craig, and Ford works, for the most part, though the film has lulls when the genre is western (as opposed to sci-fi). The innovation of the film is another feather in its cap, as the dilemma of killing massive (and fast-moving) aliens with light weaponry is put front and center. There are also a fair amount of strong one-liners. Yep, Cowboys and Aliens has Jokes!

Still, the story does have a rather cheesecloth feel. The holes are small, but placed all over the place, occasionally causing Cowboys and Aliens to lose its whey. There’s also the minor problem of character motivation. A few of the protagonists act in a manner that’s not exactly authentic. The father-son relationship between Harrison Ford and Paul Dano is quite thin, and the fight physics seem to change from scene to scene. It’s as if there wasn’t a central guiding force, no essential story that everyone wanted to tell.

The other thing that might not be apparent from the marketing efforts is the mystery vibe of the film. The first 90 minutes deal with the myriad of questions that would present themselves if aliens appeared to a pre-computer culture. Who are they? What do they want? Can we ask them nicely to leave? The answers to all these questions and more can be found in Cowboys and Aliens. Part mystery, part sci-fi, part western, this is a film that mostly entertains, even if it doesn’t live up to the full-on madness potential the title portended.

Grade: B-

Tags: cowboys and aliens, Cowboys and Aliens Review, daniel craig, harrison ford, iron man, movie review, olivia wilde

Thoughts on the Amazing Spider-Man Trailer

The Amazing Spider-Man trailer looks like a superior blockbuster product, the kind of film that should generate good reviews and strong box-office prowess. It looks tonally different from the other Spidey films (enter: Nolanesque angst, darker moods, exit: color and camp), and I think director Marc Webb will provide one of next summer’s most satisfying films while Andrew Garfield will make for a solid awkward Peter Parker. In short, it should — and will likely be — a smash.

And it’s depressing.

After I watched the trailer this weekend, something happened to me, something kind of terrible. Nothing I can hold Sony Pictures accountable for or anything, it was just my time, I guess, and The Amazing Spider-Man trailer just so happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I’m really feeling the dearth of creativity now. This notion is often romanticized. We make a ton more original movies today than, maybe, ever before. And yet I feel we can do a lot better when it comes to our more commercial fare. I consider myself a highly optimistic fellow who would never, ever root against any movie being good, even movies I’m philosophically against. I was against the idea of a Karate Kid remake because it struck me as so unnecessary, but I never rooted against it. The Footloose remake looks pretty vomitous and while I think it is also unnecessary, I’m rooting for the film, not fighting it. I don’t like the idea that Hollywood is relying on all these remakes to entertain its masses but, again, I’d never root against a movie (unless it stars Kevin James). Quite the opposite. I’m happy The Karate Kid was as enjoyable as it was. I want to see good movies. And I hope Craig Brewer proves skeptics (like myself) wrong when Footloose turns its Baconless head this fall. I’m an optimist. And yet I felt a little of that optimism decay once the latest Spider-Man reboot’s trailer came to an end.

Am I being overly dramatic? I really don’t think so. Because it actually happened: I’m rooting against this movie being good. It’s a pretty awful admission, partially because it actually looks like it’s going to be good. The film appears to be well cast, it has some visual panache (if not some unfortunate visual theft) and the director’s last film was one of my favorites of 2009. Also, I’m a big Spidey fan who was severely let down by Raimi’s last film. I’m as hungry for a good new Spider-Man film as anyone.

But I can’t root for this “do-over.” I may well be the villain in some ’80s retro ski movie where the nerdy Webb and Garfield kick my blond-headed Zabko butt on this figurative K-12. If it’s a good movie, I’m sure I will enjoy it and have to pull off a metaphorical slow-clap as I nod my head before its “They were right, I was wrong” greatness. But until then, I feel like this movie is the villain, part of the bigger overall problem, and I hope the result smells like an old man’s double-shift-at-the-bowling alley’s shoe. I’m not even going to pretend it’s a logical feeling. I was incredibly amped to see Chris Nolan’s take in Batman Begins, after all. Maybe it was because we hadn’t gotten a Batman movie in eight years, or I hadn’t gotten the Batman movie I wanted to see (the truth was, we hadn’t gotten a passable Batman movie since Tim Burton’s original in 1989). Sixteen years later, Christopher Nolan rendered it virtually irrelevant, not because it was new but because it was such a better take. And yet, it is entirely fair to say that perhaps maybe many others feel they haven’t gotten the Spider-Man film they want to see. While I truly believe Marc Webb can make a better movie than Sam Raimi’s original (which for my money had a really great first hour or so and a so-so last act), maybe even better than Raimi’s superior first sequel (admittedly, more doubtful as I think it’s one of the superhero genre’s very best), I still find myself having a hard time embracing this new Spider-Man feature. And I think it all boils down to two words: too soon.

Tough to convince anybody with that argument. You can’t argue when something is too soon or not. Is it too soon to make an Amy Winehouse rehab joke? There is no timetable for preference. But for me, right now, this movie … it’s too soon. And let me be clear, it isn’t too soon for another Spidey movie per se. I have no problem with the concept of another Spidey movie. I have a problem with a complete reboot, a rehashing of a story we. Were just. Told. Aiming to replace the work of Raimi and Maguire (who, admittedly, strikes me as a more appropriate nerdy Parker type, but it looks like they are going more emo-social outcast here or something) from the public consciousness, yet another (gulp) origin tale. I’m origin-taled out as it is and I saw a pretty darn good one for this particular brand of superhero not too long ago. If Webb teamed up with Garfield for a refreshing, quasi-sequel, I’d be on board for that. But we have already been living in a world of constant reboots and remakes because Hollywood understands the power of established fan bases and safe bets … and for some reason this movie is the straw that’s breaking my two-humped back. Because for me, it’s just, yup, too soon, and I fear the big fat green light that will shine on every studio head’s face, bursting from the success this movie will no doubt be, a poisonous kryptonite glow that slithers into their ears, a shuddersome voice articulated in Parseltongue: if you reboot it, they will come.

As a culture, we just barely embrace history, foolishly deeming all things of (even not so) long ago as irrelevant. This is a problem especially invasive in, for example, sports, where past accomplishments are quickly disregarded because whoever is playing now must be “the best.” So I’m rooting for this film to fail. Bring all the remakes and reboots down, let them come crashing violently to the ground and let the filmmakers who are thinking outside the box, who are taking film into newer and more exciting places rake. Hollywood only follows the least dangerous route to a bag of cash. They have to. So let’s force them through dangerous alleyways or alienated highways of discovery. Make them want to break their own trends or at least heed or lead revolutionary ones.

At Comic Con this week, Francis Ford Coppola (who seems a lot more excited about the possibilities of cinema than most of his younger counterparts, planning a 30-city tour where he will re-edit his new vampire film, Twixt, live and based on how an audience is reacting) was quoted as saying, “I think when they remake films, it’s a pity, because that money could go into investing in new ideas.” I understand this Spider-Man is based on a different series of Spidey comics (the wildly successful Ultimate Spider-Man series). And I get that the death of new ideas is nothing new in Tinseltown. But when The Amazing Spider-Man is a huge hit next summer, we may all be entertained, but we will get that much further away in forcing Hollywood to embrace originality, to give us something new, to really blow us away. And it’s never too soon to get something we haven’t really seen before.

Tags: andrew garfield, spider-man, Spider-Man Trailer, The Amazing Spider-Man Trailer

FILM MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III (2006)

Tanggal Rilis : 5 May 2006 (USA)
Jenis Film : Action | Adventure | Thriller
Diperankan Oleh : Tom Cruise, Michelle Monaghan and Ving Rhames

Ringkasan Cerita FILM MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III (2006) :

Super-spy Ethan Hunt has retired from active duty to trains new IMF agents. But he is called back into action to confront the toughest villain he’s ever faced – Owen Davian, an international weapons and information provider with no remorse and no conscience. Hunt assembles his team: his old friend Luther Strickell, transportation expert Declan, and background operative Zhen. They are to rescue one of his very own trainees, Lindsey who was kidnapped while on a surveillance detail of Davian. It soon becomes evident that Davian is well-protected, well-connected, and downright malicious. This forces Hunt to extend his journey back into the field in order to rescue his wife, Julia, and uncover IMF double agents in the process.

[IMDb rating : 6.8/10]
[Awards : 6 wins & 12 nominations]
[Production Co : Paramount Pictures, Cruise/Wagner Productions, MI 3 Film]
[IMDb link : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0317919]

[Quality : BRRip]
[File Size : 600 MB]
[Format : Matroska >> mkv]
[Resolution : 1280x544]
[Source : 720p – BR]

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Lengkapi juga Quadrology film Mission Impossible anda :
1. Mission: Impossible (1996)
2. Mission: Impossible II (2000)
3. Mission: Impossible III (2006)
4. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011)

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Swag Bag: What I Brought Home From Comic-Con 2011

Thanks to having a grand total of four hours to explore over 5000 booths, I purchased nowhere near as much at Comic-Con as I did at its little sister, Wondercon, but thankfully, included in my small bounty was almost every item I coveted going in, and once you include the incredible freebies available this year, a whole lot more. Here’s the rundown of the best items I walked away with at Comic-Con 2011.

Purchased

Britney Lee Print
Ever since purchasing a large Britney Lee print at Wondercon a few months ago, I’ve been thinking about a wonderful smaller print I passed up that also, of course, featured a girl and a cat. So the second I had a free moment on Sunday, I sought out Britney’s booth and snatched up this adorable print.

Dollhouse Epitaphs #1 Comic-Con Exclusive Edition
Created by Jed Whedon, Andrew Chambliss, & Maurissa Tancharoen and taking place in the post Dollhouse world we got glimpses of at the end of Seasons 1 and 2, this comic was high on my list to pick up. Especially because one out of every five was signed by the creators. Unfortunately, I didn’t get one of those, but I’m excited to read it nonetheless.

Harley Quinn Mimobot
The moment the doors opened Wednesday evening for Preview Night, I made a mad dash to the Mimobot booth and was the first person to pick up one of eight hundred Comic-Con Exclusive Arkham City Harley Quinn Mimibots – 16g. Greatest purchase anyone has ever made ever.

Team Charles/Erik Shirts
And immediately after, I found myself 10th in line to be one of the first 1000 people to pre-order the Blu-Ray of X-Men First Class, which meant also picking either a Team Erik or Team Charles shirt. I pre-ordered two, one for me, one for my family, so I picked both. WIN.

Ron Lego Keychain
Every year, I treat myself to one Lego character keychain. Over the years I’ve amassed quite the collection, including Hermione, Hagrid, Snape, Luke Skywalker, Catwoman, Harley Quinn and Indiana Jones. This year, I added Ron Weasley to the collection.

Captain America Minimates
I LOVED Captain America and have been building up quite the minimates collection to go with my Lego collection, hence – the entire cast of Captain America in minimate form for me to stick on my geek shelf and never look at again.

Earl Grey Shirt Genius.

Walking Dead Board Game
My Comic-Con Everest. Every day I went to the Image booth, only to discover that the new comic based board game (described as a cross between D&D and Stratego) had sold out in under 20 minutes. One morning I carefully planned my time to be in the room the moment it opened, only to discover it opened a half hour earlier than I thought it did. Saturday afternoon, 10 minutes before the hall closed, I found myself once again wandering by the Image booth. Freaked out that I had truly missed my chance to own the Comic-Con Exclusive Edition of the game, months before the regular version came out, I decided to go up and make sure they still had copies for Sunday morning. But because the dude working had seen my flustered daily attempts consistently fail miserably, he took pity on me and made an exception, grabbing a game from the Sunday pile for me. It was a bit of Comic-Con magic that I won’t soon forget. More info on the game here.

Giveaways

Signed Captain America poster
Thanks to an awesome dude at the Marvel booth, I got my hands on a Captain America poster signed by Chris Evans.

Hunger Games Pin & Poster At the HitFix party Wednesday night, multiple bloggers were sporting Mockingjay pins. Upon seeing it for the first time, I think I actually screamed a little. So the next morning, my first stop before beginning my work day was the Lionsgate booth on the floor. The pins weren’t being handed out yet, but once again, an awesome dude helping at the booth threw us a bone and snuck us some. Another case of a kind soul coming through for a complete stranger at Comic-Con this year. Love it!

Admiral Ackbar Fan
Of all the giveaways one could have made for the Star Wars Blu-Ray release, this is either poorly thought out or incredibly thought out, depending on whether or not the marketing department is aware of the It’s A Trap meme. In any event, I know some hipster geeks who would die to get their hands on one of these.

Captain America Shield Fan
Given out at the Hasbro booth, I believe,  it’s a paper fan in the form of Captain America‘s shield. I want anything and everything Captain America. So I was a happy girl to pick this up.

Buffy Paper Doll
Secretly contained in a comic preview at Dark Horse was a Buffy (comic version, natch) paper doll!! A great giveaway I didn’t even know I had!

True Blood Bag
Continuing the tradition of True Blood having the best panel giveaways at the convention, this year the stash included book #4 in the Sookie Stackhouse series, a notebook with one of the three Season 4 True Blood posters gracing its cover, a coupon for 20% off at the HBO store, and one of True Blood‘s famously clever shirts, this one with a set of fangs and the phrase “Grow a Pair” on the front.

Game of Thrones Bag
And it looks like these bags of awesome are in fact an HBO staple! Oh man, I can never miss either of these panels ever. The first ever Game of Thrones Bag contained the first book in the series, a random house shirt, a Westeros mousepad/screen cleaner and another coupon for HBO. Disappointingly while I did nab myself a Stark shirt, everyone else I know got stuck with a Baratheon. Not even a Lannister? Really? The one I wanted most was Targaryn. Oh well. Stark is still badass. And this giveaway still ruled.

Legend of Korra Shirt & Poster
At one point during the Legend of Korra panel, the creators mentioned a poster and t shirt that some people in the audience had. People that weren’t me or my boyfriend. I was not okay with this. Determined to figure out how to get my hands on these items, I ran to the Nick booth as soon as I could on Sunday. Much to my surprise, the fella said to come back around 4pm for the final Legend of Korra giveaway. I did, and after waiting in line for about 20 minutes, the poster and t-shirt were mine. Thanks Giveaway Gods!

Fringe Poster & Luggage Tag
If you made it to the Fox booth during Comic-Con, you would have found a slew of fun posters for Fox television shows. I grabbed myself one for Fringe (hey, who knows, maybe one day I’ll have the balls to get it signed). The giveaway at the panel this year was a lenticular luggage tag, featuring a disappearing Peter. On the back it reads something along the lines of  “if found in the wrong universe, please contact ______” Cute idea, though nowhere near as awesome as the exclusive giveaway I didn’t get my hands one….(see bottom)

Pan Am Bag
While not as high quality as the one the website was suggesting they were giving away, it was still on my list to get and I still got it. The process involved waiting in line to sign up for a “flight”. Then you received a boarding pass and a flight time. You then came back to Pan Am at that time, watched a short featurette for the upcoming show in a recreation of an airplane (which was actually pretty effing cool to sit in) and then got a messenger bag. Supposedly they retail for $89, but this looked more like it’s $12 knock off cousin. Still, it’s a bag, and if I love the show, I’ll be thrilled to have one.

Chuck Shirt
The giveaway at the Chuck panel this year was a shirt in the style of a Fake Tuxedo shirt, but for the Buy More uniform. I didn’t get to the panel, so got the shirt from a friend, but once I realized the Chuck panel was actually its last, since the show is headed into its final season, I got quite upset. Especially after hearing that Jeffster performed and Zac Levi teared up. The giveaway is a nice consolation prize, but doesn’t make up for missing what was a lot of folks’ favorite panel at the whole con.

Captain America Shirt
While not quite as cool as the Mondo Cap poster that was also given out at the first showing (with Chris Evans in person) screening Thursday morning, this shirt still rules and is one of the only soft ones given out anywhere at the entire event.

The River Flashlight
The giveaway for ABC’s new show The River, rather than being yet another uncomfortable XL t shirt was a The River branded flashlight. Cool!

Avengers Shirt
At least shirts in XL, when paired with belts, make GREAT dresses….?

Lord of the Rings: War of the North Shirt
Given out at the “WB Key Party” and made the whole experience worth it. I’m sure whatever happened once it got dark outside was awesome as well, but unfortunately, my group has somewhere to be so when things started running a half hour behind schedule, we had to high tail it out of there. But the shirt is soft and in my size so, win anyway!

Didn’t Get

Captain America/SHIELD Pins
RARGH! Saw these online listed as Marvel Booth giveaways and wanted both but they vanished from the Marvel booth rather quickly. Can’t win em all.

Save Peter Fringe Shirt
For the second year in a row, the actors on the Fringe panel turned the question asking around and engaged in a trivia contest with the audience. Any audience member who got the answer won a black shirt that read “Save Peter.” Why this couldn’t have been the main giveaway, I don’t know. Sigh.

Community DVD Slip Case
At the Community panel, Dan Harmon showed off their Comic-Con Exclusive DVD slipcover – identical to the normal season 2 one, but with the characters in claymation form as opposed to human form. WANT.

Locke & Key Volume One
Since Wednesday is most often spent grabbing exclusives before having to leave, I always save Sunday as my comics, toys and art day. Unfortunately, I only ended up with about ninety minutes max on the floor and when that window became thirty minutes and I still didn’t have anything on my comics list, I began my high octane mission to acquire anything I still could.  After not being able to find a single vintage comics booth to grab my old school finds, I decided I’d at least make a point of nabbing the first volume of Locke and Key and that would be enough, since at least I knew where the graphic novel dealers were. Alas, five different dealers informed me that volume one was complete sold out. Great for the comic (and for the not picked up pilot I’ve heard amazing things about), but sucky for me.

Tags: Avengers, captain america, chuck, Comic Con 2011, community, fringe, game of thrones, hunger games, san diego comic con, true blood