Category: Movies

Movie related items.

Why Jason Lee’s Stock In My Market Keeps Going Down

Jason LeeI really liked Jason Lee’s characters the first time I saw him. The first time I saw him was in the movie Mi Vida Loca (1993), but I think it was Mallrats (1995) where I actually payed attention to his character.

His character in Mallrats was a refreshing role back then, one I could at least partially identify with from my earlier days. And he played it so well, you actually got the feeling that he probably at one point really lived his life like that. It wasn’t so hard to believe as I had lived very similarly in my youth, minus hanging out at the mall at that age or being interested in comic books.

However, when I saw him in Jersey Girl – I wasn’t as impressed as with his previous work. I could tolerate his character – but I felt it was forced, lackluster, and way too typical at this point. It was as if Kevin Smith told him to “be funny, like in Mallrats”, and that was his only direction.

Once I watched a few episodes of My Name Is Earl, and found out that Jason Lee is a Scientologist, his stock in my market took a huge plummet. Then I find out that he was starring in Alvin and the Chipmunks and I lost all hope.

Not only is this a defecation on (like so many other re-makes) the chipmunks I grew up with – it looks to be even worse of a performance by Jason Lee. How many times can you rehash the same old bumbling character with some out-dated witticisms, and still have it be a success? I understand that “kids of today” won’t know the difference, but come on! This just reeks of typical cheese. The only hope is that David Cross makes enough funny appearances to make it somewhat tolerable.

Whopper vs Womper

So me and a buddy somehow got on to a discussion about the movie WarGames, and found ourselves disagreeing over the name of the fictional military computer in the movie.

I could have swore is was pronounced “womper”, while he disagreed and said it was “whopper”. A quick search online revealed that I was in fact wrong, it was pronounced “whopper”, for War Operation Plan Response. Whaddya know!? Though, many people (including myself at that point) do in fact reference it as “womper”, it’s still wrong.

Still, I felt certain I didn’t pull that name out of thin air. So I thought maybe from the movie Spies Like Us was a possible source. While I am still unable to confirm it, it doesn’t appear to be so – at least with a short glance. Still, I feel strongly that I’ve heard that somewhere before in a movie, and referencing some sort of system. I may never know.

WOPR

Six Pack: A Forgotten Classic

Six PackI haven’t seen this movie (Six Pack) since like 1984, I was 9-10 years old then. I loved movies like Smokey and the Bandit, Cannonball Run, Death Race 2000, and even Duel. So here was yet another “car” movie that I remember liking back then.

I haven’t seen that movie since the mid 1980’s and have completely forgotten about it, much like the rest of the world. Not that it’s a blockbuster movie, I mean you just couldn’t beat Smokey and the Bandit or Star Wars or the many other movies near it’s time.

But honestly, I think it deserves more credit than it gets. Sure, if I were to watch it today, I’m certain I could point out all sorts of things to justify it being a shelved movie. But that’s not really the point. The point is that when I was 9-10 years old, I totally liked this movie for at least a month or more.