Gunfighter: A Modern Warrior's Life

Pulp Fiction

Have I ever told you that Pulp Fiction is one of my favorite films?  Well, it is, and it isn't because of all of the violence as some of you might surmise because of my online moniker.  No, I love that movie because of it's tightly written dialouge.  I mean seriously, who doesn't love the "Breakfast Scene"?  If you have ever seen this movie, you have probably spent more time than you care to admit chuckling about the "Royale with Cheese" or have said to more than one would-be know it all "Hey, check out the big brain on Brett!"

You don't do that?  Well, I do... and I'm not ashamed.

A question that I often hear from people who didn't enjoy Pulp Fiction as much as I did is this:  "Exactly what was the move all about, Bill... it didn't make sense to me."  That is a fair question as the film was certainly non-linear.  Rather than feed you a lot of BS on the duality of man, or the true conflict of good and evil, and certainly not to write a treatise on modern film noire (as if I could), I will say simply this:  This movie was "about" two things, and everything else is just stuff. 

Pulp Fiction is about a briefcase, and it is about what Marcellus Wallace looks like.

See my review from a few years ago, here (http://gunfighter1.typepad.com/warrior/2008/01/man-movies-6.html#tp)

 

Movie Review - Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief

After church a few weeks ago, we took a little family trip to go see the new movie "Percy Jackson & The Olympians:  The Lightning Thief".  Soccer Girl was all psyched up for it, because she has read all  five of the Percy Jackson books, by author Rick Riordan, and had enjoyed them immensely.  Further, she was really excited about the movie because we, totally without warning, saw the trailer when we went to see the most recent Harry Potter movie several months ago.

I confess that I wasn't all that excited about it, because... well... it's a kid's movie, right?  What would there be for me?  As it turns out, there was enough to keep me engaged.  It breaks down like this.  The Olympian God Poseidon, who, along with Hades and Zeus, form the "big three" in the Olympian Pantheon, had taken mortal form, as the Gods are apt to do from time to time, and taken a mortal lover.  The offspring of their union was Percy, who, because of his parentage, was a demigod. 

Once it was revealed to the teen-aged Percy, that he is a demigod, and was being pursued by other powerful gods, he was whisked away to a camp where the offspring of other Olympians were housed, and trained.

I won't go over the movie in detail, but there was a lot of fun in the movie.  The special effects were good, especially the part at the beginning where Poseidon emerges from the sea!  The story was clearly written for the tween market, and as a result the movie was fairly juvenile, which was just fine with me.

I have heard a lot of criticism about this movie, and I suppose it would be fair if watching it from the eyes of an adult... but if you view it from the eyes of the target audience, it was a fine film, one which, no doubt will sell lots of tickets, lots of toys, and more importantly, lots of books.  No... the acting wasn't perfect, but really, who cares about that?... after all, if we cared about good acting, neither Jennifer Aniston nor Cameron Diaz would ever work on-screen again

A word of caution... this movie is great for the kids, but there is some violence and some scary-looking creatures, so be careful if the kids you are taking are really young or easily spooked.  This probably isn't the movie for them.

I enjoyed the movie, and no-doubt, it will join or collection when it comes out in DVD.  If you have the opportunity to see this movie while it is still on the big screen, I recommend that you do so.  You'll have fun, and really, isn't that the whole point?

Movie Review: 1408

Welcome to Day 2 of my review week.  I have wanted to talk about this 2007 old-school horror flick for a while.  1408 stars John Cusack, and features Samuel L. Jackson in a strong supporting role.

The premise of this movie is fairly simple, John Enslin (Cusack), a writer who's subject in the paranormal, ghosts, spirits, hauntings, etc... finds out via an anonymous tip, about a New York hotel, one room in particular, that he won't be able to spend a night in.  Enslin, being a no-fear kind of skeptic, takes up the challenge and attempts to book that particular room.  The hotel manager, a mysterious fellow played by Samuel L. Jackson, tries to talk Enslin out of staying in that room, telling him about the number of deaths that have taken place in it over the years.  Enslin decides to go for it, and the scary ride begins.

Look, I have never been a fan of horror films, but they don't really leave me quaking in fear, either.  I'll admit that when I was a little kid, I was afraid of the Wicked Witch in the Wizard of Oz (true story), but that's about it, and I got over that by the time I was thirty nine.  Since that time, only one other horror flick has ever... disturbed me, and that was Stephen King's "IT".  This has held true, until I saw 1408.

Like I said, the scary ride starts as soon as Enslin gets inside the room.  If you have seen this movie already, you know what kind of things happen in the film, if you haven't, I won't give everything away, but I will tell you that Enslin sees, hears, and interacts with a number of phantoms, ghosts, and really freaky electronic communications devices.  He sees and speaks to his dead father and has a heartbreaking scene with his dead daughter.

Now, there have been horror films that are much more gory than this one, in fact, this movie isn't what I could call super-bloody, but the camera-work is fantastic, the suspense is palpable, and the writing is tight.  I dare you to watch this without a significant rise in your pulse rate.

This movie is one he** of a ride, from the beginning ALL THE WAY TO THE LAST SECOND.

See it.

Guest Blogger: Anali

Please welcome my next guest blogger:  The lovely Lisa, from Anali's First Amendment..  Lisa is an attorney, freelance writer, and an unabashed foodie.  I always look forward to reading about what is on her mind... and on her plate.

I have a crush on a cake. Actually, it may be a bit deeper than that. A crush is an intense and usually passing infatuation. This glorious cake has only been on my radar since June, but our relationship could be far more than a summertime fling. 

What is the cake that I speak so highly of? Well, like many relationships, let me say this. It’s complicated. Okay, it’s not that complicated. This is cake not number theory. But I have been told that I can be rather dramatic.  

The cake was originally called Raspberry Buttermilk Cake on Gourmet’s website. I adapted it and changed the name to Copycat Cake. That’s not the best of names, but it made sense when I made it for the first time.  

You can read about our courtship here on my Flickr page. I had purchased four pints of blueberries and was trying not to bake anything. Sometimes I have to restrain myself from baking. It seemed that everywhere I looked, mouthwatering pictures of blueberry muffins appeared, and then a blueberry cake, which was the adapted version of the Raspberry Buttermilk Cake.  I broke down and copied everyone else by baking with my blueberries.  

This cake is quick, easy to make, and pretty in a very simple way. It’s not a whoop-de-do kind of cake. With no frosting and just a single layer. But the taste is extreme. I must have made this cake close to ten times already.  

Now the “complicated” part about this cake is that I don’t think I’ve made it the same way twice. I’ve used coconut milk instead of vanilla rice milk. Substituted whole-wheat flour for some of the all-purpose flour. I’ve used cherries once and raspberries a couple of times. This is one adaptable cake! Both the cherries and blueberries were extremely tasty, but I like it with raspberries the best. The tanginess of the raspberries really pops against the sweetness of the cake. I’ll probably try it with strawberries and blackberries eventually. And any other berry that I can get my hands on! 

Since the berries change all the time and I’ve never used buttermilk, the original name doesn’t seem to fit. So, I’m going to stick with Copycat Cake for now. If you have any ideas for a better name, I’m open to suggestions. Here’s my version of this recipe below. I hope you try it. Enjoy!

Copycat Cake

(adapted from Gourmet’s Raspberry Buttermilk Cake} 

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 cup Smart Balance

2/3 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 egg

1/2 cup vanilla rice milk

1 cup berries (set aside) 

In a medium mixing bowl, combine all ingredients well.  Pour batter into a round cake pan that has been greased and floured.  Place berries over the top of the batter. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.  Let cool, then serve.  

Thanks, Lisa!  I rarely bake, but I may try this when I get home from Florida. 

Ok, friends.... when you get a moment, follow the link to Lisa's blog and read about AND see her great creations!

Mmmmm!!!!

Movie Review: Harry Potter & The Halfblood Prince

I actually went to the movies twice this weekend.  That pretty much never happens... it was strange. 

Anyway, I thought I was being a good dad and got tickets (online) for the new Harry Potter movie, because Soccer Girl was all amped up about it.  I figured that I would tell Mrs GF, and she would be all "what a good dad you are"and then I would tell Seoccer Girll and she would be all "oh daddy!, thankyouthankyouthankyou!"

The things that I mentioned above were dancing through my head as I made the purchase and then sent the following email to Mrs Gunfighter, to brag about the fact that I had scored three tickets to the hottest movie in the country. 

"Guess who has scored 3 tickets to the Harry Potter movie?"

Oh, yeah!  I was feeling pretty good about myself, and it wasn't even 7 A.M. yet!  Well, a couple of hours later, I received an email from Mrs. Gunfighter reminding that she had to work on Saturday (big confab with out-of-town colleagues).  DAMN!

Well, what is a dad to do?  I'll tell you what I did... I invited one of Soccer Girl's teammates to come with us.  I was certain that as much fun as she might have going to see a movie with her own beloved father would be, she would probably havemore fun with one of her chums.  Arrangements were made, and off we went to the movies!

Naturally, the girls wanted to listen to the High School Musical 2 soundtrack that is on my ipod (don't hate, I liked those movies!), and they sang along... giggling mightily when I started to sing along with them.

We got to the theater, got our popcorn, and settled in, just in time for the coming attractions, many of which looked REALLY cool... especially the upcoming G.I. Joe movie, which I will be seeing as soon as it comes out... again, don't hate.  I'm a man, I like action movies.

So the Potter movie starts, proceeds, and ends.

Nice visuals.  Good acting.  Good story, and easily followed, even though I haven't seen the previous movies, nor have I read the books.  Harry Potter is a wizard, so are his friends.  They go to a school for wizards.  Old guy with a long beard.  Game they play on brooms that is a cross between rugby and basketball.... sort of like Gaelic footbal.

Right.

Fights, teen romance, sadness, glad tidings, villains, reunion.

The lights come up and the girls are happy... and so am I.  They enjoyed themselves and I didn't have an awful time.

I took the girls to lunch at Noodles & Company, we listened to more High School Musical, and home we go.

Success.

Oh... the movie... look, I'm not into Harry Potter, and any review based on the story/stories wouldn't mean much coming from me.  If you are into it, I am CERTAIN that you will enjoy it.  If you aren't into it, you probably shouldn't bother... but if your spouse, squeeze, lifepartner, hey-baby, or  whatever, drags you to see it, you probably won't hate it.

Movie Review: Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen

Do you know what I did Friday? 

I took the day off. 

I had to take soccergirl off to day camp, as Mrs Gunfighter had a big meeting to go to, and I had a midday Dr's appointment, so I bailed on the whole day.

After taking care of the whole off to camp thing in the morning, I went to my appointment and sat in the parking lot and read for nearly an hour which was really pleasant.

After I spent about 10 minutes with the sawbones I decided that I would head over to the mall and see what movies were playing, and if there were any worthy blow-stuff-up movies, I would pass a couple of pleasant hours watching thins/people getting blown up.

Well, the usual array of comedies (yawn) and chick flicks (thank you, no), I saw that the new Transformers movie was out and was starting right away.  Great, I thought, I'll give that a try.

Well, I will tell you that for a summer action movie, at least for any male of the species, this movie had pretty much all that we can wish for it all... or at least mostly. 

Let's review, shall we? 

Robots?  Check;  Zany clueless parents as an attempt at humor?  Check;  Explosions?  Oh heck yeah!, I mean Check!;  Shia LaBouef (I can't be bothered to spell-check that kid's name) check; mildly racist stereotypical comedy relief robots?  (an unfortunate) check.

I'll be honest, the plot is paper-thin, but who goes to see an action film for the plot?  The acting was... meh, y'know, it's an action flick... we don't go for the acting, either.  The best way for me to sum up is to say this:  Lots of explosions, fighting robots, good cinematography, great special effects, lots of military hardware, and lots of tight shots of Megan Fox's bee-stung lips, Megan Fox's enhanced boobs, Megan Fox in hot pants and boots practically humping a motorcycle, Megan Fox in stilletto heels, and Megan Fox sweating, running, etc.

Did I mention that Megan Fox was in this movie?

I had fun for a couple of hours, and walked away not unhappy to have gone to see it.  If you have the inclination, go see it, you won't be sorry that you did.  If you have something else to do and you miss it, don't worry, it's an action film, you've seen enough of them to not be missing much.

Star Trek: A Review

As I began to type this, on Sunday evening,  we had only just returned from seeing the new Star Trek movie.  I’m not ashamed to tell you that I am an exceptionally happy middle aged geek!

By now, you may have heard the movie praised by the usual suspects:  jaded reviewers who enjoyed the visuals or the slam-bang action; the purists who enjoyed the fact the Enterprise had the appropriate hull number (NC-1701);  time-travel fans who found no fault with the way that potential paradox was handled; and young fans who don’t remember the original show in the first place.  I’m here to tell a different tale… maybe.

For me, Star Trek was a coming home experience.  Yeah, that’s what I said.  If you have been with me for a while, you know that I was practically raised by a television.  You also know that Captain James T. Kirk was a life-long role model for me.  To see my old friend and mentor, Captain Kirk in action again would heave been reason enough to give this movie the highest of praise, but I can’t, in any honesty, stop there. 

This is the Star Trek movie that I  have been waiting for since 1979, when I was 15.  That was when the original (lame-ass) Star Trek: The Motion Picture was released.  This new film  satisfied where so many of the other Star Trek movies were mere parodies of themselves (or dead-boring, like the first one).

I have to admit that I was as skeptical as any other fanboy over the fact that there was going to be a new, young, unknown James Kirk, but I am here to tell you that I was not disappointed. 

This movie was nicely filmed, as you would expect of any highly anticipated, big-budget summer blockbuster, and the special effects were pretty good, too, but not so spectacular that they deserve their own review.  The story was good, too, not that I am going to do spoilers here, I’m not.  I will say this:  This movie was tightly written, and the cast was great!
 

 

With the cast being led by Chris Pine, who played the brash, impetuous, womanizing Kirk, and being incredibly well-supported by Zachary Quinto as a young, emotional Spock, and Zoe Saldana as Uhuru (who has a surprising role to play!).  How could you have anything less than a... well... stellar (yeah, I know) movie experience.  Add to all of this, the inclusion of an actor who did such a credible job of playing Dr. McCoy, and you are set up for a good time, no matter what.

The story itself?  It was good enough.  It was interesting... not too simple, but not so complex as to give you a headache.  This is true space opera, which is what star trek always was.

One of the other things that you have to love about this movie is that it is almost... almost a total homage to decades of Trek geeks AND those who have and made fun of them us.  The Bones McCoy character shouting "Spock!  Are you out of your Vulcan mind?", Kirk shagging the green chick, and so many other things, made this movie even that much better.

I loved this movie... it took me back to late Saturday afternoons, watching Star Trek after a long day of swimming and water polo at the local Boy's Club when I was 12  It brought me more than just an entertaining two hours, it brought me something that movies seldom do: 

It brought me joy. 

It brought me happy memories of an otherwise troubled time.

It reminded me of a time when I still believed that I could boldly go wehere no one had gone before (oh, quit groaning)

It has been nearly 48 hours now, and I am still grinning.  How's that for good?

I think that you should go see this movie.  Taken on all of it's merits, you'll love it, even if you aren't a huge Star Trek fan.

Live long, & prosper!

Man Movie Music #3: Hawaii 5-0

Yeah, I know it isn't movie music, but, it sure as heck is Man-Music!

Steve McGarret was one of the coolest dudes that ever lived (on TV, anyway!), and you've got to love a sidekick named Chin Ho.

Man Movie Music #2: The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly

You really can't say enough about this classic piece of movie music, done by the incomparable Hugo Montenegro!

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly was the third appearance of Clint Eastwood's classic "Man With No Name" character, whom he also portrayed in two other films; "For A Few Dollars More" and "High Plains Drifter"

Enjoy the music:

You KNOW you'll be whistling this all day today!

Man Movie Music: The Wild Geese

A year or so ago, I did a series of posts about "Man Movies". I want to talk a little about Man-Movie" music... you know, those theme songs that bring the movie right back to you, straight, with no chaser. So this week will be dedicated to bringing you some of my favortie movie theme music. Here we go:

Do any of you remember the 1978 movie "The Wild Geese"? It was one of the last big war movies with an all-star, or mostly all star cast.

This movie was all about the wars of African Liberation, the exploitation of Africa by large multinational corporations, ethics, morals, combat camaraderie and all of the good man-movie stuff.

I don't want to talk about the movie today, to tell you the truth. What I do want to talk about is the theme song from the opening credits.

I loved this song. I have loved it since I first saw this move in 1978 (or something like that.

I realize that Joan Armatrading has an unusual voice... she always put me to mind of Tracy chapman... but to tell you the truth, this song alone should have made her a star... and it did, for a while anyway, in the UK.