Thursday, February 28, 2013

Would women's tag team wrestling work?

Today marks one year since ODB and Eric Young won the TNA Knockout Tag Team Titles. While I throw out a congratulations to ODB on that accomplishment (CM Punk is the only other person to have held a title for over a year in recent memory), I can't help but feel disappointed that for an entire year the division has been a joke.

ODB and Young are comedic gems for TNA. They're entertaining to watch by themselves. Together, they make the perfect odd couple.

However, the fact that a male has been one half of tag titles that are meant for women goes to show that the titles aren't being taken seriously. If that's the case, then they should be scrapped altogether.

The fact that the titles aren't taken seriously kind of begs the question: could a women's tag team division ever be taken legitimately?

Good women's tag team wrestling is probably too much to ask for since WWE and TNA have a hard time getting it right with the guys.

I don't get it though. It seems like such an easy thing to do. With so many women on each roster and not enough TV time to go around, it seems like pairing them up in tag teams would solve that issue.

Last year I honestly thought we'd see WWE introduce women's tag team gold. Now, with Eve, Kelly Kelly and The Bella Twins long gone, I understand why they didn't. For a while, though, with over a dozen women on the roster, it seemed like starting a tag division was the sensible thing to do.

The teams wouldn't have even been that random. You had The Bella Twins (they're twins...need I say more?), Beth Phoenix and Natalya (the Diva destroyers), Kelly and Eve (the models), and Kaitlyn and AJ (the real-life BFF's). For some reason, WWE never jumped on that potential.

While I don't think they would have produced any outstanding story lines for the titles, I think a pair of butterfly belts could have made the random Diva tag team matches a little less random.

While TNA hasn't been doing anything with the women's tag team belts they created in 2009, the division has done some good for the company.

At first, Tara and Miss Tessmacher were nothing more than a thrown-together tag team. They took the initiative to make something of their pairing though. Collectively they called themselves TNT (Tara n' Tessmacher), they got matching outfits, and they started using tag team maneuvers.

The more important aspect here, however, is that once they split TNA had an instant feud over the Knockouts Title. Like any good tag team split, it culminates with a feud. One half of the team goes heel, while the other goes face. In TNA's case, Tessmacher became a Knockouts Champion and entered into a multi-month feud with Tara.

Some legit women's tag team wrestling could be on the horizon. The Blossom Twins recently had a match on Impact. Meanwhile, Cameron and Naomi have finally moved beyond being Brodus Clay's bootylicious backup dancers and are now tagging together in matches on Superstars and Main Event.

The problem is: there's only so far both teams can go.

With little-to-no other tag teams in TNA's division, The Blossoms don't have much competition.

As for the Funkadactyls, they get to compete against thrown together teams like Aksana and Tamina or Natalya and Alicia Fox.

Not too exciting.

With a little bit of effort, a few call ups from NXT, and a few matching outfits, I think both companies could have halfway decent women's tag team action.

I'm not holding out hope for it happening though.

Related Content:
WWE women's division - dead or reinvigorated?
CM Punk backhands fan on Raw - what happens now?


Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Skyfall - reviewed.


Thanks to the amazing Cinemark 10 in Matthews, I went to see a matinee of Skyfall for $2.

I just re-watched the previous two Daniel Craig Bond movies as well, so the timing was perfect.

I owned Casino Royale on DVD, but it was still packaged. It was a $5 Big Lots purchase. When I saw Quantum of Solace in the $5 bin at WalMart, I figured it’d be a good time to get that one too.

I unwrapped them both, had a mini-Bond marathon and then went to see the new one.

Skyfall started off with a typical chase scene, but soon evolved into a cool rooftop motorcycle chase, and eventually a battle on the top of a train – all within the first 10 minutes of the movie!

So much for typical.

At that point the inconceivable happens – Bond takes a bullet and goes down. If it weren’t for the fact that the movie is about James Bond, I would have thought he had died. They made the scene very dramatic. The opening sequence was very visual.

Adele and Paul Epworth did a nice job with the movie's theme song, but it pales in comparison to the epic Jack White/Alicia Keys collaboration on the Quantum of Solace theme song – “Another Way to Die.”

An important theme of this movie is whether or not Bond is youthful enough to keep up with the young man's game of espionage.

It's not so much that he's competing against younger rivals (although most of his enemies do seem about a decade younger than Bond), but it's about questioning how much one man can get beat up before he can't bounce back as easily. In the past two movies, Bond took some pretty intense beatings, but he never took two bullets.

There are some pretty visual scenes, as the movie takes us to the hi-tech city of Shanghai. There's a particularly fun fight scene at the top of one of the skyscrapers. It's almost like the Darth Vader/Luke Skywalker fight scene in the way it's lit.

After that there's a scene at a Chinese-style club -- paper dragons, lanterns and all. Then a scene at a Alcatraz-like island. Overall, there were some cool fight locations used in this movie.

At this point the movie goes from Casino Royale/Quantum of Solace to more of a throwback to older espionage movies. Instead of fast-paced action with high-tech weapons, they rely on plot and a chopper full of bad guys. At one point I found myself going, 'How in the world is Bond going to get out of this alive?'

That's something the other Daniel Craig Bond movies didn't have. He wasn't facing immeasurable odds the way he was in this film. In a way, it created a really epic battle. It wasn't a special effects show, but it was pretty impressive.

It kind of reminded me of the Goldeneye video game for Nintendo 64.

My only real complaint with the movie is that the main villain reminded me a little bit of Heath Ledger's portrayal of The Joker in The Dark Knight.

I'm not sure why, as there was no obvious copycat shenanigans going on, but it was probably the fact that the villain was a little crazy, yet very tactical.

I guess it's a good thing, since Ledger was amazing in that role, but the similarities also made it harder for this villain to stand on his own as a character.

The different approach was a nice change of pace. All the elements of an exciting Bond movie were still there, but it seemed like this one wasn't just 'another action flick.' It focused very much on a main story, a couple of surrounding stories and then used the action to further develop the main plot.

The ending sets up a nice, fresh start for the next James Bond movie.


Related Content:
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter - reviewed.
Star Wars: Episode II - reviewed.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture - reviewed.

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Charlotte Cupcakes - Suarez Bakery


After a break from the sweetness last week, I'm back, sampling a few more of Charlotte's cupcakes.

I went to Pineville and on the way back, driving North on Park Road, so I stopped in at Suarez Bakery. It's located in a strip mall at the Park Road Shopping Center. It's actually kind of hard to find because it blends in.

I parked right in front of it, but had to look around for a while to find it. The name on the sign is a little bit faded, which doesn't help. The location is easy enough to get too, but from my experiences with the Park Road Shopping Center, it can be pretty crowded at times, so you may have to park and then walk a little to get to the shop.

Suarez shares the shop with Tizzerts (can you guess which cupcake shop I'm going to try next week?).

The Tizzert cupcakes do have a more artistic look than the Suarez cupcakes, but in case you can't tell which is which, they have signs in the display cases, indicating which bakery made the cupcakes.

They didn't have a huge selection, but there were probably between 6 and 12 different flavors. I went with the Salted Caramel Macchiato – a devil’s food cake with coffee and Fleur de sel caramel filling, topped with Fleur de del caramel whipped cream. In case you’re like me and have never heard of Fleur de sel, I checked out the Wikipedia page already.

It means “flower of salt” in French. The Wikipedia entry reads: “It’s a hand-harvested sea salt, collected by workers who scrape only the top layer of salt before it sinks to the bottom of large salt pans.”

I was set to pay for the Macchiato cupcake, but then I saw a Neapolitan cupcake as well. It was described as a fluffy yellow cupcake, filled with chocolate, topped with strawberry buttercream and chocolate sprinkles.

I like the Neapolitan ice cream bars, but the idea of a Neapolitan cupcake? It intrigued me. I wanted to see how well the chocolate, strawberry frosting and the yellow cake blended together.

Surprise, surprise -- I got that one too.

I tried the Salted Caramel first. The cupcake was tasty enough, but the frosting left a lot to be desired. First of all, there was too much of it.

You can't just cut a piece of the cupcake and eat it. You pretty much have to mash the frosting down and mangle the cupcake to get the right proportions. If you don't, you'll probably be left with a big glob of frosting on your plate when the cupcake is gone.

That may not be a bad thing in most cases, but unfortunately the frosting didn't have a lot of taste. The frosting was very plain.

It was the same thing with the Neapolitan. The frosting didn't overwhelm me with a great burst of strawberry flavor, like I was hoping. It was very, very fluffy.

If it had more flavor to it, it would've been good. Thankfully the cupcake tasted great. Honestly it didn't even need frosting. It was that good!


The positives: the cupcake portion tasted good.

The negatives: there was too much frosting on both cupcakes. The frosting was bland, so it didn't help take the cupcake from being "good" to being "amazing!"

Cost: I paid $2.50 for each cupcake. That's $.50 cheaper than most other cupcakes in Charlotte.

Suarez Bakery:
4245 Park Rd Charlotte, NC 28209
Phone: (704) 525-0145


Related Content:
Charlotte Cupcakes - Cupcake Delirium
Charlotte Cupcakes - Sunflour Bakery
Charlotte Cupcakes – Kimberley’s Bakeshoppe Gourmet Cupcakes
Charlotte Cupcakes - Nona's Sweets


Monday, February 18, 2013

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter - reviewed.


It's Oscar weekend! What better way to celebrate than by watching the 16th President of the United States hunt vampires?

Lincoln seems like a shoe in to win some awards (it leads the ceremony with 12 nominations), but I haven't seen it yet, so I can't put up a review on it.

Instead, what I offer you, is Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.

It wasn't half bad.

I was confused for about the first half hour, however. I was browsing through the Redbox selections and saw Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies. I fully intended to get Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter -- and I did -- but, for some reason, I had zombies on the brain. So there I was watching the movie about vampires thinking I was watching, thinking, "Boy, these zombies sure act like vampires."

Well, that would be why. I was watching Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.

The movie quality kind of reminds me of Twilight -- in that it's not a spectacular cinematic experience, but it's not quite indy either. It works for what the movie was.

The special effects on the vampires do look kind of cheap, but, again, somehow it works. They kind of look like zombie vampires. No glistening skin in this movie.

Anyway, the story gets rolling right away. It all makes sense too. The plot of Abe Lincoln (played by Benjamin Walker) becoming a vampire hunter doesn't seem out of the realm of possibility after his mother dies from a vampire bite.

He learns the tricks of the trade from a veteran vampire hunter -- Henry Sturges (played by Dominic Cooper). There's no Buffy the Vampire Slayer weapons. There's no 20th century technology.

That's why Lincoln relies on an axe. If nothing else, this movie makes axe-wielding look pretty bad ass. It's no lightsaber, but this movie makes it look like a close second.

After a training montage, Lincoln goes onto hunt the vampires -- all the while wanting to get revenge for his mother's death.

The movie ties in the actual historic aspects Lincoln's life -- marrying Mary Todd, getting into politics, becoming President, and issuing the Emancipation Proclamation -- along with the movie plot. It all intertwines without any glaring oddities.

There is a fight scene that will forever prevent this movie from becoming anything more than a B movie cult classic. In this scene Lincoln and the vampire battle in a stampede of horses and jump from horse back to horse back as though they were jumping on rocks across a river.

Putting that little scene aside, the rest of the action was pretty cool. Lincoln ages throughout the movie.

There's a big fight scene at a southern plantation and another scene later, on the top of a moving train. They didn't jump from box car to box car, so that one didn't hurt the credibility of the movie.

The movie ends on the day of Lincoln's death.

If it weren't for that horrible horse jumping scene, I'd have given this movie a better ranking.



Related Content:
Star Trek: The Motion Picture - reviewed.
Star Wars: Episode II - reviewed.
Total Recall - reviewed.

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Charlotte Cupcakes - Cupcake Delirium


After a break from the cupcakes last week, I was back on track this week. This time I chose Cupcake Delirium.

It was a little tougher to coordinate because you can't necessarily swing by Cupcake Delirium as easily as some of the other places I've tried. That's because Cupcake Delirium does business off their website or out of their food truck.

They have free delivery in Charlotte with a $30 minimum order. I didn't need that many cupcakes, but there's a $5 charge if you order anything less than $30, so rather than ordering off the website, I tracked down their food truck.

It wasn't too hard to find because Cupcake Delirium is active on social media. They post the daily location of their truck on their Facebook page and on their Twitter account.

I was going to get just a couple of cupcakes at $3 a piece, but then noticed they have a deal to get four cupcakes for $10. So I could get two cupcakes for $6 or four cupcakes for $10. Their deal suckered me in and I got four of them.

I got the Vermont Jemima (anything with maple is a must for me), the Cookies & Cream, the Twisted Snickers, and the Velvet Bottom. Warning: you may want to get two sets of cupcakes. They look so nice that you don't want to mess them up. Seriously, they looked amazing -- like little works of food art! It was like, 'These are gourmet cupcakes.'


They put the cupcakes into upside down plastic cups. This way you can order just one and take it with you if you're out and about walking around.


Vermont Jemima
It was the first cupcake I bought and the first cupcake I ate. This maple cupcake was topped with maple butter cream and candied bacon! I've always wanted to try a cupcake with bacon. I've seen it, at times, on some of the baking competitions on the cooking channels. It didn't disappoint. I thought the caramel cupcake from Sunflour Bakery was amazing, but this maple cupcake really did blend everything together perfectly.

I was kind of worried when I got it. I love maple, but when maple frosting isn't done right, it can taste pretty horrible. That wasn't the case at all though. Every bite was a perfect mix of maple cupcake and maple frosting. The candied bacon was like the cherry on top of the sundae.


Twisted Snickers Cupcake
This was the second cupcake I ate -- the same day I ate the Vermont Jemima. I didn't know how well the cupcakes would keep in the refrigerator, so I figured it was best to eat them somewhat quickly. You can imagine what the Twisted Snickers is. It's a vanilla snickers cupcake with caramel & ganache, sprinkled with salty peanuts on top. There was a chunk of a Snickers bar baked into the cupcake as well.

Honestly, there were a little too many nuts on top for my liking. I like Snickers candy bars, but mostly because of the caramel and chocolate (I'm waiting for the days of a Milky Way cupcake!). That being said, the cupcake tasted amazing. I had to use some floss after I was done, but that effort was worth it.


Velvet Bottom
I thought this was just a Red Velvet cupcake (I didn't read the description on the menu when I bought it). Boy was I wrong! It's a red velvet cupcake with a choclate chip cheesecake center. Wow! It was almost like one of those lava cakes with the chocolate in the middle. With chocolate chip sprinkles on top it was a great twist on your regular red velvet cupcake.


Cookies & Cream Cupcake
I ate this one two days after I bought it. It was in the refrigerator, so I warmed it up in the microwave for about 15 seconds. The chocolate cupcake was nice and warm. The chunk of Oreo cookie butter cream frosting on top was still a little cold, so it made a really cool treat. It was like a brownie with ice cream -- all Oreo flavored. Just like the other cupcakes, there was a little something extra on top. In this case it was an Oreo cookie.


The positives: these all tasted incredibly good, yet very different at the same time. Cupcake Delirium really nailed the mix of flavors on each cupcake.

The negatives: too many nuts on the Twisted Snicker. That's the only minor complaint I have.

Cost: at four cupcakes for 10 dollars, it equates to $2.50 a piece. Granted, that's a lot more than four Kimberley’s Bakeshoppe cupcakes (under a dollar a piece), but the quality really is a lot better. If you get the four pack, it's $.50 cheaper than most cupcakes in Charlotte, which sell for $3 a piece. If you're just getting one, the $3 per cupcake price is right in line with most of the other bakeries.


Cupcake Delirium:
Phone: 704-458-9389
E-mail: Shannon@cupcakedelirium.com
Note: orders are not considered final until confirmed by Cupcake Delirium

Related Content:
Charlotte Cupcakes - Sunflour Bakery
Charlotte Cupcakes – Kimberley’s Bakeshoppe Gourmet Cupcakes
Charlotte Cupcakes - Nona's Sweets


Saturday, February 9, 2013

5 Not-So-Mushy Movies for Valentine's Day

If you're looking forward to celebrating Valentine's Day, but not necessarily by watching a completely mushy movie, then here's a list for you.

Here are five of my favorite romantic comedies that have a nice, romantic story, but also have the chops to be a good comedy.

You won't need a box of Kleenex for these, but do have moments that leave you going, "Awww."

5. Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

Who says super hero movies are limited to just fight scenes with villains? The romance in Captain America was a subtle one but ended up building to a very dramatic moment at the end of the movie.

The sparks were there between Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell…the Kate Beckinsale look-a-like) and Captain America (Chris Evans) when the Cap was just Steve Rogers, the small guy from Brooklyn.

When he became Captain America there was a lot more to be attracted to. There were a lot more girls who were attracted to him, but Captain America, being the faithful guy he is, only has eyes for Peggy Carter. Despite his devotion, the couple encountered other problems.

This movie will give you action, some comedy, and a nice romance -- all wrapped up in one DVD.


4. The American President (1995)

If you like politics you'll probably like this movie. It's about President Andrew Shepherd (Michael Douglas) falling in love with lobbyist Sydney Ellen Wade (Annette Bening). It's almost a Romeo and Juliet of politics.

Obviously there's all kinds of situations that come into play with that scenario. Is it possible for a widower President to make a relationship work with the politics and press coming into play? This movie doesn't follow the plot of your typical romance movie, so it's a good choice if you want to see something other than your standard romantic comedy on Valentine's Day.


3. Curly Sue (1991)

You really kind of forget that this is a romantic comedy. John Hughes does such a great job of telling the story of a homeless man and his daughter trying to make it in the world that any elements of romance are almost an underlying element.

Con artist Bill Dancer (Jim Belushi) and Curly Sue (Alisan Porter), the two main characters, scam their way into free meals and out of money. They only take what they need to survive though. That's their motto.

They end up meeting a wealthy woman, so their plan is to take advantage of the situation. It is a love story, though, so you can imagine what eventually happens. It's a nice journey to the happy ending though.


2. 50 First Dates (2004)

This one is one of my all-time favorite movies. It's a romantic-comedy that balances those two aspects perfectly.

If you want romance, this movie has it. Henry Roth (Adam Sandler), a marine veterinarian in Hawaii, has a chance encounter in a café with Lucy Whitmore (Drew Barrymore). They hit it off but, almost like Cinderella, Lucy has to leave. Henry returns the next day, hoping to see Lucy again. Henry sees her, but she doesn't remember him -- at all.

It turns out that Lucy was in an accident and now, as a result, can't store any new memories in her brain. Henry decides to make it his mission to make Lucy fall in love with him every day.

Really, how much more romantic does it get?

Plus there's some hilarious bits with Sandler, Barrymore, and Rob Schneider, who plays Ula – Henry’s assistant. My favorite scene was the beat down. After watching the commentary with Barrymore on the DVD, I learned that a lot of that scene was ad-lib on the part of Barrymore and Schneider.

This one is a great movie to watch any time of year, but would definitely work if you're looking to cuddle on the couch.


1. Groundhog Day (1993)

Groundhog Day is a few weeks old already, but the movie Groundhog Day never gets old. I can (and do) watch this movie at various points throughout the year. This Valentine's Day, Groundhog Day may be the movie to watch.

Bill Murray does such a good job with the comedy in this movie that you forget that his character, weatherman Phil Connors, is trying to woo over Rita (Andie MacDowell), his segment producer.

Connors, a self-absorbed grouch, is stuck, forever it seems, on Groundhog Day. He can't die. He is the only one who can remember what happened the day before, so he has an unlimited amount of chances to change his ways and win the heart of the woman he loves.

It's a love story, but that love story is surrounded by a lot of fun and comedy, so it's not mushy like The Notebook or A Walk To Remember.



If those don't work for you, here are a few other suggestions:
10 Things I Hate About You
She's All That
Up
WALL-E
While You Were Sleeping

Sunday, February 3, 2013

J.J. Abrams to direct new Star Wars film

J.J. Abrams is about to go from Star Trek to Star Wars.

"Yes, J.J. Abrams will direct Star Wars: Episode VII, the first of a new series of Star Wars films to come from Lucasfilm under the leadership of Kathleen Kennedy," was written in a statement published on StarWars.com.

While I'm not a mega-fan of his work like some are, I thoroughly enjoyed the 2009 Star Trek movie. If Abrams can bring that kind of work to the Star Wars films, it'll only mean good things.

I've been in a sci-fi kind of mood recently, as I just watched Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Star Wars: Episode II.

Both movies left a lot to be desired, so I'm all for Abrams taking a shot at re-creating Star Wars (even if it doesn't need to be revived).

Related Content:
Star Wars: Episode II - reviewed.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture - reviewed.


Star Trek: The Motion Picture - reviewed.


I'd never seen the original Star Trek, but J.J. Abrams' 2009 movie gave me an itch to watch a little more of the Star Trek franchise.

I figured the best place to start was square one. Turns out that may not have been the case.

The effects in the movie weren’t too bad – despite being several decades old. Granted, they kind of played it safe.

They didn't have the cast involved in a lot of the special effects. Much of the effects were done in the outer space setting, so it was probably easier to incorporate graphics into that than it would be to mix with actual human beings.

There were some primitive green screen spots as well, however, like when Spock was floating into the invading alien's ship.

The story is what was lacking. It lacked a little bit of logic (this alien ship seemed more friendly than threatening), but most of all it lacked excitement.

The alien ship, which was operated by robotics (no humans or other races aboard), didn’t really both to attack the ship or the crew. It did take possession of one of the female members of the crew in order to communicate with members of the Enterprise.


The robotics essentially invaded the body of Ilia (Persis Khambatta...who really did shave her head for the role), a navigator for The Enterprise, and took over her mind.

I was surprised to see the father from 7th Heaven (otherwise known as Stephen Collins) in the movie. I had no idea he was part of the Star Trek universe. He played Willard Decker, the new captain of the Enterprise, who was quickly demoted by Captain Kirk. He was also Ilia's love interest, so you can imagine how upset he was with Kirk after his actions as a Captain allowed Ilia to be possessed.

Their plan was to have Decker spend time with Ilia and try to find the human side of her by reigniting the spark they had. The problem is that they all developed this plan just feet away from Ilia. Apparently the robotics didn't have very good hearing.

Beyond the plot holes, there weren't any laser beams fired. I don't think there were any combat scenes or action sequences. What kind of Star Trek movie is that?

There was a little twist at the end of the movie that I didn't see coming. Although Earth was technically in danger of being destroyed, the movie didn't leave me feeling any kind of anxiousness about the possible destruction of Star Fleet's home planet.

I suppose I'll just have to look forward to battles with the Klingons and other more exciting space adventures in the next few Star Trek films on my Netflix list.


Related Content:
Star Wars: Episode II - reviewed.
Total Recall - reviewed.
Seeking a Friend for the End of the World - reviewed.


Star Wars: Episode II - reviewed.



I first saw this movie when it was released in the early 2000s. I don’t think I’ve seen it since then. I was going to start with Star Wars: Episode I and go through the entire hectlogy (trilogy x2), but Episode I was on a “Very Long Wait” status on Netflix.

I had the same issue with the movie this time around as I did last time: bad acting. Hayden Christensen gave such a stoic performance. After watching the movie again I have to wonder if that’s what George Lucas was going for. Natalie Portman’s performance wasn’t much better. Ewan McGregor wasn’t much better than Christensen. Their performances were a mixture of campy and unenthused. Even Samuel L. Jackson was bland.

The delivery of their lines lacked the conviction they should’ve had to make the movie truly epic.

Maybe that’s how Lucas wanted it, though. Maybe it wasn’t the actors.

Portman went on to win an Academy Award, so it’s hard to argue that she can’t act. She delivered a believable and enjoyable performance in Thor. In fact, I think I enjoyed her more as Thor’s main squeeze than I did as Queen Amidala.

The storyline wasn’t incredible, but it worked for what it was – the bridge between Episode I and Episode III aka “the birth of Darth Vader.” The romance between Amidala and Anakin developed, even if it did slow the movie down a little.

The lightsaber action was nice. Obi-Wan Kenobi’s scene against Boba Fett in the rain was cool. Seeing Yoda wield a lightsaber was pretty cool too.

The other complaint I had about the movie -- something that didn't strike me the first time I watched it over a decade ago -- is how truly unimpressive the special effects were. It got progressively worse, probably culminating with Natalie Portman on a gigantic conveyor belt – trying to dodge being processed like a robot.

I know that a lot of work is done in front of a green screen these days. We all know that. It's not something I want to think about while watching the movie though. It was so blatantly obvious that a green screen was being used, however, that it took me away from what was happening in the movie.

Maybe it was impressive in 2002. 10 years later and the effects are dated. 10 years from now and they’ll probably be somewhat embarrassing – kind of like the original Superman movie.

Compare Star Wars’ effects to the effects in Iron Man, X-Men or Transformers and you’ll see what I mean.

Considering this is Star Wars we're talking about, which I’m assuming had a huge budget, it’s disappointing that their effects couldn’t stand the test of time – or at least 10 years.

Any scenes that involved the clones or the robots were CGI overkill.

Episode II wasn't as good as I remembered it. It didn't have the very cool Darth Maul like Episode or Anakin's transformation into Darth Vader like Episode III. It's kind of disappointing when a movie doesn't live up to your memory of it



Related Content:
Star Trek: The Motion Picture - reviewed.
Total Recall - reviewed.
Seeking a Friend for the End of the World - reviewed.