Vice, Vancouver Premiere Screening - a gritty police drama that tries, but cannot succeed.

Can you say, Direct-to-Video.

I recently caught a screening for a film called Vice, starring Michael Madsen as a corrupt cop, and Daryl Hannah as his partner. It premiered (May 9th) at the Granville 7 Empire Cinema here in Vancouver, drawing only a handful of people which was pretty sad, considering that the LA premiere had over 1000 in the audience, or so we were told. Having been filmed in Vancouver, and featuring many Canadian actors, the filmmakers felt it was important to showcase the movie in Vancouver, which was the only other Canadian city aside from Montreal to premiere it.

I had never heard of the movie before, up until a few hours before the screening after seeing a plug for it on a local entertainment program. Scheduled with the screening was a Q&A with director Raul Sanchez, and producer Mathew Robert Kelly, along with some supporting cast members, all of whom were Canadian. But because the main cast members and funding were of American origin, the movie technically couldn't qualify as a Canadian feature, thus the lack of screenings for Vice in Canada.

From watching the trailer, it looked like an edgy crime drama with some good action so I went ahead to check it out. Getting straight to the point, it's really a shame to see such talented actors in a film that ultimately falls very flat. Michael Madsen and Daryl Hannah along with the other actors give excellent and believable performances within the restrictions of the material, a movie about bad cops, drugs, gangs, and cover ups. The two headlining actors also played producing roles in the film.

Vice doesn't really have the feel of a feature film, rather it plays out like an episode of a cop show made for TV movie. It doesn't have the energy of a theatrical cop drama, coming off very monotone throughout the entire picture, with odd inserts of stylized camera work reminiscent of a hip hop crime movies, like those directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak, to break the monotonous screenplay and limited visual impact. I actually found the movie quite dull, and very slowly paced never really meeting the action or suspense expectations I had in mind. Vice definitely came off as too long for its own good, with sets that felt small like a TV show, it was like an episode of Da Vinci's Inquest, with that distinctive Canadian dullness of episodic television.

During the Q&A, the director mentions that he likes having characters that are in gray areas, but I don't think he was entirely successful in creating the emotional connection that's important for the audience to fully believe in it. There wasn't enough in the movie for me to believe that Salt (Daryl Hannah) was a character who was really affected by the lack of respect she was receiving from her all-male team. I mean she complained about it, and it was suggested in some scenes as she watched from the sidelines the team bonding together in the bar, but it was pretty weak in that respect. Why would she feel this way? Was it something in her past? Also the pain from the death of Walker's (Madsen) wife wasn't really explained. She apparently passed away and it's hurt Walker so much that his life as a top cop has hit rock bottom. We see Walker boozing, and picking up hookers, but its hard to believe he had a wife under all the anger. It's one thing to show all these horrible things, but if the reasons aren't explained, it's hard to believe in them. You can't have gray with just black, you need some white in there too.

Paul Haggis did a great job portraying conflicted cops in the movie Crash, with some very intense scenarios, and that's exactly what this movie is NOT.

Funny, how Uwe Boll was looking for a crime drama, and was interested in the screenplay, but passed it up. I wonder how it would have turned out?

Watch this movie out of curiosity. Who knows you might like it.

A More Friendly Tamer Grand Theft Auto Conan O'Brien

If you haven't been watching Conan the last few nights, you've been missing out!

The NEW version of GTA, is just way too funny. No more seedy underworld of gangs, drugs, and hookers. Jack Thompson should be pleased, and pleasantly surprised. Conan rocks, another reason why I love this damn show!

Thanks MuchRockness for uploading these to youtube.

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Summer Movie Blockbusters bring out the annoying moviegoer in all of us.

Dude can't shut up for shit, and is it me or are there way too many commercials?

It's that time of the year again. The time when I find myself bitching about the humorous things that happen in theaters during the summer movie craze, from the guy who can't shut up, to the amount of commercials preceding a film, it's definitely the blockbuster time.

Especially when a movie is as anticipated as ones based on comicbook characters, there are very enthusiastic fans in the audience, some who like to let their presence, and intellect be known to the entire theater.

I caught Iron Man over the weekend, and as expected there was a guy in the row behind me that just wouldn't shut up. He spoke mostly during the commercials thank god, but still, this is the type of character I'd prefer to not sit near. In this case I had no choice, since the available seating was limited. I almost burst out laughing after the Happiness Factory Coke commercial (which was cut like a movie trailer) the guy says out loud, "no, that's not a movie". Yeah, no shit Sherlock. Totally, A.D.D. trying hard for attention. I turn around and he's like in his Forties. Then the commercials kept going and going. Then the coming soon trailers, and he just kept adding his 2 cents in between each one, like people actually cared to hear what he had to say. He wasn't even funny. In fact he wasn't even trying to be funny. I mean I've threw out comments in the dark before, but still this guy was retarded.

Like the majority of everyone else who's seen the movie, I enjoyed it. It could have been worse, a lot worse, like Dare Devil worse. Surprisingly, I never felt removed enough from the movie to actually think it was bad, meaning it held my interest, believing that Robert "Druggy" Downey Jr. was a rich man with everything, yet nothing. There are certain things that I found slightly hard to believe, like Stark constructing a fully functional suit in a cave, and the fact that he's actually that intelligent. Then again, the comicbook says he's a genius inventor, who am I to dispute that. It was a total MacGyver on crack escape attempt!

Though, when I first heard Downey would play the role of Tony Stark, I thought it was one of those early rumors that would fade away as the movie became more fleshed out in development. Like when Nicolas "balding" Cage was supposed to play Superman. I didn't think Downey would actually play the role. I guess he fit in the end, but then again, how much acting did he have to do anyway? Downey's Tony Stark is basically Downey, minus the drug use, and strange bi-polar behavior. Personality-wise the actor definitely made the character, they were meant for each other.

The Iron Man suit looked awesome, and I love the holographic effects in Starks workshop. Very cool. Also the addition of the funny fire extinguishing robot was awesome. Of course I knew beforehand to stay after the credits to see a cameo of Sam Jackson, who'll be in the next movie. It reminded me of the scene at the end of Dare Devil, in a way. Whatever happened to Bullseye... does anyone know, does anyone care? Dumbest character ever.

Did anyone else notice the Blackbird on Iron Man's HUD during his test flight in the sky?

In any case, there are plenty more movies I'm looking forward to, and plenty more irritating moviegoers to endure. Yay, the summer has arrived! Speed Racer Go!

Nightcrawler Custom Baby Qee Vinyl Toy by Albert Art Quickie Custom: 3.5 Inch Devil Baby Qee, hand-painted Nightcrawler

It's been a while since I did my last custom vinyl toy, so I figured it was about time for me to do another one. Being that I'm pretty busy these days (even moreso than usual), I wanted to do a custom that wasn't as intensive as an 8 inch toy. So I chose to go with the Baby Qee by Toy2r, I got for Christmas last year, which is small enough to do within a short amount of time, and that didn't require a lot of materials.

Marvel Comics Nightcrawler aka Kurt Wagner was the first character that came to mind when looking at the Devil Qee. I know I said I'd do original customs this year, but I figured, what the heck, Baby Qee Night Crawler would be pretty sweet. The pointy tail was perfect, all I had to do was create some ears with super sculpey. Like with all my customs, I mixed my own paint, and clear-coated it when the toy was deemed done.

Sure, Iron Man is currently all the rage, but that doesn't mean the blue freak can't get some love in toy form!

Hope you all like it!