Monday, September 16, 2013

Is the Sumer Blockbuster Dead?

(Commercial Sting with of the American Gladiators first run's final season's ten seconds theme with James Standing next to Army Text saying The Last Of The Americans. Then a rubber stamp stamps over the entire thing the word Editorial)

I'm James Faraci The Last Of The Americans and the views I'm about to express are that of my own and some of yours. With summer unofficially over on labor day. I went to my local theater and asked if people liked what they saw over the summer and the answer was not really. I mean yes financially it was a good year for the film industry but there was no real big Summer Blockbuster that people really cared to see over & over again. So the question I ask now is not for personal reasons but for reasons as a fan of cinema. Is the Summer Blockbuster dead? Well I guess it depends on the year. Last year was a great year for the Summer Blockbuster, I mean Marvel's "The Avengers" was amazing not simply because it came out in the summer but because it was the end of one chapter of a movie franchise and the start of another. However something happened another big movie wasn't as well received and that was "The Dark Knight Rises" and while I don't make light of the situation of what happened in Colorado it didn't help the publicity and well the content of it felt well un-American and the Anarchy from that Colorado incident was so similar to content in the movie that somehow people were thinking of Art imitating life or Life imitating Art but here's the thing people forget when it comes to Cinema and Entertainment in general it's supposed to entertain and make people forget their problems for a while and to quote Oancitizen in "To Boldly Flee" "Bad Art is a distraction great art elevates people" that's partly what a Summer Blockbuster should do and it should be able to help move the audience to want more the next year but if you didn't like what you saw this year what makes you think it'll be better next year. But I think that's something everybody wants, something better whether it'll be next year or the next entry in any series of movies, tv shows or written stories (Comic Book series, Anthology series and the like) But I've gone off track the question persists "Is The Summer Blockbuster dead?" Well I think the question should be "Should the Summer Blockbuster be allowed to die?" If that was the question I'd say yes because it has become  stale.  I think maybe we need new blood to come in and give it a overhaul because for me personally there still is some life in the Summer Blockbuster but it needs something different. Who knows maybe next year will bring the Summer Blockbuster back (Pic of unofficial Posters of Michael Bay's Ninja Turtles and Transformers 4) Well here's hoping 2015 is the year the Summer Blockbuster makes it comeback. I'm James Faraci The Last Of The Americans and that's my opinion

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Top Ten Funniest Power Rangers moments


(Music from the last seasons of the Original Run of American Gladiators play Speedy shot of James Faraci breaking through the American Flag, working out, fighting bad cinema, bad pop culture anything bad in the world with a picture of the White House appears in the background as Jack Swagger, Zeb Coulter and President Obama appear in the foreground as all three fall as James Faraci stands alone and tall and in Army text the words of The Last Of The Americans stand by his side)

I'm James Faraci The Last Of The Americans and the views I'm about to express are that of my own and some of yours. Okay confession time believe it or not this is NOT my first run online. As an internet personality I first had a good run on myspace with specials during the holidays, reviews of "Kickassia", A top ten list reasoning why I loathe Shia LaBeouf, "Suburban Knights" "Alki David's Fish Tales" more or less talking about what's wrong with the movie and "To Boldly Flee" but most of the stuff I did was out of character like lists of what I thought were the worst movies of the year, reviews of movies I remember seeing when I was younger or movies I had seen just recently. However due to reasons beyond my control Myspace reformatted it's site and all my early work is gone. But the highlight of the year for me when I did my work on myspace was on the first of December listing moments of Power Rangers and believe it or not, I FREAKING LOVE POWER RANGERS. In fact the reason I like Power Rangers and still watch it to this day is because it's action packed, the writing for the most part is solid, the acting for the most part has been awesome and some of the actors had a career after their run in the series ended and the fact it's been on Twenty years on longer than most critics who hated and believed it wouldn't have lasted that long are now eating their words with a side of Crow. But as a devoted fan of the Power Rangers I have seen my fair share of silly moments that got a chuckle out of me and for Power Rangers fans all over. And it's with that in mind...(James looks to the left to see a dork looking like The Rowdy Reviewer on his computer breathing through his teeth, James looks forward to see a female geek that looks like Lea Michele with a retainer in her mouth and magnifier glasses, James looks to the right to see Nerdlinger on his laptop) I count down what I think are THE top ten funniest moments in Power Rangers. (Bulk and Skull theme by Ron Wasserman play as humorous moments of Power Rangers play while James has his eyes rolling with a cuckoo clock going off with each number being counted down.)

10) "It Came From Angel Grove" From Power Rangers Zeo
This episode gave me a chuckle simply because it reminded me of one of the cheesy monster mash ups and I think most of the cast had a freakin' hoot shooting this. Tommy as a vampire is probably more scary than any of the suck-heads from Twilight. Katherine's character being turned into a wicked witch was apropos seeing as how fans didn't warm up to Katherine and while the character of Adam pretty much represented the fan's perspective the episode is just funny as how everyone did their character as their respective parts was just enough to get a laugh out of this Power Rangers fan.

9) Rocky's departure in "Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie"
First off when actors left the series in the early years it was for various reasons when Austin St. John, The late Thuy Trang and Walter Jones left it was for unsubstantial reasons, when Amy Jo Johnson left because she thought there was nowhere for her character to go and long story short different reasons but for me Rocky's departure was the funniest for a reason. First off Steve Cardenas left the series for unsubstantial reasons like most cast members but I'm sure that getting so injured you couldn't perform character wise is goofy in it's own right especially when he flipped himself out of a ring and I saw Pro wrestling Battle Royals where people got thrown out in extremely silly ways but nothing like how Rocky threw himself out of a ring. Don't believe me check out The Nostalgia Critic's review of "Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie" for when he talked about this moment.

8) Movie Madness from Power Rangers Time Force
This went a little way into showing what the Time Force Power Rangers personalities but there were moments that were goofy for the sake of being goofy like Katie's love of musicals or The Quantum Ranger's turn into Tarzan and even Ransik's  actor Vernon Wells aka Bennett from "Commando" had
fun with one part as it looks like Vernon enjoyed a reference to Mad Max in which he was in Mad Max 2. But I absolutely loved how silly it all got. But in the end a two part laugh that I liked.

7) Putties driving a car from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers season one "Enter...The Lizzinator"
This got me laughing when I first saw it in early 1994 and every time I see it and hear Jason say "Whoa, Putties can drive?" and seeing Jason trying to outrun a Putty driving the same car the Blues Brothers and eventually Jason hearing him say "Yep, they can drive" and eventually land on the roof as the Putty drives around, trust me that was hilarious when I first saw it and still gives me a laugh when I see it now.

6) The Strange Case Of The Munchies from "Power Rangers Super Samurai"
This episode makes the list for a couple of good reason. The first reason is how Emily the Yellow Samurai Ranger who wasn't affected by the Nighlok's power doubles as a tough as nails instructor to Bulk & Spike. Yes Bulk who is once again perfectly portrayed by Paul Schrier & Felix Ryan as Spike and if you're wondering who he is imagine his dad standing by Bulk's side in the greatest episode of Power Rangers ever "Countdown To Destruction." And secondly is How the Rangers that were affected by the Nighlok's power to make the Rangers Uber-hungry especially when it comes to having one of the Rangers eat raw Flour. (Stomach growls) Speaking of Hungry according to my watch It's dinner time and I'm going to take a break. Check out a commercial especially this one (Clip from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Episode "A Star Is Born" which partly shows an advertisement for a Dojo with Bulk & Tommy in it) I'd go there.

(Commercial Sting going out with of the American Gladiators first run's final season's ten seconds theme with James Standing next to Army Text saying The Last Of The Americans. Then same commercial sting takes us back to the review.)

Whew, those were some good sausage & meatballs. I'm good for the rest of the list. Let's get to it.

5) Power Rangers baked into a Pizza from "Trouble By The Slice" from "Power Rangers Turbo"
For the most part "Power Rangers Turbo" was a bad season, I'm not going to lie but watching the Power Rangers being baked into a Pizza was a comedic low even by Power Rangers but this led to the Internet Meme that Linkara made popular in which he walked away and screamed before getting back to History Of Power Rangers.

4) The Org Credit Card from "Fishing for a friend" from "Power Rangers Wild Force"
This was probably the silliest moment from the most underrated series in the franchise. Jindrax is attempting to revive his associate Toxica he buys some gear including a fishing rod and line and how does he pay it? An org credit card. As I live and breathe an Org Credit Card (James makes the Horse passing gas smile while "Pac-Man" death music plays and James bonks himself on the head.)

3) The Robocupid from the first one and a half episodes of the three part "There's no Business like Snow Business" episodes from "Power Rangers Zeo"
The point of this mechanical maniac was to make people fall in love with machines. In the same three part episode in which Tommy got that stupid Dear John letter there was a machine that made people fall in love with machines. The only comedic thing about that three part episode and the actors who had to act like they were head over heels for a vacuum cleaner had to have change their names to Alan Smithee after that but I got a chuckle so it works.

2) Bulk & Skull from which season? Any of them the two were in
Whether they were selling Lieutenant Stone a vacuum cleaner in "Power Rangers Turbo" to telling everyone at The Youth Center they're joining the Junior Police Force. They brought a laugh to me what else can be said that Linkara hasn't said.

Now before I get to the Number One moment, let me tell you why it's Number One. My friend & I were watching the episode the moment happened, I was babysitting my nieces at that time when they heard the most uproarious laughter they'd ever heard in their lives so far. My friend & I needed oxygen to revive us. It was that powerful. You have been warned

1) Kira's makeover from "A Star Is Torn" from "Power Rangers Dino Thunder"
The episode was centered around Kira, The Yellow Dino Thunder ranger getting a record label development deal and part of that deal involved... This! (Scene of Kira fully made to look like a Lady Gaga reject which makes James laugh uproariously two gasps of air ingested before James looks again at the scenes of Kira in her full made over look and laughs again before regaining some stability) I'm okay (Scene of Kira made over in her video and James laughs uncontrollably again) She looks like Lady Gaga's Sane Kid (James laughs uncontrollably) Oh god, I've got to end it here I'm James Faraci The Last Of The Americans and (James Laughs uncontrollably again)