I've been a movie nut since I was a little kid... going to the movie theater with my brother (or many times just by myself) was something I did at least every other weekend from some of my earliest memories as a child in the Columbia theater watching Disney matinees until after high school. I'm one of the few people I know that can say that they can watch almost anything... and I'll probably find something in it likeable. I'm extremely easy to please when it comes to movies. Make me laugh, make me scared, make me root for someone or root against someone else, and chances are I will like the movie.

So after watching the Bat flick last night, I sat and tried to think of some movies I honestly didn't like...

For the sake of it, I'm going to leave out Police Academy Parts IV+ as well as Kevin Costner's "jewels of denial" Waterworld and The Postman... because those kind of go without saying. Also left out are movies like From Justin to Kelly that there's no way in a million Hells you could get me to watch.

Batman & Robin - Okay... Michael Keaton? Yes (even though he will always be Mr. Mom to me). Val Kilmer? No. George Clooney? HELL no.

Titanic - well, I honestly only made it maybe forty-five minutes into the movie before I just stopped watching it... It's pretty obvious why it did a billion at the box office... One simple reason... Continents full of teeneage girls making many multiples of trips to the theater... I thought it was complete shit... and considering how much money they wasted on it, a heaping pile of complete shit... written for morons (and teenage girls). I can't believe that James Cameron can even find work in Hollywood, honestly, yet it seems people - Hollywood execs, fans, etc. are lining up to fellate him for some unknown reason.

Pearl Harbor - okay... what the Hell? I think you missed the point, man. I hate when people make love stories out of a god-awful tragedy... I'm sure that somewhere down the road, a cheesy $200 million dollar 9/11 love story will pop up. But Pearl Harbor... the special effects are rather well done, but there were even spots in the action secquences where I was dumbfounded by the stupidity... and if all you can appreciate in a movie are the special effects... well, y'know.

I have never seen E.T. from start to finish in one viewing - it took four or five different times to get the whole movie in - I didn't think it particularly sucked, or anything - I just couldn't get into it.

You Got Served - Yeah, I saw it coming on TV, one day... Seeing how well it was thoroughly abused in the South Park episode "F'd in the A," I had to see if it would suck as much as I thought it would. Turns out, it sucked even more.

Battlefield Earth - as much as I wanted to like it... I ended up not.

Jaws 3D and Jaws: The Revenge - just sucked... end of discussion.

The Crow: City of Angels - I was a James O'Barr (the writer of the original comics) fan before the first movie ever came out... and I really loved the first one... I've never tasted poo before, but after I got done with City of Angels I wasn't so sure, anymore.

Lawnmower Man 2 - I have fond memories of the original... the sequel? Eh, not so much.

While were on the sequel path - Grease 2 & Caddyshack 2 sucked almost equally.

Rollerball (2002) - I can remember watching the old '70s one with my parents... in the '70s... and thinking it was the coolest thing I had ever seen besides Death Race 2000 and Star Wars... The 2002 remake thing... was horrible. Sorry, it just was. I wish I could have gotten my money and the hour and forty minutes I wasted back.

Armageddon - Okay... I really debated putting this movie in the list... because I really liked the actors... almost all of them, in fact (okay, Ben Affleck is irritating and really not all that great an actor (if someone were to get all uppity and say something wise like, "Do you think you could do as good?" Eh, probably. Give me half a mil and find out.) and Bruce Willis is only really "okay" to me - they've both done some good movies, though... that "good movie that it seems like no one saw" for Willis is easily The Color of Night) - and I honestly even liked some parts of the movie... but the story... well, like Steve Buscemi says - "A god damned Greek tragedy." Things go from bad to worse to even worse to "oh, shit how much more is going to go wrong?" to "Now you're totally yanking my chain and offending me" with how hokey it becomes at times. Okay, so I sorta liked a bad movie... but it was totally for the actors, not the actual story which, although it contained some good moments, sucked. Though I do have two words for the guys that did Armageddon - Deep Impact.

Independance Day - Nice effects, but sorry. I just thought it was a complete snooze.

Top Gun - Everyone seemed to love this movie. I thought it was pretty stupid... and that's when I was sixteen or whatever I was when the movie came out. After seeing it again in recent years, it also strikes me as very gay.

I liked Star Wars: The Phantom Menace... at first... but having had a few years to reflect on it all since, I think it was just the kid in me that had been waiting (no, dying) to see something/anything new with the Star Wars name on it... I openly despised Jar Jar Binks from the onset, however... apparently to the chagrin of a few of my die-hard Star Wars fan friends. They aren't any bigger a fan of the series than I am, or anything. I think we just look for different things in movies (for one thing, I can't stand stupid one-liners that screw up the flow of a movie and the latter Star Wars movies were full of them - well, the first two, anyway - comic relief is one thing, but stupidity is something entirely different). I like my movies a little darker. That's why The Empire Strikes Back is and always will be the best Star Wars movie, ever (yet of the original three, the one I've seen probably the least), and The Phantom Menace will always be the worst.

The Honeymooners - Okay, I'll admit I haven't seen this movie, yet... but taking something so golden like The Honeymooners and African-Americanizing it... is heresy. And I mean absolutely zero offense to any African-Americans, Africans, or even Americans... but give me a break. I'm sure there are some funny parts in it. I bet Mike Epps has some good moments... but it doesn't matter. I personally can't stand Cedric the Entertainer - I just don't think he's remotely funny (even though I kind of enjoyed his role in "Be Cool," recently) and there's no way in Hell I would buy him as Ralph Kramden for even a millisecond.

Considering the bajillions of movies I've seen in my life, that's a pretty short list (even counting the one movie I haven't even seen). Well, I'm sure there's plenty of sucky movies I'm missing, but I'll get to those when I remember them.

For the reord, to all the Hollywood execs that read my blog (c'mon, you know you're out there... in droves) - PLEASE STOP REMAKING OLD MOVIES and try coming up with an original idea for a change.

I saw Batman Begins last night. Fantastic... period.

I only had a couple "issues" with the movie, but they were overshadowed by everything else good about it... My big gripe is the same gripe I've had since they started making Batman movies - where is his gun? I mean, no, Batman doesn't carry a gun... anymore... but in the old Detective Comics way back when... when he first started out, he strapped a .45 to his waist. But, considering the particular story angle they went with for the movie, I can understand why he doesn't carry a gun. But still... I want my gun-totin' superhero, damnit.

I always knew that Christian Bale was gonna be one of those "star" things after I saw him in American Psycho. I also liked the movie Equilibrium with him quite a bit, too... well... I think I liked the premise of the movie (futuristic society, emotions are illegal) more than the actual movie, but still... Bale really gets into his roles. He pulled off a pretty good Bruce Wayne. (kinda sad to say that Adam West is only the third best Batman, now... behind Bale and Michael Keaton)

I think he's cool. I'd drink with the guy... as long as he didn't start talking about how Huey Lewis & the News were the seminal '80s music act... because then I would know that there's an axe or a chainsaw hidden somewhere - which would spook me.

I've been thinking about a couple things regarding Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith... Well, one big flaw-thing...
After watching it a few more times... I just have to wonder... Okay, Anakin Skywalker basically turns to the Dark Side for one sole reason - he is haunted by a dream where his wife dies for some mysterious reason... Chancellor Palpatine (a.k.a. "Darth Sidious," a.k.a. "the Emperor") says that the Dark Side can teach ways to save life that he couldn't learn being a Jedi. SO, Anakin pledges himself to the Dark Side - in order to save his wife's life. So, WHY, near the end of the movie, does he try to choke her to death? I'm sure many of the "hardcore" folks would try to say that he was already "too deep" or whatever into the Dark Side... If that is the case, then WHY (after he is turned into a burning stump in the fight with Obi-Wan and then transformed into the Darth Vader that we all know and love) is the first thing out of his mouth, "What about Padme? Is she all right?" If he was so immersed into the Dark Side, why would he give a shit? ... You see what I'm saying, here? He only joined the Dark Side to try to save his wife... then tried to kill her... then asked if she was okay... IT DOES NOT MAKE SENSE!!!

Two years ago this morning, my father passed away. He had a stroke on the night of May 25th (a few days after his 65th birthday) and several more strokes in the days that followed.

He was unconcious for many days... I was with him when he woke up for the first time... I had just put in a CD of his favorite music (the Four Freshmen) - as I turned around and the first notes of the CD played... he opened his eyes and looked right at me... It was a nice feeling, considering he had been unconcious for nearly a week previously...

He never regained the ability to speak before he passed away... I always wanted to ask him what happened that night he had his stroke... where it all "went wrong" for him... the last thing he remembered before it happened... all that stuff that only he could answer... but y'know... never had the chance to. It kinda pisses me off... go figure.