Sonyflix

And now, it's time for Sonyflix!
(It's like Netflix, but it's only Sony stuff, and it's freeeeee! :-D )

This edition of Sonyflix is brought to you by the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com)
your source for exhaustively crossreferenced movie/TV/video-game talent data and trivia.



"Hellboy" (2004)

This will be out next week. It's a very nice 2-disc set with lots of extras. I saw this movie twice when it came out and thoroughly enjoyed it.
The DVD(s) include all the extras you'd expect, plus some neat stuff like slightly animated Mike Mignola Hellboy comic pages.
Be sure to check out the "Pancakes" one, it's funny! There are also a collection of odd cartoons from Columbia's vaults, like 3 episodes of "Gerald McBoingBoing", the kids who speaks in sound effects. It's from the '50s, it's bizarre.
The 4th cartoon is an enjoyable little retelling of Edgar Allen Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" done in an odd, abstract style. I dug it.
The second disc has, among other things, a 2.5 hours making of feature, which I didn't have time to watch. I'm planning to borrow this again and watch all the extras. This one is worth the wait.



"Starship Troopers 2: Hero Of The Federation" (2004)

Holy crap! This direct-to-video wonder was directed by Phil Tippett, who is a fine special effect guy (yes, we know Phil, the AT-ATs in "Empire Strikes Back", and the Bugs in "Starship Troopers") but as a director? I don't know.
This one is a straight-up horror/monster movie, starring a few people from "Starship Troopers", and it's not for the squeamish. It's rated R for a reason.
And now, I do my announcer voice:
"Alone, on an outpost at the far edge of space, a squad of heroic soldiers try to defend themselves from an enemy outside, and inside."
Yeah, the bugs have a new plan to exterminate the human race, and it's invasive. Brrrrr...



"Starsky & Hutch: The Complete First Season" (1975)
This one was finally cracked open over the weekend, and we watched the first four episodes. They were both pretty darn good. We look forward to watching the rest.
I saw the movie and I had mixed feelings about it.
On the one hand, it looked like the '70s and Snoop Dogg was awesome as Huggy Bear (and his posse was pretty cool too).
On the other hand, the director's other credits include things like "Frat House", "Road Trip", and "Old School" (thank you IMDB), so it's no surprise that it had that National Lampoon/SNL type of college/humiliation humor I don't enjoy. He made our heroes look like lame-ass morons at times, something I don't remember from the show.
(For the record, I love "Animal House", and I sorta like the first "Vacation" movie.)

Oh, and it says here in IMDB that Mr. Director is working on a new project. And get this, it's "The Six Million Dollar Man" with Jim Carrey as Steve Austin. Oh boy...
That's probably gonna suck.



"Fog Of War" (2004)

A documentary-like film about a rather interesting individual, Robert S. (the S stands for Strange) McNamara, who gave up his job as the first non-Ford president of Ford Motor Company to become Secretary of Defense for John F. Kennedy (who handpicked him for the job. Well, he handpicked him for Secretary of the Treasury, and Defense was the back-up job offer).
He was smack-dab in the middle of the Cuban Missile Crisis. He also served under Lyndon B. Johnson and locked horns with him many a times regarding Vietnam and other things.
The movie is broken down into the 11 lessons that Mr. McNamara has learned from his life in business and politics.
The music is by Philip Glass. The editing is crisp and never boring.
If you enjoyed "13 Days", you'll definitely find this of interest.



"Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla" (2000)

Aka "Godzilla Vs. Zoidzilla", because Mechagodzilla looks like a Zoids toy!
In this movie's timeline, Godzilla attacked in 1958 and was defeated. And by that, I mean KILLED!
They detonated some sort of nuclear/microwave bomb on his ass and he was turned into Bonezilla.
Fastforward to 1999 and another Godzilla appears, during a nasty typhoon. The maser cannons (those truck-mounted giant-dish cannon thingies) prove largely ineffective because of the torrential rain. Godzilla leaves anyway, but the local government wants his ass dead, so they petition the Diet (Japan's ruling body) and convince them that Godzilla is enough of a threat to justify the creation of a Mechagodzilla development program. So planning and construction begins, using cells from the salvaged skeleton of the original '58 Godzilla.
It's a pretty typical Godzilla movie, complete with the usual goofiness. The Mechagodzilla is pretty bad-ass though. And the Big G looks really mean. He's not your daddy's Godzilla!
For fans only.

More later...