Joyeux anniversaire!!

Hey kids, it's someone's birthday today!!
Super DJ SKWRL hatch, cooooome on down!!!

o/~ Joyeux anniversaire!
Mes voeux les plus sincères!
Joyeux anniversaire Le Hatch!
And you look like one too! o/~

NetFlixing: The Justicing

Some good stuff in this batch, except for the one clunker.
Read on, true believers!

Justice League: Season 1 & Season 2 - Flash: "Yup, fastest man alive." - Hawkgirl: "Is that why you can't get a date?"
So while the sibling was gone, I rented a buttload of "Justice League" DVDs and ODed on superheroism and good writing.
I rented the entire set of Season 1 and Season 2. "Justice League Unlimited" is not available yet in season-sets.
Being a fan of "Batman: The Animated Series", I was bound to like this new version of the "Superfriends", as many of those
involved on "Batman:TAS" were also involved in "Justice League". And I was delighted to see The Joker (pre-redesign) show up
in several episodes, voiced by Mark Hamill of course. Harley and Clayface also appeared, albeit in only one episode each.
The regular voice cast is pretty good. Kevin Conroy is still doing Batman, this guy who looks like Static Shock (and
actually WAS Static Shock in the cartoon) voices John Stewart aka Green Lantern (ex-Marine Green Lantern too, dang!),
Martian Manhunter is voiced by Carl Lumbly (John Parker from "Buckaroo Banzai"), Wonder Woman, Superman, Hawkgirl are all
voiced by competent actors unknown to me, while Flash is voiced by Lex Luthor the Younger (aka Michael Rosenbaum from
"Smallville"). And speaking of Lex, Clancy Brown continues to do the honor from "Superman: The Animated Adventures".
And they got some great guest voices for this thing too: Robert Picardo, Powers Boothe, Ron Perlman, Jeffrey Combs,
Hector Elizondo, René Auberjonois, Udo Kier, Dave Thomas (heh), Michael Ironside, Michael Dorn, Robert Englund, Oded Fehr,
John Rhys Davies, Tom Sizemore, Neil Patrick Harris, Jeffrey Jones, Patrick Duffy, Kurtwood Smith, etc. etc. etc...
The one that surprised me was Stan Ridgway. This is the Wall Of Voodoo guy! Mr. Mexican Radio himself!
I didn't even know he was in an episode until I checked the credits. I didn't recognize his voice at all.
I guess his acting voice is different from his singing/storytelling voice.
But enough about the voices. How good is the show?
Pretty good, I think. Season 1 was a little brightly-colored and Superman was pretty wimpy in it. But at least one episode
brought tears to my eyes, so it can't be all bad. (One episode of "Batman:TAS" made me CRY outright, "Heart Of Ice")
Season 2 was much better, darker, and the old Batman/Superman animosity was back. Right off the bat (sic), in the first
episode of Season 2, Superman warns Darkseid that "This time, I won't stop until you're just a greasy stain on my fist".
Woa. No more Mr. Nice Boy-Scout.
So yeah, overall pretty good stuff.

Ultimate Avengers 2 - Thor: "Have some ale! It's made from human hair, and sweat." (from the gag reel)
I had rented the first DVD a while back and BAM! There's the second DVD already. Looks like Marvel is serious about these
direct-to-DVD animated movies (or OVA/OAV for youse animé-heads). They're apparently also doing Iron-Man and Dr. Stange DVDs.
This one is a direct sequel. The aliens vanquished in Part 1 are not so vanquished. They're prowling around the hidden city
home of Black Panther in deepest Africa. The defender king seeks out Captain America to ask for his help, but is shackled
by the strict "no outsiders" rule of his homeland. If you're a fan of The Hulk, you're not gonna like this one either,
because Hulk gets very little scree-ntime. In the Ultimate universe, Bruce Banner can't control himself while Hulked, so
S.H.I.E.L.D keeps him locked up and drugged. Thor kicks major butt in this one. Overall, nicely action-packed. Good rental.

Cinderella Man - A triumph of the human spirit! No, really.
This is one of those movies: Oscar-nominated, directed by Ron Howard, almost 2.5 hours long, and REALLY good.
It's the story of a man and his family and their struggle in Depression-Era New York/New Jersey.
Things are going good for boxer James Braddock (Russell Crowe) until the Depression hits. Then things really suck.
He works on the docks with a broken hand (with shoe polish on the cast to hide his injury). He tells his kids to never steal.
He has more moral fiber than the entire population of Washington DC, so he only very reluctantly goes on the dole.
When things get to the point where they really really REALLY suck, he gets a shot at going back in the ring.
It's a wonderful film, with an excellent cast and an involving storyline based on the real story of James Braddock.
Well worth renting.

Annapolis - Hey look! More boxing!
This is not "An Officer And A Gentleman", eventhough there are some common bits. Ostensibly, it's about a loser who badgers
his local congressman into recommending him for officer training at the Navy's academy (Annapolis). Ironically, the academy
is located right across the way from the shipyards where the loser and his dad work. So anyway, loser goes to academy,
endures all the usual hardships (insert every boot camp cliché ever except with more water here), makes friends, makes
enemies, and before you know it, you're watching a boxing movie. Say what? Apparently, the first year at Annapolis is
capped by a very important boxing competition and loser bulks up to be in the same weight class as his despised
drill sergeant/whatever they're called at Annapolis. Loser is James Franco aka Harry Osborn from "Spider-Man" 1, 2 and 3.
Despised drill dude is Tyrese Gibson, aka the handsome brother from "Four Brothers" and ex male model.
This movie isn't very good, or involving. The emphasis on boxing felt like a mistake. I feel I wasted my time with this.
Not recommended.

Red Eye - That crying baby in seat 28B is the least of your worries...
I wasn't expecting much out of this one. I mean, girl gets on plane, guy creeps her out, plane lands, The End, right?
Wrong! This guy isn't some random psycho, he's got a plan, he's part of a plan, and girl is just one cog in the machine.
The movie perfectly captures the experience of catching a domestic red eye flight on a major US airline.
This one's directed by Wes Craven, and he ratchets the suspense and the tension to a fever pitch! (or something)
Cillian Murphy (Professor Crane/Scarecrow from "Batman Begins") plays the creepy not-so-random psycho.
Rachel MacAdams plays the target, and Suzie Plakson plays the senior airline attendant, who looks too tall for the job.
Maybe her height helps keep unruly passenger under control. Some may recall that Suzie Plakson played Worf's wife on ST:TNG.
This one turned out to a pretty good pyschological and action thriller. Highly recommended!
Inside Man - "C'mon! You've seen 'Dog Day Afternoon'! You're stalling!"
The cast: Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster, Christopher Plummer, Willem Dafoe.
The director: Spike Lee. The setting: Wall Street. The Premise: full-on bank take-over with hostages.
What looks on the surface to be a bank robbery hides more complex motives. The criminal mastermind (Clive Owen) is very
clever indeed, making all the hostages dress like the hostage-takers. The negotiator (Denzel Washington) dealing with him
is also clever, but quickly realizes that Mastermind knows all the tricks. Just what is going on here, anyway?
And who is this well-connected woman (Jodie Foster) who wants to go in and talk to the Mastermind?
This is a really good film and different from Spike Lee's usual output in tone and subject matter.
It's an action film that slowly morphs into a heist movie then a psychological thriller.
Definitely worth a rental.

Lucky Number Slevin - Slevin: "Why do they call him 'The Rabbi'?" - The Boss: "'Cause he's a rabbi."
The trailer looked promising. A gangster film with mistaken identity and witty banter. I like witty banter.
The film starts off with seemingly random hits and executions and you're wondering just where it's all going.
The pieces start falling into place, but slowly at first, and the witty banter is just about nonstop.
This isn't really a comedy, though maybe a dark one. It's listed as "crime/drama/thriller" on IMDB.
Josh Harnett is Slevin, the guy The Boss (Morgan Freeman) wants to see. But Slevin is not the guy The Boss wants to see.
The Boss wants to see Nick Fisher. But Nick Fisher is not home. Slevin is at Nick Fisher's home. Slevin is a friend
of Nick, visiting for a few days. So Slevin sees The Boss. Then Slevin sees The Rabbi (Sir Ben Kingsley).
Lindsey (Lucy Liu) is Nick's across-the-hall neighbor. She likes Slevin. Slevin has to explain to her what happened
and why he has to kill The Rabbi's son ("The Fairy"). Don't worry, it will all make sense in the end.
Directed by Paul McGuigan, who did "Wicker Park", also starring Josh Harnett plus Matthew Lillard and Vlasta Vrana.
Vlasta Vrana - not a name you're likely to forget. If you've seen the original "Heavy Metal" animated film, you might
remember the barbarian leader with the metal arm in the final segment ("Taarna" the Tarrakian). That was Vrana's voice.
But I digress.
The film was interesting. I enjoyed how all the pieces fit together at the end.
It's a dark film, don't let the witty banter fool you.