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The Incredible Hulk Movie Review

Thursday, June 19th, 2008 | Movie Reviews | 5 Comments

Happy Thursday!

1. Last night I saw The Incredible Hulk. It was fine. The major problem with it was that the least interesting parts of the movie involved the Hulk. Any scene involving a giant green monster whose major skill is crushing things should be the most exciting part of any movie. Sadly, it wasn’t. The Hulk just didn’t look real. At all. He looked kind of adorable. Like The Green Giant going through a rather bad bout of puberty.

The chase scenes involving Eddie Norton were actually pretty great. In fact, I think I would have really liked this movie if it was just about a scientist who was on the run from the government. That would have been pretty sweet. Tim Roth was delightfully maniacal and William Hurt looks like the prototypical abusive father with that mustache he’s sporting in this movie. Seriously, his mustache should be nominated for best supporting actor. Speaking of awards for acting, Liv Tyler shouldn’t get one. She’s pretty bad. Unless she’s screaming. When she’s screaming, she’s actually pretty good.

FOT

Sorry, for the short blogs. Week crazy. Mike mad. You not like Mike when Mike mad. Mike smash!!!!!!

Mike

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Friday, June 13th, 2008 | Movie Reviews, Plugs, Site News, Uncategorized | 6 Comments

Happy Friday!

1. No bat discussion today. Not even of the Louisville Slugger variety. You’ve all had your fun, prodding at my phobia and causing me one fuck of a sleepless night. Kevin, shame on you. No man should be deathly afraid of another animal’s poo. No man.

2. Big thanks to Josh Carson for lending me the wonderful book, I Love You Beth Cooper, by Larry Doyle. It’s a really sweet, funny book about the never dealt with before issue of nerd in love with head cheerleader. It truly is a delight. Make sure you read the the “afterword” after the book. Doyle tells the story of his journey from college graduate to Simpson’s writer. For those of you who assumed that the window for success opened and shut between the ages of 21 and 25 (and this is 99% of people who have recently turned 26. Admit it.), his story is a refreshing kick in the optimism gut.

3. Re-watching the Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull last night only made me hate the monkeys more and grow even more confident in my belief that in the time the she and Indy had been apart, Marion had tried the whole lobotomy thing. Seriously, something is missing in Karen Allen’s eyes that exists in all other humans.

4. Drove around Lake Harriet last night. There is nothing better than Lake Harriet in the summer. Especially in the evening.

5. Seriously. 2 hours of sleep last night. Thanks.

6. Come see Old Enough To Know Better at the BNW tonight. You’re running out of time to see the most funniest show evah!

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Indiana Jones Is Good and Punch Out

Friday, May 23rd, 2008 | Movie Reviews, Plugs | 5 Comments

Happy Friday!

Indiana Jones

It’s good. I liked it a lot. They far outweighed the parts I hated. The choice to make Marion Ravenswood mentally retarded was a brave choice indeed.  FOTI

Punch Out

Mustache Rangers vs. Family Night. 11pm. $10. BNW.

Sorry for the short blog, nothing but meetings and shows today and tonight. I want to expand on what I like about Indy, but will wait so as not to spoil some stuff for folks who maybe haven’t caught it yet.

Carriers, Poker, Solitude and Rampleseed.

Monday, April 28th, 2008 | Movie Reviews, Plugs, Uncategorized | 7 Comments

Happy Monday!

Carrier

It’s well known throughout the city that I am by far the hippest and coolest cat in town. And like most cool cats, I spent my Sunday evening sitting on my futon watching a fascinating PBS documentary called, Carrier. Carrier details the day to day stresses and tedium that make up the lives of a crew on a Naval carrier en route to Iraq. The wonderful thing about this doc is that it spends as much time exploring the appeal of the Navy, and the reasons people enlist, as it does exploring some of the problems with it. I wasn’t expecting that. Truthfully, I was expecting something far more biased and critical of the Navy. It’s a ten part series, and I’ve only seen 2 of them, so who knows what the future holds for the balance of this documentary, but so far the tone is just right. If you get a chance, check it out. FOTIs.
Poker

I’m ok at poker. I’m not great. I’m ok. That pretty much covers it. I wish I was that Russian guy in Rounders, but I’m more like the guy who forgets whether a flush beats a straight or vice versa. Actually, I know all the rules and am, for the most part, a pretty patient player. However, I’ve played twice in the last couple of weeks and have been done in both times by sudden and unexplained burts of stupidity. The thing is, I can’t handle not seeing the cards revealed. I should just fold, but I have this crazy need to see all the community cards AND what cards my opponents have. Even when I know I’m beat, I just have to know what type of hand is beating me. And that flaw my friends, is a bad one to have.

Solitude

Sunday, aside from a trip to Target to exchange some pants, was spent at Ft. Fotis all by my lonesome. It was lovely. I needed a little “me” time. I watched some basketball, stared at a wall, made a turkey roll up (Ok, ok. I made 4 of them), did 200 jumping jacks, watched some PBS, and thought about, but boldly chose NOT to write, my fringe show. It was great. For about 3 hours. The other 21 hours were incredibly boring. But hey, I’m more relaxed, so that’s something.

Rampleseed

They ripped the heads off of rabbits before their set. Come on! I was so terrified that Tom (or Tyler) was going to shoot me with a bullet, or an arrow, or a rabbit’s head that I could barely function during our set. Joe was ashamed of me. I was just happy to get out of the show in one piece. Rampleseed is not to be fucked with.

Mike

Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008 | Movie Reviews, Plugs, Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Happy Wednesday!

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Judd Apatow and crew have become so successful that they are now able to make a movie out of any idea that any of them might have. Luckily, they are also on a pretty good roll. The roll continues with Forgetting Sarah Marshall, a movie about a guy who is dumped by his famous girlfriend, goes to Hawaii to get over her and finds out that she’s staying at the same hotel with her british rocker of a boyfriend. Throw in a beautiful perfect woman who just happens to work at the hotel as the main love interest and you’ve got yourself…a pretty hokey plot. Which makes it all the more amazing that I genuinely liked this movie. It was always about the relationships. In fact, the goofy setting and plot setups only came into play when it was helping to enhance those relationships as opposed to most comedies where the goofy setting and the plot are the focus of the movie and the characters are just there to move the movie to the next goofy premise.  Out of all of the recent Apatow joints (is that just a Spike Lee thing?) like Knocked Up and Superbad, this one would be my favorite. It wasn’t perfect. The supposedly killer opening seemed forced and like all Ro-coms,  the middle of this movie, or at least some of it, seemed pointless. Regardless. FOTI.

Commercial Chat

I did a commercial yesterday. My part took less than 20 minutes to film. OUSTANDING.

Improv Punch Out

Ferrari McSpeedy will be performing at Improv Punch Out this week, competing against the young upstarts known as Rampleseed. Should be a good battle. By the way, Tom and Tyler (Rampleseed) are very mean. They have apparently been threatening us at Go Go. Also, one of them followed me home last night and kicked me. I’m not sure which one kicked me because he had on a disguise and was on stilts and used voice modulation. I am afraid of them.

Mike

Earthquakes, Punchouts, and Love Actually’s…

Friday, April 18th, 2008 | Movie Reviews, Oleo, Plugs | 4 Comments

Happy Friday!

1. 5.2 magnitude earthquakes in Illinois? It happened this morning!  If you’re a dork and into such things, here’s a link to most of the recorded/significant earthquakes in Illinois history.

2. If you’re looking for fun this this evening, check out the BNW mainstage show at 8, then stick around for Improv Punch Out! This week it’s Adorable vs. Drum Machine.  $10. BNW. 11pm. Woot!

3. After weeks and weeks of seasons 1 and 2 of The Wire, I made sure that I didn’t fill my Netflix queue with season 3.  I needed a break and not to offend any Wire junkies out there but season 2 wasn’t nearly as good as the first.  In short, I need a few weeks to watch something else before I go back to the show America loves.  Actually, I’m not sure America loves it. I think they feel like they should love it since so many people have told them how awesome it is, but deep down, I think everyone knows it’s no Sopranos. Anyway, diatribe aside, I had forgotten what  non Wire stuff was in my queue and was surprised when Love Actually arrived at my door. After nearly two weeks of not being in the mood, I popped it in to the old dvd player last night.  It’s pretty darn great. It’s gooey and shmooey and all of that stuff, but it’s not like the I didn’t know that going in, so it’s hard for me to fault the movie for something it set out to do.  In the end I learned that being alone at Christmas is the worst possible thing that could ever happen to anyone. EVER.  This holds true for everyone. Even non-Christians. Anyway, blah, blah, blah FOTI.

Mike

3 Things…(one being a move)

Tuesday, April 1st, 2008 | Movie Reviews, Site News, Sports | 2 Comments

Happy Tuesday!

1. Big news! Mikefotis.com is open and ready for business! On this hip and dandy lil’ site you will be able to find my blog, show info, audio clips-including DINNER WITH MIKE, which will happen-video, pictures and a whole bunch more. Let’s face it, if I’m going to seriously try to become a web sensation then I need my own website. It just makes sense. For those of you who have grown accustomed to reading my blogs on MySpace, have no fears. The blog will still be here. For a while. Then I will probably do the switch. Maybe. I have no idea. I do know that I hope you visit mikefotis.com often. It will make me happy.

2. Saw Gone Baby Gone last night. I liked it a lot. Although I agreed with other people who would have also preferred that the movie ended a half hour before it did. The idea that good people are forced to live in an evil world and have to cope with it as best they can really hit home with me. It’s not that the ending was bad. Not at all, it was really good. It just felt like a different movie in a weird way. Whatevs. FOTI.

3. The Cubs lost their opener. Sports Illustrated has them picked to win the NL Central. So does ESPN, which are both bad signs, if you ask me. Why? Because. That’s why. Fucking because. On top of that, my mlb.com radio package doesn’t work. It says it’s working, but trust me, it’s not. This season’s gonna suck. The tea poop at the bottom of my tea cup says so…

Mike