Missing Persons Unit: Freddie Prinze Jr.

This article was published on the original Sorry I’m Late.com on 23/11/10.

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As doubtful as it may be, it’s possible that you may have recently asked yourself where on earth Freddie Prinze Jr. has disappeared to. A burgeoning superstar of the late 90’s/early 2000’s with a string of successful films including I Know What You Did Last SummerScooby Doo and She’s All That (and Wing Commander: lol); the films roles dried up for old Freddie quicker than you can say Matthew Lillard.

Truth be told, The Fresh Prinze (I went there) has been getting steady guest roles on television, but if you were to ask who was employing Prinze Jr. at this very moment; I will respond with the WWE.

You read that correctly; Freddie Prinze Jr. is employed as a writer for World Wrestling Entertainment: oh, how the mighty have fallen. He actually makes occasional on-screen appearances, such as this:

Freddie Prinze Jr. lays down the law to Randy Orton.

Which led to this:

Seriously, what did you expect to happen?

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MIFF 2010 in Review

 This article was published on the original Sorry I’m Late.com on 11/08/10.

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What an amazing, hectic and crazy few weeks it has been attending this year’s Melbourne International Film Festival. I’ll admit that I played it relatively safe in my choices; I mainly chose sessions consisting of classics or upcoming theatrical releases, but it was still an exhausting and time consuming undertaking – Now my house looks the Sedgwick Hotel after a visit from the Ghostbusters.

MIFF brings a veritable bounty of films from all regions of the globe, causing mass headaches for the film fan in terms of picking films whilst under budget and time-related constraints – such is why the few movies I chose to attend are all in English and of the fairly well-known variety.

Here is a wrap-up of my MIFF adventures, brought to you in the form of Review-Mini:

SPLICE
With the power of Guillermo Del Toro producing, Vincenzo Natali (Cube) directing and an idea which promised something between The Fly and Species; on paper Splice is an absolute winner. Too bad that the execution for the most part is fairly uninspired and an initially encouraging – if lacklustre – first half is blown into ridiculousness come the third act.

Seriously, the film is destroyed by the ludicrous decisions and hilarious dialogue from its main characters (Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley), and the story turns to a place that it never recovers from. Or maybe I’m not quite ready for adulterous, bestiality incest.

You read that right.

At least Brody didn’t whip out the Christian Bale Batman voice ala Predators5/10

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Book Review: Superman vs. Hollywood by Jake Rossen

This article was published on the original Sorry I’m Late.com on 23/03/10.

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Deviating from the normal machinations of my regular writing topics, today I bring to you a look at a book that I found so engrossing that I just could not put it down. It certainly took up more of my free time lately then expected – I’m not saying that it’s the sole reason behind my recent tardiness in updating the website, but it is in fact the sole reason behind my recent tardiness in updating the website. That book is titled Superman vs. Hollywood: How Fiendish Producers, Devious Directors, and Warring Writers Grounded an American Icon by Jake Rossen.

I love Superman – this is no lie. From the toys and action figures, statues, comics, posters (cast signed, snoogans) and even the ‘S’ Shield ink that adorns my body – saying that I may have a man-crush on the fictional quasi-deity may be an understatement. So it was with great surprise and enthusiasm that upon reading Jake Rossen’s near 300 page ode to the Man of Tomorrow, I was surprised to see so much detail and – more importantly – so much information and stories that I didn’t know on a topic where I thought I knew it all (all with iron-clad references and quotations, as well as a surprising amount of first-hand interviews from some important players).

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A Smelly Tale

This article was published on the original Sorry I’m Late.com on 29/09/09.

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Warning, this blog has got nothing to do about anything. It does contain a mention of Tarfful.

You’re welcome.

Ok, so the plan for yesterday was to head down to Scienceworks and take a gander at the Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination exhibition, which I absolutely HAD to catch before the installation is over in about a month. It was going to be an awesome day of looking at props and costumes and stuff – killer day for a nerdlinger like myself. But of course, all things don’t always go as planned but it ended up entertaining none the less.

So me and my other nerd-ly inclined companion, who in this story shall be referred to as Slappybags, head off to Scienceworks. Horror takes over as we realise that it’s school holidays, and Scienceworks quasi-educational appeal for parents has made it a top holiday destination. Goddamit, I wanna see the Tarfful Wookie costume! The line was stretching all the way to Bespin, and a quick analysis led to a swift conclusion – F that!

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There Can Be Only One (Again)

This article was published on the original Sorry I’m Late.com on 24/09/09.

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Today in Hollywood, the terms remake, or even worse reimagining, are cause for derision from movie aficionado’s such as me. Nothing spoils a classic film or a childhood favourite more than a half-assed reboot. In spite of occasional box office successes, most of these dreaded reimagining’s are, for the most part, massive lumps of shit – despite the introduction of today’s superior CG effects and quite possibly larger budgets, they are missing depth – a certain charm – something which has made them such fondly remember pieces of celluloid to begin with.

Some future reimagining’s (I even hate typing that word) that are being talked about as future projects include such treasures as Gremlins, Robocop and it has even got to a point where director’s are digging up their own work – such as David Cronenberg with The Fly. But with all that being said, there is one reboot on the horizon that I cannot contend with. A cult classic from the 80’s, highly prized and definitely a personal favourite of mine – 1986’s urban sci-fi swashbuckler Highlander.

Before you get all up in my grill accusing me of blasphemy, first read what I have to say. As I said, Highlander is a personal favourite and a classic, no doubt. But there are just so many elements in the film, and the franchise as a whole, that starting from scratch could benefit from.

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Avatar Day

This article was published on the original Sorry I’m Late.com on 23/08/09.

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In a mere 16 minutes, never has an opinion changed so quickly. The general feeling I had leading up to these 16 minutes was somewhat apathy mixed with ‘hope-this-doesn’t-suck-itis’ (which is a real condition, look it up). Needless to say, a quick 16 minutes was all that was needed to turn that feeling into some serious fanboy, boner inducing giddy excitement. Those 16 minutes came in the form of 16 minutes of preview footage of James Cameron’s Avatar. It was Avatar Day!

I must say, up until the past week, there has not been very much promotion for this film at all – besides word of mouth stuff and internet reports. All we have been told is that Avatar will be James Cameron’s long-in-gestation super-movie, a movie that Cameron had to wait until technology caught up with his vision. The much talked about aspect is the newly designed Fusion 3D camera system, apparently ready to revolutionise the entire film industry. Talk is cheap, especially when all you hear is talk for so long.

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