Fanpicked Media
Bio
Watcher and critic of movies, television, and streaming media. Helping you pick the media that's best for your consumption.
Stories (34/0)
Modern Problems Call for Modern Solutions
Have you ever heard of the nostalgia gland? No? Not many people have, but there are those who swear it exists. It’s located near the heart, and it can be easily manipulated by the entertainment industry, among other businesses. The nostalgia gland produces an enzyme that causes warm and fuzzy feelings related to the happier, “simpler” times of one’s childhood. This gland has helped to rake in millions, or not billions of dollars with the “everything old is new again” adaptations of many iconic, multimedia franchises of the 1980s, like Transformers, and has been a proven success with programming that is set in the 80s, like Stranger Things. Now with the year 2020 just around the corner, it’s time for the now 30-something-year-old 90s babies to have their nostalgia glands manipulated, starting with an old favorite from a bygone era of Nickelodeon's Nicktoons, Rocko’s Modern Life.
By Fanpicked Media5 years ago in Geeks
Wu-Hoo!
Being a lifelong fan of movies and television, it’s probably only natural that I would dabble in screenwriting and creating stories of my own. I tend to favor movies over television, as I prefer stories with a definite beginning, middle, and end, rather than on-going stories that don’t have endings in mind, and are designed to continue indefinitely, so long as the television network keeps renewing the series. That, and television series always seem to be about the same things. It’s always shows about either doctors, lawyers, or police officers. Frankly, I don’t care about doctors, lawyers, or police officers, unless I need them during medical, legal, or criminal emergencies. So if I ever did create a television series, it would be something unusual, and “unusual” is the right word to describe Netflix’s Wu Assassins.
By Fanpicked Media5 years ago in Geeks
A Hollywood Tall Tale
In my introductory post about my history with and love of movies, I talked about Quentin Tarantino being among one of favorite creative minds of modern filmmaking. Say what you will about his dependence on highly exaggerated violence and possible racial insensitivity, you’re not going to find major studio produced movies with such unique ideas, or as well crafted as his. And Once Upon A Time In Hollywood is no different. There’s just one problem: It’s virtually storyless! What do I mean by that?
By Fanpicked Media5 years ago in Geeks
Testosterone & Adrenaline
To fully understand Hobbs & Shaw, you have to understand a movie that was released 30 years earlier called Tango & Cash. In that movie, Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell played a pair of renegade police officers in California. Each had their own unorthodox methods of fighting crime, and the two didn’t get along once they were unwillingly paired together to take down a crime lord. What follows is a bunch of action sequences and a whole lot of cheesy one-liners that might have seemed clever back in 1989, but are quite eye-rollingly stupid in 2019. I would not be at all surprised if there was a bunch of executives and other “creatives” at Universal Studios who were secretly fans of Tango & Cash, and to pay homage to it on its 30th anniversary, they used it as the template for this spin-off of the Fast & Furious franchise. Because that is exactly what this movie is. It’s Tango & Cash, with ten times the budget! Is that a good thing or a bad thing?
By Fanpicked Media5 years ago in Geeks
Far Out There
2018 was the unofficial year of Spider-Man, for better and for worse. Marvel’s posterboy (and my all time favorite fictional character) had a standout scene in the biggest movie of the year, Avengers: Infinity War. He then had a critically acclaimed and best selling video game on the Playstation 4. After that, he appeared in an animated film, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which went on to win the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. And to further prove the popularity of the wall crawler, his greatest villain, Venom, had a hit movie, and Spider-Man didn’t even appear in it! Sadly, it was also the year that Spider-Man’s co-creators, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, died mere months away from each other. Now one year later, the web-slinger is appearing in his seventh live action, solo movie. How does it compare to the other installments? Let’s find out.
By Fanpicked Media5 years ago in Geeks
International Incident
Without a doubt, the most iconic aspect to come out of the Men in Black movie franchise is that of the neuralyzer. For those of you living under a rock for the past twenty-two years (or perhaps the device was used on you), the neuralyzer is a pen-like gizmo that is used to flash innocent bystanders in the eyes, erasing their memories from anywhere between hours to years ago. I remember that in the bygone year of 1997, one ad for the original Men in Black movie had Will Smith flashing the device directly towards the camera and telling the audience to “See it again… for the first time.” Surely there are many studio executives who wish it were that simple to make as much money at the box office as possible with that very strategy (and also use it to make their numerous legal problems go away, but let’s not go into that).
By Fanpicked Media5 years ago in Geeks
The Monster Mash
In the far and distant year of 2005, my friends and I saw Peter Jackson’s remake of King Kong. The movie starred Kyle Chandler, and featured the legendary Kong as portrayed by the equally legendary motion capture actor, Andy Serkis. Little did I know that 14 years later, I would be seeing Kyle Chandler in another movie featuring an equally iconic monster. Godzilla: King of the Monsters is the sequel to the 2014 movie, Godzilla, is the 35th movie appearance of Godzilla (the giant, nuclear radiation powered lizard), and the third Godzilla movie to be made by Hollywood. It’s also features the American movie debuts of Toho Company’s other monsters, Mothra (a giant moth), Rodan (a fiery pteranodon), and King Ghidorah (a three headed and two tailed dragon). That information dump aside, is the movie any good? Let’s find out together.
By Fanpicked Media5 years ago in Geeks
Everything Is Adorable
Much like Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, the original The Lego Movie was one of those movies that at first sight, you would write it off as an uninspired cash grab, only to see it and realize it has no business being as good as it is. Such lightning caught in a bottle is nearly impossible to duplicate, but that never stops movie studios from creating sequels anyway. So, is the sequel a worthy successor, or much like the Pirates franchise, is this the beginning of a downward spiral for the series? Let’s find out.
By Fanpicked Media5 years ago in Geeks
Game Over
So this is it. After 11 long years, and 21 movies, we have reached the end of Marvel Studios’ first arc of stories, nicknamed as The Infinity Saga. Avengers: Endgame is directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, and stars so many actors and actresses that if I tried to list them all, that alone would take up three pages. Oh, and it’s three hours long. Needless to say, do not order and drink that 32-oz or 64-oz soda before or during the movie. Other than that, everyone is curious to know if the movie is any good. I’m here to tell you… Yes, yes it is. Now let’s go into the juicy details of the movie event of the year.
By Fanpicked Media5 years ago in Geeks
Hell Hath No Fury
There’s lots of talk these days about the gap between critics hating on tentpole movies and audiences loving those same movies being the widest it has been. Some critics are claiming that this rebooted version of Hellboy is the worst comic book movie to ever be made. But like Maury Povich before me, I am here to tell you that that is a lie! Frankly, how could this be the worst comic book movie ever made when movies like Halle Berry’s Catwoman or the infamous Batman & Robin exist!?
By Fanpicked Media5 years ago in Geeks
Steampunk Paradise
Steampunk is quite possibly the most overlooked subgenres of science fiction. Most people prefer space operas, or stories of time travel, or other high concepts, while steampunk stories get lost in the shuffle. However, the subgenre does have its loyal fanbase, and boy, are they going to love this movie! Adapted from the novel by Philip Reeve, Mortal Engines is a post-apocalyptic tale in which London is now a giant city on wheels. Peter Jackson, of Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit fame, co-wrote the screenplay and produced the movie, while Christian Rivers serves as director. Outside of the trailers, I had no idea what this flick was going to be about, but upon seeing it, there were plenty of imaginative ideas, but much like the steampunk genre, they all get lost in the shuffle.
By Fanpicked Media5 years ago in Geeks
Not So Greener Pastures
I feel bad for Mahershala Ali. The man is a talented actor with range and a charisma about him, which has gained him two Oscars for Best Supporting Actor, as well as the honor of being in two Best Picture Oscar winning films. However, both of the Best Picture winners will forever be overshadowed by controversy. The first Best Picture is Moonlight, which momentarily had its thunder stolen from it when La La Land was accidentally announced as the winner before being corrected. The second Best Picture is this film, Green Book, which many would argue didn’t even deserve to win at all! In fact, some critics even claim it’s the worst Best Picture winner since Crash, and considering how that movie also suffered from an disorganized message about race relations, that’s a fitting comparison.
By Fanpicked Media5 years ago in Geeks