Month: July 2014

The Night at the Museum 3 Gets a Trailer and Title!

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

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The third Night at the Museum movie is definitely going to explain the origins of the golden tablet that animates the exhibits and wrap up this series at the same time. Titled Secrets of the Tomb, this film might include some Indiana Jones moments too.

The fun is in reuniting the ol’ gang and taking them to London to find the means of re-energizing the said item so life everlasting will not stop. The trailer is an amusing watch, and for Egyptian enthusiasts like me, this is the movie I’ve been waiting for! It seems a part of what I’ve conjectured may well come true if the cast listing for this film and the trailer is any indication.

As for how much of the ancient world will prevail throughout the movie, perhaps only 15-20 minutes will be spent revealing what the tablet is meant for and how it came into possession of Ahkmenrah.

But as for how much of the humour is being rehashed, yes a few jokes are looking like it can run thin with Dexter the monkey up to his usual tricks and a new dinosaur chasing the team around needing to be tamed. That will not stop fans of this movie trilogy from going to see this film come Christmas week, when this film is set to screen Dec 19.

[Victoria, BC] The Rocky Mountain Express Returns to the IMAX at the Royal BC Museum

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

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Throughout the years, IMAX filmmaker Stephen Low has made many a documentary about some of the world’s amazing vehicles. From planes and trains to automobiles, he has finally covered them all. His most recent work, Rocky Mountain Express, is making a return to Victoria, B.C’s National Geographic IMAX theatre August 1st, and it will certainly be a crowd pleaser.

This movie looks at the Empress (CPR 2816), the little train that could. It carried more than just supplies and people cross-country. It also symbolized hope, and it really carried the dreams of many to unite a nation. Since BC was the last to join the Confederation, without the initial train line to connect the two sides of the country together, this nation might have taken on a different shape.

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A New Penguins of Madagascar Poster and Trailer Has Arrived! with Medusans in the Act

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

 

penguinsofmadagascar1More plot details are unveiled in a new trailer for the coming DreamWorks Animation Penguins of Madagascar film due in theatres November 2014. There’s a mysterious serum codenamed Medusa that’s labelled as doomsday level dangerous. Just what it does is unknown, but if the name is any indication, perhaps it will turn everyone to stone.

Fortunately Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and Private are not dumb enough to toss the sample around. It’s safely stored in Rico’s stomach, and when it reemerges, the team think that’s a mission done. Not so. The trailer speaks for itself in the hilarity that ensues in a movie that no doubt parodies the entire spy film genre. It gets sillier than any Austin Powers film.

That also includes questioning why some master villains, namely Dr. Octavius Brine (aka Dave, voiced by John Malkovich), must go into huge soliloquies into explaining why his plans are so grandiose. Quite simply, he’s in it for revenge against the penguins. No detail is offered as to exactly why, but as the new promotional poster implies, maybe there is some history that will unfold in this “untold story.”

But fans will have to wait for Turkey Day in the USA to find out.

 

Hiding Out from Life’s Little Problems with And So It Goes, a Movie Review

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

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Joni Mitchell’s folksy “Both Sides Now” makes for a great bookend song for Rob Reiner’s film, And So It Goes, a romantic comedy about self-discovery and strengthening family bonds. In the themes typically found in her music, the feeling of romantic longing and disillusionment that the main two characters carry in their selves is definitely noticeable. But for people wondering if there’s any relationship to Billy Joel’s own tune, most likely not.

This movie is made for an older generation to enjoy a well made character drama moreso than for younger crowds on the hunt for slapstick. But for anyone who likes to see the talented Michael Douglas play an ol’ codger amped up on many nasty levels, this film is recommended. Fans familiar with him playing Jack T. Colton, an adventurer in Romancing the Stone or Grady Tripp in Wonder Boys will find a very different character in this film. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the curious will be interested in seeing how he will fare as Hank Pym in Ant-Man. The newswire Reuters quoted him to say that he wants to have some fun in the role of Pym. He certainly had fun in And So It Goes by playing Oren Little, a mean spirited and grumpy real estate agent.

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Looking Back (and Forward) to the Life & Times of Monty Python

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

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Cineplex Front Row Center Events
Encore Broadcast: July 31

July 20th’s world-wide simulcast of Monty Python Live (Mostly) will no doubt get a video release sooner than later. With the show  recorded and already broadcasted on television in the European Union, pumping out a video product will be easy.

That way, fans can look back at nearly 45 years of this comedy team’s cacophony of the fun and absurd. Technically, the years they were active amounted to 18. The stage show at London’s O2 arena featured the best of this comedy group’s skits from the television show Monty Python’s Flying Circus with more pomp, romp and craziness niched in, and for some folks hoping for a few surprises, the only shame is that no new material was offered.

At least a few of the skits are updated for the times. The Cheese Shop sketch gets an amusing postscript note at the tail end of The Dead Parrot sketch, and that at least shows some fun changes are in store. But for the other skit, either they are given a huge production in the style of Broadway in a way that only Eric Idle can appreciate or they are taken straight out of the tele from long ago.

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Cheech and Chong: Show Appears Tough All Over

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)
and James Robert Shaw (The Wind up Geek)

cheech and chong music 2014 tour.wideaUp In Smoke Tour w/
Cheech & Chong and War

The Royal Theatre
Victoria, BC

July 20, 2014

J: After 30 years of watching their films and listening to their comedy albums, I was ecstatic to finally be able to see Cheech and Chong live on stage. I will say that the years have not been kind to their low-brow style of comedy, which served them better in its heyday during the 1970’s.

It doesn’t mean they’re any less funny (goodness knows they are) but that does make it tough for Cheech and Chong to find a new generation of fans. That much was self-evident in the make-up of the audience. Except for one youth, the rest of the attendees I saw were at my age or older.

The reason may be due to the demand for a Cheech and Chong reunion hit its peak a decade ago.

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