the agony booth

Steel (1997)

Solkir — Mon, 20 May 2013 00:05:56 GMT

In a nutshell:

Solkir reviews the dumb (yet fascinating) Steel, starring Shaquille O'Neal as a weapons designer who grows a conscience and designs a powerful suit of armor so he can be a superhero. In the comics, Steel's origin was tied up in the '90s Death of Superman saga, but there's no sign of Superman here. Instead, we get Judd Nelson, the Not-Oracle, and a brand new dialect created by future sex tape star Ray J.

Jurassic Park, and when kids' movies had teeth

Joshua Bell — Sat, 18 May 2013 17:58:25 GMT

In a nutshell:

Joshua recently saw the re-release of Jurassic Park, and was left with one question: Remember back when kids' movies had some of the scariest moments in film history? Whatever happened to that?

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon - "Act 20" (Orig Aired Feb 21, 2004)

Nycea — Sat, 18 May 2013 16:30:40 GMT

In a nutshell:

Ami is taken prisoner by the Negaverse! Also, Usagi goes on a double date with Hikari, and it's very uncomfortable.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)

Thomas Stockel — Fri, 17 May 2013 19:22:27 GMT

In a nutshell:

It's the debut of a new show, Tom's Retrophilia, hosted by our own Thomas Stockel! You probably know Tom from the recaps he's written for the site, mostly of the animated Star Trek series. He makes the jump from written articles to his own video show with this impassioned defense of Star Trek: The Motion Picture!

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

Ed Harris — Fri, 17 May 2013 17:09:35 GMT

In a nutshell:

I love the scene where McCoy tries to charter a flight to the planet. While the guy was always a funny character before, having Spock inhabiting his mind in a way makes him even better.

The Mist (2007)

Horror Guru — Thu, 16 May 2013 23:54:19 GMT

In a nutshell:

It's a Friday Night Fright Flicks special presentation of Blood Splattered Adaptations! The Horror Guru compares Frank Darabont's big screen adaptation of The Mist starring Thomas Jane and Laurie Holden to the Stephen King novella it's based on, with passages from the book read by A Philosopher, and lots of background info about the making of the movie.

Star Trek Into Darkness

Joshua Bell — Thu, 16 May 2013 17:56:40 GMT

In a nutshell:

At this point, I am convinced that J.J. Abrams is the single greatest threat to good filmmaking today. The usual reaction to a statement like that is for people to rush and defend him by pointing out how “not bad” his handful of films are. The repeated use of the phrase “not bad” is really all I need to illustrate my point.

Star Trek (2009)

Sursum Ursa — Wed, 15 May 2013 15:36:42 GMT

In a nutshell:

Ursa takes a newbie's-eye view of the 2009 Star Trek movie, and talks lens flares, Chris Pine, and how this movie relates to Jeremy Brett. No, really. This episode also includes a completely spoiler-free "review" (read: extended impressions session) of Star Trek Into Darkness. Caution: May contain Benedict Cumberbatch.

Star Trek Nemesis (2002)

Dr. Winston O'Boogie — Wed, 15 May 2013 04:13:45 GMT

In a nutshell:

On the eve of the Star Trek franchise heading into darkness, Dr. O'Boogie looks back at the TNG cast's final outing Star Trek Nemesis, which somehow became the most reviled entry in the series despite there being a few other Star Trek movies that are at least as dumb. But it's a shameless ripoff of Wrath of Khan starring an up and coming British actor, and who would possibly want to see that?

I Am Number Four (2011)

Cecil Trachenburg — Tue, 14 May 2013 05:34:16 GMT

In a nutshell:

Mainstream May for Cecil continues with I Am Number Four, a movie adapted from a book series that unfortunately was dismissed as another Twilight knockoff. While there is a teen romance and superpowers, the film is fast-paced entertainment and not the dull mess that the Twilight movies ended up as.