Code Redd Net

careful, we're really good at cutting things off

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Extended Play (or was it X-Play by then?) reviews TS2. They give it a 4 out of 5 for some incomprehensible reason.

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One of my favorite things to watch on YouTube are videos like the one you see above, in this case the opening previews (trailers and advertisements) from the Rumble in the Bronx VHS tape. It's an interesting phenomenon, and I'm not sure if it's been really discussed at all, but there's a whole bunch of these uploaded for virtually any Hollywood film released during the VHS era. It's a fascinating thing, particularly the way in which these trailers may be tied into the experience of a given film, at least for those of us who grew up with these tapes. Speaking for myself, I can recall these trailers almost as well as I can recall the film. There's something really interesting going on here in terms of nostalgia and materiality.

P.S. The Batman Forever VHS opening is also pretty neat.

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PS2 ad for Rise to Honor (2003).

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Screenshot of the Day: Street Sk8er (1999).

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Screenshot of the Day: Sunset Riders (1993).

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Earlier this afternoon on the CRN hub I reviewed a few Van Damme films, including Double Impact. That's all the excuse I need to throw up a few pictures of Bolo Yeung, one of the villains "Chad" has to fight when he's not getting obscene with the girlfriend of his twin brother "Alex". Above you see stills from Enter the Dragon (1973) and Bloodsport (1988), two classics of the martial arts genre. It's always worthwhile to pay them the proper respect. Bolo Yeung, much love.

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Screenshot of the Day: Road Rash II (1992).

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Screenshot of the Day: 007: Tomorrow Never Dies (1999).

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Screenshot of the Day: Rise to Honor (2003).

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Screenshot of the Day: Bruce Lee: Quest of the Dragon (2002).

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Screenshot of the Day: Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (2000).

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These amazing photos are from an arcade game called Jackie Chan: The Kung Fu Master (1995). As you can see, there's a whole mess of explosions and super costumes. Thorsten is especially dreamy.

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Screenshot of the Day: Freedom Fighters (2003).

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Bit late on this one. Keep an eye on the CRN hub for a full review soon.

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ChickenMan Quick Review: The Ninth Gate (1999)

Currently one of Netflix's "horror" offerings, The Ninth Gate has an interesting premise behind it but fails to deliver a compelling story. To be certain, I did feel a low level of suspense, but the payoff was not enough to justify the film's 120+ minute-long length. 

Johnny Depp plays the role of a rare book expert, helping people assess the price of their collections and tracking down books for clients. Seeing him in a scholarly role is refreshing. Doesn't he look studious? Making it more interesting, he is tracking down books featuring pictures drawn by Lucifer, trying to satisfy his Satanic clientele. As one who enjoys books and noir-like detective stories, I thought The Ninth Gate would be a sure win.

Unfortunately, the film doesn't feature much of any sleuthing for the viewer, nor does it have any real surprises to speak of. At almost any single point in Johnny Depp's journey, it's as if we all know the basic destination.of the story and are just waiting for him to reach it.

Thus, The Ninth Gate is a movie that can easily be skipped; its redeeming quality is that it offers a character that I think would work well in some type of fan-fic (perhaps the book it's based on is better) or even a graphic novel.

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Screenshots of the Day: Madden NFL 2004 (2003). While I'm not really a big football fan, I'm American and I was born into a family of football players and coaches, so every now and then I feel the urge to suit up as the Bengals on my PS2. This is the only football game I own, and from what I've read, I see no reason to upgrade to later editions. I love the mini-camps in this one, and I also love owning my own team and deciding on how much to charge fans for a hotdog (if you're wondering, I have it set at $25).

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Here's a collection of images from our Geocities archives. It's a pretty good summary of the things we enjoy in life, actually.