If you haven't heard about Kevin Haynes, the Ennis Independent School District's Chief of Police, then I will give you a brief synopsis. Haynes was stopped for driving while intoxicated Saturday night and during the incident he became violent and attacked an officer, sending the man to the hospital. He was charged with a DWI, resisting arrest and assault on a public servant.
Apparently this story and some video from one of the dashboard cameras of an Ovilla cruiser is getting national media attention. I haven't seen the video yet but I heard you can see Haynes swing at an officer and somebody tells Haynes his career is over, which it's beginning to look that way.
Haynes has been suspended with pay from the ISD until an investigation is completed.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Days Turn To Weeks
Not wanting to be called a zombie movie, “28 Weeks Later” falls into the rhythm of many zombie movies to come before it.
With more time since the rage virus infected the United Kingdom, splitting its populace into thoughtless, ravenous creatures chasing those yet to be turned and fighting for their survival, comes more gore and less imagination from the filmmakers.
A prologue starts the film showcasing a husband and wife holed up in a cottage tucked away in the English countryside trying to avoid being attacked by the throngs of creatures roaming Great Britain. In a moment of cowardice the husband, Don (Robert Carlyle), leaves his wife behind, knowing she is doomed to be torn apart by the creatures. A brief history of the virus and how it spread is offered, describing how its victims become cannibalistic.
Things begin to settle after the American military quarantines a portion of downtown London from the virus. It has been several months since the creatures died off from starvation and snipers protect the perimeters of a society that must be rebuilt gradually as citizens return from the safety of outside countries. The latest wave of homecoming refugees includes the daughter and son of Don, a duo who secretly possess a key part in potentially understanding and possibly curing the virus.
Following this all-too-brief opening that exhibits remnants of a sequel just as original and accomplished as its original the story falls into the trap of the zombie genre with a small group of survivors, including a sniper questioning his orders and a doctor questioning her superiors, trying to run, drive, swim or fly from the “zombies” as individuals are picked off one by one in death scenes that get more and more graphic as the movie progresses.
“28 Weeks” lacks the innovation and realism its predecessor “28 Days Later” had, which wasn’t just a horror movie about infected, brainless creatures turning Great Britain into a battlefield, but instead was a surreal look at the breakdown of a society when faced with a life-threatening epidemic.
Danny Boyle and Alex Garland step down as director and writer this time, into the roles of executive producers, and are replaced by director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo and a new collection of scribes. This roster change is probably to blame for the disappointing results found in “28 Weeks Later.”
Instead of making a follow-up that could highlight the aftermath of such a heart-wrenching, but potential, event, Fresnadillo and his crew take their moment of filmmaking to show an assessment of American autocratic government. I should give “28 Weeks Later” a little credit for being able to constantly flop back and forth from replicated zombie movie and explosive action movie.
The one element from its predecessor “28 Weeks” is able to keep and use successfully is the music. The repetitive and haunting score is a welcome return to the franchise.
After the first two reels of the movie are gone, the movie begins to go from bad to worse. If this is the direction future “28 Time Periods Later” movies are going to take then fans of the original shouldn’t be too excited about the potential for another sequel, which Fresnadillo made sure to leave as a possibility with his predictable ending.
With more time since the rage virus infected the United Kingdom, splitting its populace into thoughtless, ravenous creatures chasing those yet to be turned and fighting for their survival, comes more gore and less imagination from the filmmakers.
A prologue starts the film showcasing a husband and wife holed up in a cottage tucked away in the English countryside trying to avoid being attacked by the throngs of creatures roaming Great Britain. In a moment of cowardice the husband, Don (Robert Carlyle), leaves his wife behind, knowing she is doomed to be torn apart by the creatures. A brief history of the virus and how it spread is offered, describing how its victims become cannibalistic.
Things begin to settle after the American military quarantines a portion of downtown London from the virus. It has been several months since the creatures died off from starvation and snipers protect the perimeters of a society that must be rebuilt gradually as citizens return from the safety of outside countries. The latest wave of homecoming refugees includes the daughter and son of Don, a duo who secretly possess a key part in potentially understanding and possibly curing the virus.
Following this all-too-brief opening that exhibits remnants of a sequel just as original and accomplished as its original the story falls into the trap of the zombie genre with a small group of survivors, including a sniper questioning his orders and a doctor questioning her superiors, trying to run, drive, swim or fly from the “zombies” as individuals are picked off one by one in death scenes that get more and more graphic as the movie progresses.
“28 Weeks” lacks the innovation and realism its predecessor “28 Days Later” had, which wasn’t just a horror movie about infected, brainless creatures turning Great Britain into a battlefield, but instead was a surreal look at the breakdown of a society when faced with a life-threatening epidemic.
Danny Boyle and Alex Garland step down as director and writer this time, into the roles of executive producers, and are replaced by director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo and a new collection of scribes. This roster change is probably to blame for the disappointing results found in “28 Weeks Later.”
Instead of making a follow-up that could highlight the aftermath of such a heart-wrenching, but potential, event, Fresnadillo and his crew take their moment of filmmaking to show an assessment of American autocratic government. I should give “28 Weeks Later” a little credit for being able to constantly flop back and forth from replicated zombie movie and explosive action movie.
The one element from its predecessor “28 Weeks” is able to keep and use successfully is the music. The repetitive and haunting score is a welcome return to the franchise.
After the first two reels of the movie are gone, the movie begins to go from bad to worse. If this is the direction future “28 Time Periods Later” movies are going to take then fans of the original shouldn’t be too excited about the potential for another sequel, which Fresnadillo made sure to leave as a possibility with his predictable ending.
Monday, May 14, 2007
My Regular Season Has Begun
I started my summer movie-watching spree with Spider-Man 3 last weekend and this week I followed up with 28 Weeks Later. I will do a review of both, but I am going to start with Spider-Man 3.
After reading some fan reviews on the World Wide Web in the last week it has been decided that folks either loved this movie or hated it. I fall closer to the latter.
Sam Raimi really disappoints this time around with too many villains, a ridiculous display of the emergence of Peter Parker/Spider-Man’s dark side, pointless characters and laughable ways of cleaning up the mess Raimi made in trying to spin too long and complicated of a web.
The Sandman is a pointless character that is pushed upon Parker (and the audience) by changing the Spider-Man comic book history. According to the movie, Flint Marko/Sandman has a connection to Uncle Ben’s killing, but Raimi only does this because otherwise there is nothing to Sandman. He has nothing to give to the movie except some cool visual effects, which aren’t anything we haven’t yet seen in a Spider-Man movie.
Another villain, who is considered to be Spider-Man’s most anticipated and wicked adversary, is Venom. Venom is the creation of a symbiote alien goo and photographer Eddie Brock. Brock is angry with Parker for ruining his career and the goo brings out more anger from Brock. Thus Venom is born… and dead within 12 minutes of screen time. This creature is what every Spider-Man fan has been waiting six years for since hearing the news of a live-action movie. What a let down.
The final villain (that’s right, we’re still working on villains) is the new Green Goblin, a.k.a. Harry Osborn. Osborn is still on a rampage to kill Spider-Man, whom he now knows is former best friend Parker. The two have the best fight scenes of the entire movie, but it results in a lame result that has no originality and teeters on being a bad soap opera story. Even the outcome of Parker and Osborn’s friendship is resolved by a random character that mimics the form of Bruce Wayne’s conscious. Again, not an original idea from Raimi.
A character who is set up to play a large part in the film but fizzles out halfway through is Gwen Stacy. This will be another argument by Spider-Man fans because Stacy was a much bigger player early in Parker’s life in the comic books. She is introduced at the beginning of the film and consequently drives a wedge between Parker and Mary Jane, but then is dropped completely after a pitiful attempt at humor by Raimi when the alien goo begins to take control of Parker’s dark side.
I’m not sure of the running time for Spider-Man 3, but it feels way too long for a kids’ comic book film, which is what this series has been reduced to after this installment. The story drags and the final battle is so complex/unrealistic it becomes farcical. Spider-Man 3 is the worst of the entire series and a change needs to take place because it just feels tiresome now.
After reading some fan reviews on the World Wide Web in the last week it has been decided that folks either loved this movie or hated it. I fall closer to the latter.
Sam Raimi really disappoints this time around with too many villains, a ridiculous display of the emergence of Peter Parker/Spider-Man’s dark side, pointless characters and laughable ways of cleaning up the mess Raimi made in trying to spin too long and complicated of a web.
The Sandman is a pointless character that is pushed upon Parker (and the audience) by changing the Spider-Man comic book history. According to the movie, Flint Marko/Sandman has a connection to Uncle Ben’s killing, but Raimi only does this because otherwise there is nothing to Sandman. He has nothing to give to the movie except some cool visual effects, which aren’t anything we haven’t yet seen in a Spider-Man movie.
Another villain, who is considered to be Spider-Man’s most anticipated and wicked adversary, is Venom. Venom is the creation of a symbiote alien goo and photographer Eddie Brock. Brock is angry with Parker for ruining his career and the goo brings out more anger from Brock. Thus Venom is born… and dead within 12 minutes of screen time. This creature is what every Spider-Man fan has been waiting six years for since hearing the news of a live-action movie. What a let down.
The final villain (that’s right, we’re still working on villains) is the new Green Goblin, a.k.a. Harry Osborn. Osborn is still on a rampage to kill Spider-Man, whom he now knows is former best friend Parker. The two have the best fight scenes of the entire movie, but it results in a lame result that has no originality and teeters on being a bad soap opera story. Even the outcome of Parker and Osborn’s friendship is resolved by a random character that mimics the form of Bruce Wayne’s conscious. Again, not an original idea from Raimi.
A character who is set up to play a large part in the film but fizzles out halfway through is Gwen Stacy. This will be another argument by Spider-Man fans because Stacy was a much bigger player early in Parker’s life in the comic books. She is introduced at the beginning of the film and consequently drives a wedge between Parker and Mary Jane, but then is dropped completely after a pitiful attempt at humor by Raimi when the alien goo begins to take control of Parker’s dark side.
I’m not sure of the running time for Spider-Man 3, but it feels way too long for a kids’ comic book film, which is what this series has been reduced to after this installment. The story drags and the final battle is so complex/unrealistic it becomes farcical. Spider-Man 3 is the worst of the entire series and a change needs to take place because it just feels tiresome now.
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