Growing Up 90’s: Blink-182- “A New Hope”

December 15, 2015 / The No Seatbelt Blog / Leave a comment

In honor of this week’s much-anticipated release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which is the seventh volume of every nerd’s favorite cinematic saga, The No Seatbelt Blog will remain in kind, by presenting a most appropriate song for this newest edition of “Growing Up 90’s.” From Blink-182’s seminal 1997 pop-punk album Dude Ranch came “A New Hope,” a deep track on the record about a pubescent obsession with Princess Leia. The band’s Mark Hoppus leads the listener through his fantasy about falling asleep and waking up next to the heroine from those legendary first three films. Continue reading →

Film Review: The Gift

November 30, 2015 / The No Seatbelt Blog / Leave a comment

Last week, I finally got to watch The Gift, a thriller that I had heard mostly good things about and was eagerly awaiting. The directorial debut of Joel Edgerton (who also wrote and starred in the movie), The Gift revolves around Simon and Robyn (Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall), a young couple whose lives seem to be coming together as they move into a new home, Simon gets a significant promotion at work, and they work on starting a family. This ultimate happiness comes crashing down when they run into Gordo (Edgerton), a former classmate of Simon’s who harbors a dark secret. Continue reading →

Ryan Remembers…The Strangers

November 22, 2015 / The No Seatbelt Blog / Leave a comment

One of my favorite horror films of all time came to the big screen in 2008 in The Strangers. Supposedly inspired by a true story, the film revolves around James Hoyt (Scott Speedman) and Kristen McKay (Liv Tyler), a young couple, who after her rejection of his marriage proposal, return for the night to a summer house owned by his parents. As if the night wasn’t bad enough already for the two of them, a mysterious woman knocks on the door in the wee hours of the morning, asking for someone who is not there. From there, the same woman, along with another woman, and a man, all now wearing masks, start terrorizing the couple from outside the house. Continue reading →

Funko Friday: The Boondock Saints

November 20, 2015 / The No Seatbelt Blog / 2 Comments

When I was in college, my roommate Dave said to me something to the effect of “you’re probably not going to like this movie.” Nonetheless, we sat and watched The Boondock Saints, and I was blown away by it. This low-budget independent film revolves around Connor and Murphy MacManus, two deeply religious Irish brothers living in South Boston, who after a violent run-in with the Russian mob, grow tired of the incessant crime they see around them, and take it upon themselves to start taking out the trash in the city they call home. Continue reading →

Funko Friday: Stay Puft Marshmallow Man

November 6, 2015 / The No Seatbelt Blog / Leave a comment

“It’s the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man,” said Ghostbuster Ray Stanz, in a statement that was both matter-of-fact and loaded with dismay, after he inadvertently conjured up the embodiment of one of his favorite childhood mascots. Towards the end of the classic comedy, the Ghostbusters were asked to choose the form of “the destructor”, which would descend upon New York City to destroy them, along with the rest of the world. While the other three cleared their heads, poor Ray had a fleeting thought about a childhood memory, and it immediately came back to life. Continue reading →

Funko Friday: The Joker

October 23, 2015 / The No Seatbelt Blog / Leave a comment

“Some men just want to watch the world burn,” said the great Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth in The Dark Knight. That morbid desire was certainly true of The Joker in that incredible film, and the character’s portrayal by Heath Ledger made you believe that without a shred of doubt. Ledger’s performance as Batman’s nemesis was unexpectedly scary, and is to this day, at least in my book, incomparable. As a self-proclaimed “agent of chaos,” he wanted to bring Gotham City to its knees, if for no other reason than the fact that he could. Everyone knows that the scariest motive for a villain to have for the death and destruction they wreak is no real motive at all, and that concept makes movies such as The Dark Knight so much more fun. Continue reading →

Funko Friday: The Rocketeer

October 16, 2015October 15, 2015 / The No Seatbelt Blog / Leave a comment

This week on Funko Friday, I honor one of my favorite Pop! dolls modeled after the title character from one of my favorite movies when I was a kid, The Rocketeer! The 1991 Disney classic features Billy Campbell as Cliff, an up-and-coming pilot who gets his hands on a prototype of a jetpack after being shot down in his plane and uses it to battle the Nazis in 1930’s Hollywood. All in a day’s work for Cliff, as he goes head-to-head with Neville Sinclair, a famous actor who is in league with the German baddies (played by Timothy Dalton, who is always a great villain), and tries to save his girlfriend and aspiring actress Jenny Blake (the lovely Jennifer Connelly) who often gets caught in the crossfire. Continue reading →

Reckless Injustice

October 15, 2015October 15, 2015 / The No Seatbelt Blog / Leave a comment

In 1995, the town of Agoura Hills, California, which beneath its seemingly idyllic surface lay a reality of broken homes and drug-addicted teenagers, was rocked by tragedy. The affluent suburb, some fifty miles north of Los Angeles, was the setting of a backyard brawl that ended up in the death of a well-liked local teen by the name of Jimmy Farris. The documentary Reckless Indifference delves into the incident, which occurred at the home of a known drug dealer and ultimately sent four teenage boys to prison for life on the charge of first degree murder. Continue reading →

Funko Friday: Silent Bob

September 25, 2015September 25, 2015 / The No Seatbelt Blog / Leave a comment

This week’s edition of Funko Friday will honor the fictional local hero known as Silent Bob. Played with stoic charm by Red Bank-native Kevin Smith, whose 1994 black-and-white classic Clerks, along with its ensuing cinematic universe that took New Jersey by storm, Silent Bob is a lovable, chain-smoking, drug-dealing character who says nothing for the majority of each of the films in which he stars, until he finally opens his mouth to say something that crucially impacts the story. He plays a counterbalance to his hetero-life-mate Jay (Jay Mewes), who is a delightfully crude and misogynistic idiot who never shuts up. Continue reading →

Funko Friday: Vincent Vega (Pulp Fiction)

September 18, 2015September 18, 2015 / The No Seatbelt Blog / Leave a comment

This week in my ongoing toy series, Funko Friday, the Pop! doll created in the likeness of Vincent Vega from Pulp Fiction will be featured. Pulp Fiction is one of my absolute favorite movies, and is also one of the greatest films of all time (that’s a solid fact). I won’t explain much about Quentin Tarantino’s masterpiece here, as even watching it for the first time can be at least mildly confusing due to the fact that the storyline jumps around in time. Vincent Vega is played by John Travolta in the movie, in one of his most memorable roles. The character is a hired gun for one Mr. Marcellus Wallace, and is put through the ringer with his partner Jules (Samuel L. Jackson, in an even more memorable role) before the end of the film. Continue reading →

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