where: EDWARDS FAIRFIELD STADIUM 16 & I-MAX in Fairfield, CA
when: Friday, April 16th, 2010
show: 11 a.m.
costs: $8.00 Ticket + $4.50 small Zero Coke + $0.00 small Popcorn ( Free Coupon ) = $12.50
auditorium: 5
seat: 3rd row, 12 column
synopsis: Dave ( Aaron Johnson ), a naive teen, decides to fight crime dressed as a super-hero, just like in the comic books. He soon realizes that he is in way over his head when he comes across the "Big Daddy & Hit-Girl" father/daughter ( Nicolas Cage and Chloe Grace Moretz ) vigilante team that's hot on the trail of a local mob boss, Frank D'Amico ( Mark Strong ).
noteworthy scenes: 1.) Armenian guy; 2.) Aneurysm; 3.) Comics shop; 4.) Bullies; 5.) Father & son; 6.) Special delivery; 7.) Father & daughter; 8.) Bowling alley; 9.) Preparation; 10.) First encounter; 11.) Microwave guy; 12.) X-rays; 13.) School cafeteria; 14.) Kick-Ass version 2.0; 15.) Missing cat; 16.) I'm Kick-Ass; 17.) Celebrity status; 18.) Date with Katie ( Lyndsy Fonseca ); 19.) Rosul's ( Kofi Natei ) apartment; 20.) Hit-Girl and Big Daddy; 21.) Unexpected visit; 22.) Cop; 23.) Auto wrecking yard; 24.) Body lotion; 25.) Former partner, Marcus ( Omari Hardwick ); 26.) Comic book; 27.) Wrong guy; 28.) Headline news; 29.) Red Mist ( Christopher Mintz-Plasse ); 30.) E-mail; 31.) Meeting; 32.) Frank's Lumber Supplies; 33.) Teddy cam; 34.) No more homework; 35.) Nightmare; 36.) Katie's room; 37.) Making-out; 38.) Betrayal; 39.) Watch and learn; 40.) The planned televised execution; 41.) If it wasn't for you; 42.) Finish what we start; 43.) School girl; 44.) Shoot-out; 45.) Jet pack; 46.) Playtime's over; 47.) Bazooka; and 48.) Lunch money.
audience reaction: The audience loved this very violent movie!
recommendation: This is probably the best ( read: More believable ) super-hero movie that I've ever seen. Hit-Girl stole the show! A lot of under-age teens will desperately want to see this movie ( Oh, how I wish I were in the "Fake ID" business right now! ).
spoiler alert: With cars parked at the curb on either side and facing in opposite directions, one particular road should have been a two-way road but the cars made it narrow enough to be just a "one-way" road, so which is it? There's no way for a flying magazine to slide into place in a gun that easily. Bullets shot through the window and should have hit the building across the street--perhaps, even some windows. If I were a super-hero, I wouldn't go walking around casually in a costume since I'd be just a "walking target" for a drive-by shooter or by a group of thugs. I wouldn't park my highly-conspicuous souped-up Mustang in a bad neighborhood, if I had one--Heck! I wouldn't go cruising around in a bad neighborhood in such a car in the first place since Mustangs are high on a car-napper's "Domestic Favorites" list ( Two Mustang cars had their wheels stolen in the condominium complex where I presently live. ). Why didn't the bad guys unmask them both since it would have been the logical thing to do? You don't test the sharpness of a knife's blade by running your thumb down the length of its edge. The kitchen knives should not have simultaneously hit their target arranged in a "top & bottom" way. Those kitchen knives should have hit their target with the blades somewhat pointing up, rather than down. Both Gatling Machine Guns, firing in unison, would have easily pushed him back ( and I hope that he had earplugs on ). An RPG can't carry a human across such a distance--and linearly, to boot!
What nudity ...?
fyi: A Balisong ( a.k.a. Butterfly Knife ), although popularized by the Filipinos, was actually invented by the Japanese as a farming tool. In the Philippines, it is made from worn-out automobile wheel bearings.
I had my first experience with a balisong back when I was about five years old in Kidapawan, Cotabato, Mindanao, Philippines. Somebody had one and was twirling it around. So, I asked to borrow it and twirled it around, too. It was easy enough, but I loosened my grip on it somehow as I flicked it close and it twisted in my right hand and the blade just lightly touched the fleshy mound under my thumb, and that was all it took to slice the palm of my hand! I still have the ( barely visible now ) scar to prove it.
There are actually "looney bin nut cases" around masquerading as costumed "super-heroes". In fact, I just saw an internet news feature a few days ago about this masked man in New York who hands out toothbrushes to the homeless. He's no crime-fighter to me, more like a dental plaque/tartar-fighter--and I hope he hands out toothpastes, as well. And one of my co-workers, Mike A., told me that there's a place here in California--Mountain View, I think-- where you can go to the local police department and register yourself as a costumed "crime" fighter ( I guess the hard-working cops deserve a good laugh once in a while ).
Okay, it's embarrassing confession time ....
I wanted to be like my super-hero idol, Batman, and once designed a super-hero outfit for my own intended use. It was like Kick-Ass's costume, except that it was all in black and it had side holsters for a pair of Nunchakus, as well. And since super-heroes always go to aid "damsels in distress", I decided that my super-hero alter-ego should be the one to rescue Patty Hearst from her captors, the Symbionese Liberation Army ( SLA ) "soldiers". Mind you, this was before I learned how to drive ( and I couldn't even afford to buy a used 10-speed bicycle back then ) and before I learned how to ride public transportation like AC Transit, BART, and the Cable Cars of San Francisco--Heck, I didn't even know how to get a street map! As I was mulling over the logistics of my planned covert operation, the "voice of reason" inside my head told me that I was just a desperate and crazy, "hoping-to-get-laid-for-my-heroics-by-the-damsel-herself" , day-dreaming idiotic fool who could get himself cut to pieces by bullets! This, and the fact that Patty and her captors were caught by the police soon after, effectively put an abrupt end to my secret plan. L O L!
word of advice: Don't be naive.
If you want to play the part of a super-hero, at least, become athletic and highly-skilled in both armed and unarmed combat fighting, first.
tidbits: I've already said it. But I'll say it again: Nicolas Cage looks better with a mustache since it balances-out his droopy lower lip!
Before the movie, I had two quick errands to do. I swung by the Chase Bank in the Target Shopping Center here in Vallejo, CA, to make a deposit. Then, I went to the local CSAA office to get a new license tag for my Hyundai Accent and to get a couple of Palo Alto, CA, maps.
After the movie, I went to the Fairfield, CA, K-Mart to buy a pair of steel-toed work boots, but they didn't have my exact size. So, I went to Big Lots next door and bought some stuff before heading off to work in Benicia.
