How this works: I have all the NES and SNES roms(if you would have given me such a machine in 1992 I would have locked myself in my room and lost touch with reality) on my wii. I close my eyes and scroll through the list and whatever I land on I play. 

Cover art rating: 3bits out of 8bits.

1-bit: The game is like Contra but in a car. Dodge this, power up this and impossible boss fights.
2-bit: There are cheap moments like when the screen isnt fast enough and you jump in the "deep" part of the water and your boat/car sinks? It makes no sense... I know its a boat.
3-bit: You can change your guns positioning. Front,sides and back. You have to be quick but its pretty cool and works well.
4-bit: They are more then fair with power ups and lives to keep you going.
5-bit: When you take these turns the game does this thing disorienting thing that throws you off
6-bit: Music is ok... Nothing to wrote home about.
7-bit: Game is challenging but not over difficult. The boss battles are a bit cheap but keep you coming back for more. Not a power off frustration. 
8-bit: I was pretty lucky to pick this game. There is a ton of shit on the list and this was fun and some what addicting. I've never played it before I'll be coming back to this one for sure. I didn't really touch on the graphics but its a great looking game. Pushed the hardware pretty well here.  
video games,nes,8bits,bits,nintendo

Note: This from an older post on my other blog of my top 10 childhood movies. I will post the rest of that in a few days. This is in wake of release of pile of crap(17% RT) TMNT in theaters yesterday. Go rent this...Forget the newest one.

Also Cult Film Club did a great podcast on this movie. Check that out!

When I saw the teasers and trailers for this movie I could barley contain myself. I would jump up and down at the TV and foam at the mouth. It was one of the first movies I saw on opening day. Not only did I see it on opening day I saw it three times in the first three days of its release. Every friend was calling me asking if I could watch it. It was no doubt the biggest movie release of our young lives. I would only put such movies as Ghostbusters 2, Indiana Jones TLC and BTTF 3 in the such company.

I can still remember sitting in the theater with my mom with a turtle doll that the theater was giving to the first 100 kids. The theater was a buzz. The lights went down and you can feel every kid on the edge of their seat. Hey its foot soldiers! Oh my god there is April O' Neal! She is wearing a yellow rain coat! Then the Turtles save April and you see Raph's eyes as he watches his weapon being picked up April. He mutters "Damn".. SHOCKING! A cuss word right off the bat. Not a big one but wow. Then all you hear is Turtle chatter as they walk down  the sewer. The theater at this point was about to burst. Then this title flashes on the screen with Leo jumping into frame!
The theater goes fucking nuts! Kids screaming and cheering. I still haven't experienced anything like that at a movie since. It was like TMNT had hit its peak and we couldn't get enough.
After reading the comic I will say this movie does a pretty damn good job of sticking to elements in the comic. It isn't spot on(April is still a reporter here and no Baxter Stockmen) but it hits the tone pretty well. I remember hearing how pissed parents were at the dark tone and language in the movie but it was really just being faithful to the source the best it could while maintaining a PG rating. I guess showing kids smoking,drinking and playing a NARC arcade was a bit much but they need to show the kind of kids the Shredder attracts.
Jim Hanson knocked it out of the park again with the turtle suits. The faces moved great, they were believable and the actors could still do all the ninja work without any hold ups. In part 2 and 3 the suits got worse and worse. In 3 they look almost comical they are so bad.



Five Top Scenes

5.Splinters heart to heart with Raphael
Raph comes home after watching "Critters" at the theater and his rough run in with Casey Jones and he is no mood to chat but Splinter isn't having it. Its a good heart felt scene that shows the father like connection. He also says "hey we know you are like the Lebron James of TMNT but your anger holds you back". Something like that.

4.When April meets the Turtles/Splinters talk with Daniel
This scene does a good job of selling the origin of the turtles without it being the whole movie. When I was a kid I thought the story was all wrong here. But like a lot of kids we had no idea that the Turtles were born in comics. In the movie you hear that Splinters master Hamato Yoshi and Oroku Saki were fighting over this babe named Tang Shen but she only loved Yoshi and so Saki killed them both and left Splinter without his master(and the rat scarred his face so he hides it). Comic goes a little deeper with that. Yoshi and a man named Oroku Nagi were apart the most feared assassins group in Japan called the Foot Clan(origin of the foot). Nagi loved Shen but she only loved Yoshi. When Yoshi comes home to find Nagi beating Shen within a inch of her life "Yoshi's world vanished in a red haze". Yoshi ends up beating Nogi to death.
Since Yoshi killed another clan member he was to end his own life or run from Japan. So Yoshi and Shen run to NYC. Nogi's younger brother Oroku Saki who was 7 at the time(intense 7 year old) vowed Vengeance on Yoshi. Over time Saki became the best foot clan member and was even better then his teachers. Saki was sent to NYC to start the Foot on US soil. Saki also knew that his revenge would come full circle now. Once in the USA he became the Shredder(no reason is given to why he goes with Shredder) and went to Yoshi's home and held his wife until Yoshi came home. Once home he killed Tang Shen in front of Yoshi and then killed Yoshi as well. The movie just cut some of the fat and saw no reason for Nagi. Either way you go its some pretty edgy shit for a kids movie. The flash backs in the movie are all grainy and dark. You still see Yoshi and Shen murdered. Its real heavy stuff and can't believe it wasn't cut or pushed to a PG-13 but god damn its good and faithful.

Now the rest of the movie just does it own thing. Splinter is never captured by the Shredder and in the comic its pretty clear the Turtles are used for his revenge on Shredder. But the movie stays true to the tone and that counts for something.

3.April's apartment fight
This was always one of my favorite parts of the movie. Raph is almost beaten to death and the turtles have this long fight that leads to the basement where Casey Jones shows up to help kick some ass. The Turtles also struggle at times and the foot get their shots in which makes it feel different because in the cartoon the foot are about as dangerous as a infant to the turtles. They never got punches in. The turtles have to retreat which is also just bizarre when they never had to. My only complaint is that at times in can venture off with "funny" stuff during the fight when its a pretty serious situation.

2.Shredder's Entrance
At this point all we have of the Shredder is his voice so they do a good job of building this moment up. You also gotta love the music and the wrap around camera shot. The scene builds him up as one big bad mother fucker. There isn't a whole lot to say about the scene other then its just gives you chills.

1.Final Fight
I loved this final act as a kid and I love it even more after reading the comic. A lot of elements are there. Shredder on a building taking on the Turtles to the death(or so we think). The turtles are of course are cocky at this point and Shredder wipes the floor with them one at a time.
Shredder then pokes the bear a bit by hinting at Splinter possibly being dead. All of a sudden the jokes are over. Every Turtle giving their best shot at Shredder. Leo gets the best shots in as he slices Shredders arm but Leo loses his cool and gets owned by the Shredder and is put on his back with a spear at his neck. Splinter shows up to save the day and Shredder is thrown off a building and smashed in a garbage truck(Casey does "whoops" as he pulls the leaver... Like no big deal...JUST MURDERING)
Now in the comic, Shredder gets some shots in but the Turtles really mess him up. He is stabbed, catches a few throwing stars and once defeated is told to SEPPUKU for honor. Yes it fucked up and awesome all at the same time.
While the movie isn't as gory or follow everything to heart it still feels like a great adaptation to the comic and for a PG "kids" movie it pushes the envelop. As a kid it was the best thing I've seen since Ghostbusters and watched it everyday for about a month once I got my VHS copy. In fact I still have a sealed VHS copy that I found in a bargain bin for 50 cents.
I hope one day a proper Blu-ray is released that is cleaned up and with some extras for the fans. The current BR is just terrible. Tons of grain and hasn't be touched at all. The latest movie coming out from Michael Bay sounds like a joke. Call me a hater but I am not at all looking forward to it. I expect pure shit with Meagan Fox's bizarre thumbs mixed in. Bay might find a way to to top the giant dump that was Turtles 3 but I doubt it.

Tags: comics, movies, tv, tmnt, total recall, 1990

I do remember the Christmas morning that I got it from Santa! My mom was dreading putting it together since the Thundercat Lair was such a pain. This took a lot less time and was a lot easier. I remember sticking my cat on the top floor and thinking it was the best thing ever. It was a great toy. I loved busting through the doors Ecto 1 and putting ghosts in the containment unit. My younger brother used it years later for fights with his Terminator toys.
While digging around on my mothers one day I found my Kenner Real Ghostbusters Fire House. It was in rough shape. Missing doors,no sign,dust and webs(with dead bugs!). I even wrote GB logos on it and wrote "Ghostbusters" over the door way in sharpie. A Power Ranger Black Ranger sticker found its way onto the building. The inside wasn't bad at all. Stickers were all in decent shape and the railings were fine.
I decided to paint it to look more like the movie fire house. I got some Black,Flat Grey and Brick Red. I of course hosed it down and tried my best to get all the dust out but it was really hard. Some of it was just like ingrained in the plastic. I wasn't to picky. I just wanted it to look new again and let my son play with it since he is getting into the Real Ghostbusters now.
I went ahead and found two doors on Ebay. Both cost me about $16 shipped per door. I tried getting my hands on the sign but would get bid up to $25 and $30 and I just couldn't take that pill. I'm just to cheap. Maybe down the line I'll get one or make one. I painted the roof black first and I planned on painting the doors black but in the end I just couldn't. I like the red doors to much. Next was the slate grey which wasn't to challenging. It did need a few coats to get all the yellowing to not show on the plastic.
Next was the red. This is where things got tough. My not so steady hands and cheap paint brushes made this a tough chore. Not hitting the grey seemed impossible at times. I had to go back and touch up the grey. The red took many coats to get the darkness I was looking for. It was also hard since my son wanted to stand over me on a chair and "help" while I did it and I am just better when its quiet.
In the end I am really happy with it. It looks 100x better. My son gave it a test run with my old GB figures and we put in my RGB DVDs and a Real Ghostbusters night. He really had a good time. He is in this destructive stage where he is really rough so I have to stay on him but I know this will be really fun for him in a few years. Next I plan on restoring my Ecto 1 which is really rough. I've already started my search for the stickers but have had little luck. There are some other great(better then mine) GB Fire House Restores on the net so check them out.
Tags : Art,cartoons,ghostbusters,movies,toys,tv

10. Batman: The Movie 1966 (RT 79%)

You can see the comic on the bottom and the movie on the top. Nailed it.