Miami Meltdown - Part 1

Miami Meltdown – Part 1

Note: Apologies, for grammer and spelling mistakes, I have not had that much time to put this together. 

Howdy folks, so it’s my plan to give you a recap of what’s going down in Miami each day. However, some may be a bit delayed purely due to the fact that it’s so awesome down here, the only time I have for writing at the moment is while my brother is asleep. 

Today’s addition will cover a brief bit about arriving then talk about WWE AXXXES.

Before arriving here I had many the delusional fantasies about just seeing wrestlers everywhere, how sill was I? Well it turns out, not very, for as me and Josh sat down for dinner on Wednesday evening; somebody sat down next to us, that someone being the fortunate son, Ted DiBiase. 

However, with that brief rambling over, let’s move on to the main event (of Today) WWE AXXXES.

Actually, let’s not just yet. I just want to mention Miami South Beach. In short, it’s incredible.  The sun, the sand, the food, everything there just makes you want to stop and watch the world go by. And I hate beach Holiday’s. It’s so good that there is almost no way that I’m going to Holiday in Europe ever again.

OK, now moving on to WWE AXXXES. If you’re like me and you’re a wrestling fan, who has never really been in the place where you’re able to frequently watch wrestling live or meet wrestlers, then AXXXES will be a dream come true. To the WWE’s credit, it’s an event that they do so well. 

We arrived in the South Beach Convention Centre, tired, sore and hungry, however all those feelings immediately disappeared as soon as we stepped into the Axxess zone. We were transfixed by all the pretty colours and pictures of wrestlers. 

Forcing ourselves not to get distracted by the alley of shiny objects, we headed over to our first superstar signing, which so happened to be R Truth. After meeting the man himself (and little Jimmy of course) we then had a wander around the complex. 

And oh my, it’s outstanding. There are pictures of wrestling event ascending from the rafters, there’s a ring where you can climb a ladder and pretend to grab the money in the bank, there’s a podium where you can take a picture with the WWE Championship. You can head down the entrance ramp pretending to be your favourite wrestler. Which, sadly josh didn’t do to Eve’s music, due to time restraints.  

After exploring the vast areas and watching a great little match between Darren Ambrose and Seth Rollins, two of FCW’s biggest stars, we ventured to Undertaker’s Graveyard. Now, I’ve heard that this attraction is a bit samey year after year, but since we’d never seen it before, we loved it. What it essentially a cornered off dark area of the arena, where they have a gravestone for everybody The Undertaker has beat. Pretty cool stuff. 

But, not as cool as what was to come. Hopping in another Superstar line, we were amazed to find out, that the line belonged to none other than Captain Charisma himself, Christian. Unfortunately we had to wait over an hour to see it, but it was dead worth it. 

We finished off the evening by meeting Tony Atlas, who has rapidly became my favourite new person, after he told josh that he looked exactly like Sheamus and Howard Finkle, who was an absolute professional.

Axxess has really set up the days to come and I can’t wait for the rest of the week.

Until next time, enjoy the show.
Daniel Morris.

Channing Tatum; Comedy's hidden Gem?

Channing Tatum; Comedy’s hidden Gem?

 

When you expect a film to be good and it is good, you’re satisfied. However, when you expect a film to be average at best and the film turns out to be better than you ever expected, not only do you appreciate the quality of the film, but you enjoy it even more. 

This feeling occurred for me on Friday night when I watched the new Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum movie, 21 Jump Street. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I expected Jump Street to be terrible, I just didn’t expect it to be any good. 

So you can imagine my utter joy, when I sat there laughing my metaphorical ass off throughout the whole movie. Jump Street is a genuinely funny movie with plenty of laughs throughout. What’s more, the story is pretty heartfelt as well, with Hill and Tatum’s characters able to play with the heartstrings almost at their will. 

Now this wasn’t the only surprise I encountered whilst watching the film. Watching a comedy you expect the natural comedian to be the star of the show. This philosophy almost never fails. However, it does for Jump Street. Tatum’s loveable but dim Jenko outshines Hill’s nerdy and bright Schmidt in pretty much every scene together. 

Hill still has his laughs, but there not good as frequent or as good as Tatum’s, who really hits Jump Street out of the park, comically. Tatum plays Jenko relatively straight, which adds to the character’s charm. What’s more, his comic timing in this movie is exceptional and surpasses that of comedians almost ten years his senior. 

Tatum’s performance in Jump Street really got me thinking. Because, this isn’t the first comedy I have seen where Tatum outshines experienced comedians. Tatum is probably the only good thing about the Vince Vaughn and Kevin James Rom-Com The Dilemma. Vince and Kev in that film phone in unenthused comic performances, which are surpassed by Tatum’s psycho lover Zip. 

With these two performances in mind, it got me thinking that Tatum may be a comedian after all. OK, so he doesn’t look like your natural comedian. Built like a brick Sh1t house and incredibly good looking (nohomo). Tatum’s build definitely suggests one of either an action hero or a Romantic lead, which are the roles that he has plaid. 

However, Tatum hasn’t really knocked a performance like that out of the park. OK, he’s been tolerable in some of these roles, but nothing special. Making, Jump Street easily Tatum’s most enjoyable performance to date. This makes me believe that there may be a new Comic in town, and not one you’d expect. 

Until next time, enjoy the show. 

Don’t hesitate to leave feedback below.

Email me at cinemascreenandspandex@gmail.com

Follow me on Twitter @glamgrunge.

Daniel Morris.

Going 3 Doors Down to see Seether

Going 3 Doors Down to see Seether. 

Now I am a fan of 3 Doors Down, they were one of my favourite bands when I was a Tween and for various reasons Here Without You, brings a tear to my eye. However, over the years my interest in music has varied and 3 Doors Down are one of them bands that has fallen by the waist side. 

That being said, I had never seen them live, so for Christmas, I brought my brother a ticket to see them in Manchester, with purchasing a ticket myself.  The main reason for my excitement however, was not to see 3 Doors Down, but to see Seether.

Seether are one of my favourite hard rock bands of all time, having seen them twice already, I will always take the opportunity to see them again as they always put on a stellar performance. And this time was none different. 

Don’t get me wrong, Seether isn’t one of them bands that put on a show. Hell, front man Sean Morgan barely speaks between songs. Normally, I wouldn’t enjoy this type of performance as I’m all about the fan reaction, but with Seether for some reason it doesn’t bother me. Maybe, it’s because there music is so good, but whatever it is, I just love watching them perform. 

Seether got about 45 minutes, which is longer than a usual support act. They played nine songs, which played out more as a selection of their hits, rather than playing a lot of their new material. However, they did play Country Song, which arguably is their best constructed song ever. If you have never heard it, give it a listen and I promise you won’t be disappointed. 

Seether left and after a hefty change around 3 Doors Down graces us with their presence. As I said previously, I was excited to see them as a chunk of nostalgia, but expected nothing special. How wrong I was.

Musically, 3 Doors Down may arguably be up there with the best I’ve seen. Their set was as well crafted as any I have seen and the performance of each song was almost pitch perfect. Front man Brad Arnold’s dad had been taken into hospital earlier in the day and you could truly see the emotion etched across his face. 

This is a front man who has had a bad day, but performs because he loves music and that was more than evident. The only blip on an otherwise flawless performance was their omission of arguably their most popular song Kryptonite, due to time constraints and The Manchester Academy having an eleven O Clock curfew. 

However, these things can’t be helped and it wasn’t necessarily the bands fault. 

Having felt crappy earlier in the day, Seether and 3DD made me feel exponentially better. Another case for the soothing power of music. 

Until next time, enjoy the show.

Daniel Morris

Twitter: @glamgrunge

Email: cinemascreenandspandex@gmail.com

A night of Local Wrestling and Questionable Genders

A night of Local Wrestling and Questionable Genders

Friday was a real treat for me. A Wrestling promotion came to town. Warrington was once famous for wrestling being the birth place of The Dynamite Kid and hosting wrestling shoes with stars such as Bret and Owen Hart. However, the glory days are long gone and you’re lucky to get even a sniff of Wrestling in town. 

Undoubtedly I went and met up with a few friends of mine, some avid fans, some who haven’t watched wrestling since the glory days of the Attitude Era. 

We got to the event, which was held in a function room of a large event hall, with around a hundred fans, mostly children, lined on pub chairs to see the show. Hosted by a local aspiring comedian, the card had six matches ranging from a cruiserweight triple threat to a Casket match with a witch doctor named Voodoo. 

The matches were at a rather good standard. Ranging from the more or less average to the pretty damn impressive. The most impressive thing about wrestling was the will to take umpteen bumps on to the hard floor. With one wrong slip, somebody could have been seriously injured, making me admire the kahonies (no homo) of everybody involved. 

A fun night was had by all, which leads me to my last point. I beg everybody to go and support local wrestling anyway they can. You’ll get an enjoyable evening and will be able to support an art form that has somewhat been lost in Britain. It’s time to bring it back and with your support we can. If you just go to one of these shows, you won’t regret it. Promise. 

Oh yeah, the questionable gender part of the article. It took us all show to work out whether the rather rotund official was male or female. Indeed he was female and credit when credits due, officiated six matches, rather well. 

Until next time, enjoy the show.

Daniel Morris.

Don’t forget to follow me on twitter @glamgrunge

Comment below or email me at cinemacreenandspandex@gmail.com

John Laurinaitis Needs to win at WM

John Laurinaitis Needs to win at WM

When John Laurinaitis became an onscreen character, I couldn’t have been the only person that was disappointed. The guy seemed like a joke, he had a reputation for being an asshole and a kiss ass at the same time. I don’t know if that means he kisses himself or what.  

However, week by week ‘Mr Personality’ has grown on me as I’m sure he’s grown on a lot of you. John Laurinaitis has evolved on the MIc to an adequate level, where he doesn’t sound terrible, but actually comes across as quite comic. He’s the boss that we all love to hate, it’s not that he’s a horrible person, he’s just an ass and he infuriates us by being an ass, yet the place would be a lot duller without him. 

Which brings me to my next point; it looks like John Laurinaitis will lead a team against Theodore Long at WM for the control of both brands. If the WWE even contemplates letting team Long win, then somebody in creative is clearly clueless. Or they’re letting Warrior book the show. 

What the WWE has in Laurinaitis, is something they haven’t had in a very long time. A heel boss that actually works. Not since the early days of Bischoff has there been a heel GM that has worked as well as Laurinaitis does. 

The heel boss has been a staple in the WWE since MR McMahon started to strut. This isn’t a bad thing, as a heel boss is a gimmick that clearly works. Having babyfaces coming up against the powers that be and ultimately winning is a tried and tested method and one that when done well, is almost a guaranteed success.

Johnny is terrific in this role, he’s annoying yet charming and someone you would just love to get your hands on, so when the babyface actually does beat the crap out of him, it’s going to be good. 

What won’t be good is the WWE ruining this way before it can even get proper started by having Theodore Long become GM of both shows. Yes, Teddy is a long service member of the WWE and the Wrestling business as a whole and I respect him for that. However, the dude has become far too stale now. 

His character is annoying rather than welcoming and frankly it just doesn’t work. It has become that bad that there’s even a drinking game that goes along with his characters booking decisions. This is common knowledge and I’m sure the WWE plays on this fact, but it just doesn’t work. Teddy long is a boring character and if he was employed on both shows, it would only hinder the product. 

This article may be a little premature as the match hasn’t even been booked yet. But, it certainly looks that way. If the WWE had any sense whatsoever, Johnny Ace will be supreme overlord of the Wrestling world, and it will be a better place to boot. 

Until next time, enjoy the show.

Daniel Morris

Follow me @glamgrune

Email me at cinemascreenandspandex@gmail.com

The Sunday Lister: Top 5 Beat-Em-Up Franchises

The Sunday Lister: Top 5 Beat-Em-Up Franchises 

The Sunday Lister is back. It feels like it’s been a while. Mainly because it has, but what the heck, I had more important things to do, but hey, I’m back now and so is the Lister. This week Lister is going to be on a different subject matter though. I’m going to take a rare dabble into video games this week. 

My favourite Genre of Video Games has to be the Beat-em-up, mainly because it’s a genre of game that I’, good of, but also mainly because I like beating the crap out of things. I’m an angry man, what can I say.

Just a few points, the article is about the franchise as a whole, not just an individual game. Also, there will be no wrestling games in the list. I consider them to be sports Games more so than beat-em-ups.

With further ado, let’s crack on...

5. Street Fighter 

Albeit, a few people may already be up in arms about this list. ‘Street Fighters’ a classic, how can it be only five. Well admittedly, I played other beat-em-ups when I was younger, so I may have not experienced the same magic that others did. That being said, I still think the Street Fighter series, is a pretty epic Beat-Em-Up franchise, with a great blend of sophisticated counters and varied characters. 

4. Tekken 

Tekken at Number 4? Dan you must be high. Well no, I’m not. I loved Tekken as a kid and yes I still enjoy playing the Tekkens now, but as a franchise, I think they have been too many duds to stand up against the other franchises higher than Tekken in the list. With that in mind, Tekken still kicks ass and even in the later games, characters like Eddie Gordo breath live into a dying franchise. 

3. Marvel vs. Capcom

I love some of Street Fighters finest. But, sometimes being Bakara isn’t enough. Sometimes I want to be a superhero and kick two shades out of another Superhero. Wait, you telling me I can do that? Well that’s exactly what Marvel vs. Capcom offers up. What’s better than ripping shreds out of Spiderman with Wolverine? Let me tell you, nothings better than teaching that web slinging sissy a thing or two. Also, the Marvel vs. Capcom series offers a complex fighting system to boot.

2. Mortal Kombat

Almost the forefather of The Beat-em-up. Mortal Kombat is a mean fighter with an absolute kick ass move system and game play style. With only a few weaker links in the series *cough Shoalin Monks cough*, the Mortal Kombat series is pretty epic. Also, when you can play as a Lighting God like Raiden, then you definitely have my vote. 

1.Super Smash Brothers

Normally when I do a Sunday Lister, I debate what should be number one. Not this week. There was no doubt in my mind that the Super Smash Brothers franchise is the best Beat-em-up franchise to date. Smash Brothers takes you favourite cuddly Nintendo characters and lets you batter ten bells out of them with other Smash Brother characters. The vast game play offered in Smash Brothers also exceeds every other beat –em-up as well as an impressive line up of Nintendo characters. 

What do you think? Let me know.

Until next time, enjoy the show.

Daniel Morris

Twitter: @glamgrunge Email: Cinemascreenandspandex@gmail.com