Categories
Conventions Film/TV

Meeting Matthew Mercer

Matthew Miller, also known as Mathew Motherfucking Mercer, is a voice acting icon and legend, lending his voice to many television shows and video games, Oh god, so many video games. He’s worthy of gushing over as one of my favorite voice actors, right up there with Tara Strong, the sexy vixen of a thousand voices.

Now, I’m a rather big fan of animated television shows. One is a show called Attack on Titan, a post-apocalyptic anime about the life of an emotionally unstable teenager, bent on vengeance against an army of naked, man-eating giants. Sound fun? Well, it should be, especially when introducing the most bad-ass, titan-killing motherfucker this side of the wall.

Now, this time around, I’m not going to talk about every show he’s been in. I’ll save you the list, believe me. Instead, I’m going to tell you about my personal experience with meeting this man. 

My lovely partner Mary and I were in Philadelphia, enjoying the delights of Wizard World Comic Con. It was day two and dear god, I was tired as hell. I had just been walking around in a jester costume, posing for pictures, and running from panel to panel to see all of the famous actors, answering scripted questions asked by the panel’s moderator. The only reason why I’m so perturbed is mainly that I didn’t get to ask my obviously important question involving a drinking game for Arrow. 

Anywho, I was a little more than tired. We were in a line to meet Cary Elwes for a picture. Now, I kinda knew who he was at the time and she was super excited to meet him. I was half in and out before she had mentioned there was going to be a meet and greet for a man who plays on Attack on Titan. So, we parted ways, and I started my little adventure of maneuvering through all of the Doctor Who posters and tattoo artists.

He was in a room in the building, but it was so far from the actual convention that there was no music playing. Only a few people knew he was there, so the conversations were a lot more personal. After a small chat with everyone, a fitness/combat training instructor walked into the room, and it turned from a meet and greet into a self-defense class. 

It was fucking incredible, but I was sore from the day, so I only made it about halfway through the class. I decided to call it quits and stepped out. Matt was just right outside of the room texting on his phone. I thought it was probably the closest thing to an interview I was going to get, except it wasn’t an interview. Plus, I had absolutely no questions whatsoever, as I was distracted by the fact that I was talking to Levi from Attack on Titan. We stood there for a good part of 10-15 minutes just bullshitting. The guy is seriously down to earth. Most voice actors are. They are a severely underrated class of actors, but what are you gonna do, right?

Sam Hice with Matthew Mercer, via Sam Hice

In the end, I got a good couple of pictures with him, none of which had my face. I gotta say, I kinda regret not getting one. However, before the picture was taken, he made the suggestion that I wear the mask because it was both creepy and awesome. I obliged. When an actor tells you to do something, you do it. Especially, when it is followed after a compliment.

After I went back to the main part of the convention, I told my story to Mary, like an excited 10-year-old who just saw his favorite cartoon character live!!! Except, I was a 23-year-old man, who saw his favorite cartoon character live. So, all in all, it was a pretty good day.

Thanks to Wizard World for providing Mary and me with a complimentary weekend press pass to the 2015 Wizard World Philadelphia Comic Con.

Categories
Film/TV Movie Reviews

Movie Review: Project Almanac

2 out of 5

When I first started seeing trailers for Project Almanac, I was definitely curious. This time travel flick about selfish high schoolers looked pretty darn good. The trailer sucked you in with a group of friends using time travel for their own gain. Then it turns kind of creepy when you see that time travel can, oops, screw things up.

Unfortunately, the movie didn’t live up to the trailer for me. I thought maybe it was one of those instances with two many writers and/or directors, nope. One director and two writers. I’m currently exhausted and didn’t even feel like writing this review. I thought I’ll find a review by someone with similar views and share that. I can’t find one! What? So, basically, others have issues with the science behind the film but embraced what disappointed me. My views are a bit different.

Yes, there are times that I thought, no, just no, that doesn’t make any science. Keep in mind, that I’m not scientifically minded. I’m pretty likely to not know if someone is using the correct piece when they are building something. I also don’t mind shutting off my mind to enjoy something fun, to an extent.

Project Almanac from Paramount Pictures

However, unlike others, I don’t believe that you need to see this JUST because it’s a time travel movie. As if, a dearth of movies means that poor ones should just exist to fill the void.

Have you seen the trailer? No?

Project Almanac Official Trailer

Okay, now you have. You don’t even need to watch the movie. That is everything that you need to know and it doesn’t have to work because it’s a trailer. You are supposed to want more.

What happens? Okay, a guy, his sister, and his likable friends build a time travel machine based on his late father’s plans. Later, a “hot”, popular girl joins their group and decides that she’s an integral part of it. IMHO, she is not.

At first, everything seems fine, the kids get money, popularity, and sex. I’m not gonna lie, some of those scenes are amusing. They even get to see Imagine Dragons live. That’s super fun.

Imagine Dragons in Project Almanac

Then the lead decides to start jumping around through time solo and disasters happen. If I were one of the kids, I would have rationalized the hell out of being at fault for huge disasters though, as one does. This is when the illogical time travel starts really bothering me. Now, it’s not just for fun. He has to fix things, but with the way that things have been going, I can’t buy what follows. Plus, even if I tried, it’s like he intentionally mucks things up.

I did enjoy his friends, but they didn’t get enough screen time. His love interest is annoying and the sister wasn’t onscreen long enough for me to form an opinion. 

Yes, I’m impressed that this movie was filmed for around $3 million and earned about 10 times that much, but going into it, I didn’t know that. As a casual viewer that shouldn’t concern me. Although, I’m sure producer Michael Bay is thrilled. Another plus is that the film wasn’t overly long. Some found the fact that it’s set up as a found footage film to be a detractor. It slightly enhanced it for me, making the creepy scenes a bit creepier. Maybe, my biggest issue is that the lead becomes unlikable, but not annoying enough to completely hate. I like to have some strong feelings one way or another when I’m watching someone’s story. I’m only giving it 2 out of 5 stars for the initial premise and fun section of them just goofing around for personal gain.