ODD: Saw Rambo last weekend. I’ve never seen any of the original three films in their entirety, so it was a little odd that I went to see this one; but it had been far too long since I’ve seen a 1980s action flick. Which is definitely what I got, with about twenty years’ worth of harder “R” violence.

Rambo takes a while to get going, but once it does, it’s like the opening ten minutes of Saving Private Ryan, except it’s forty minutes long and you don’t care about the guys who are being blown apart, since they’re bad guys. Utterly evil, irredeemable bad guys who, during the course of the film, engage in gang rape, pedophilia, mass murder and a particularly cruel variant of Russian roulette with their hostages.

Also, Sylvester Stallone’s face appears to be sloughing off his skull. Maybe it’s the roids, I don’t know. Despite the gratuitous violence and glaring omission of a story, I enjoyed the action. Stallone says he may try something more offbeat for the next entry–here’s hoping for Rambo vs. Predator.

END: I also finally watched The 40-Year-Old Virgin over the weekend. It was great, though I’m not sure about its depiction of adult males who collect toys. For the record, I open all my toys–and I probably wouldn’t want an action figure of Steve Austin’s boss.

ODD: I usually miss the first few episodes of cool hour-long dramas and then rarely bother to catch up, which is what happened with Lost, Battlestar Galactica, Heroes and so forth. But thanks to Mr. DVR, I hopped right on board Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. And personally, I’m loving it. Aside from the producers’ wise decision to provide frequent glimpses of Summer Glau in various states of undress, the show thankfully ignores the events of Terminator 3 and gives Sarah Connor a new lease on life.

It’s true that so far, Lena Headey’s Sarah hasn’t matched the badassocity of Linda Hamilton in T2 (and perhaps never will), but she does bring a certain world-weariness to the role that we haven’t seen before. And any shortcomings in the show are more than made up for by the sight of former ballerina Glau tossing around chunkhead male terminators. Also, thanks to his ability to act, Thomas (Heroes) Dekker has a distinct advantage over T2‘s Eddie Furlong in the John Connor role.

T:SCC is a different animal from any of the three films. In terms of style and direction, it’s to the films what Buffy was to its cinematic forerunner. Of course, Buffy was much better than the film which preceded it, while T:SCC has a tough road to hoe if it wants to surpass T2. But I’m ready to give it a chance. Here’s hoping that the Fox “Ax ’em if their ratings falter even slightly for one week” Network feels the same way.

To keep this on-topic, I think this show is ripe for a line of action figures. If Heroes–which is basically just a bunch of normal-looking people–can get a toy line, then I can get a Summer Glau figure with battle damage and an arsenal of guns.

[On a side note, I have a theory: I think Cameron (Glau) is actually a human who was turned into a cyborg/terminator. Or at the very least, she has a real human’s memories. You read it here first.]

END: DCUC.info has posted photos of DCUC wave two in package. Check out how huge Grodd’s torso is compared to Harley Quinn. Of the first three, this is probably the wave I’m least excited about, but I can’t wait for Harley, Grodd and, yes, Aquaman.

ODD: I’ve been playing a lot of Godzilla: Unleashed for the Wii. While I love the monster selection (especially the addition of two of my personal favorites, Titanosaurus and the original Mechagodzilla), I have to say the game isn’t as good as its predecessors, Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee and Godzilla: Save the Earth. In my mind, the first game remains the best in terms of control and fun factor.

Godzilla: Unleashed gets really frustrating at times, particularly when you’re trying to unlock some of the monsters. For example, the only way to unlock Baragon is to beat him in the single-player campaign with one of the “alien” monsters–which would be fine if the aliens didn’t suck. Plus, Baragon’s really short, so you can only kick him. I’ve tried to beat him three times–with Mechagodzilla, King Ghidorah, and Gigan–and I’ve never come close. And before you say it, no, maybe I don’t just suck!

To get back on topic again, the Chogokin Mechagodzilla I own may be the second-coolest toy I’ve ever had (after Grimlock, of course).

END: Check out Warduke, the newest addition to the site’s images. He’s the dude with the sword next to the “Collect Them All!” list. I think he may be RK’s finest work yet!