Photos of the Day: I Hope There Isn't a Flying Saucer in That Cloud!

Yesterday, I went to my local mall (Puente Hills Mall, which served as Twin Pines Mall in the first Back to the Future film) when I noticed from its parking lot a lone cumulus cloud lurking above Mount Baldy...which is the tallest peak in California's San Gabriel Mountains.

If you watched Jordan Peele's latest sci-fi thriller Nope (you can read my review for it here), then you'll find this sight both oddly amusing and scary at the same time!

Of course, if a flying saucer (technically an "extraterrestrial animal in the sky"—according to Nope) did emerge from that cloud, all I had to do to make sure that I wasn't eaten by this interstellar interloper would be to turn off all electronics, not make any loud sounds, nor make excessive eye contact with the saucer if it flew right above me.

Hope y'all had a nice weekend!

AMC 20 Is Back in Business!

Earlier today, I visited my local mall, Puente Hills Mall (which, as you know, served as Twin Pines Mall in the first Back to the Future film), when I saw that AMC Theatres inside this shopping plaza finally reopened after being closed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic last year! I'm so excited for this! Of course, I don't plan on watching a movie here till this summer (when the next Marvel flick Black Widow opens nationwide on July 9). But I'll definitely go to this AMC 20 theater when movies that are really worth seeing on the big screen (particularly on IMAX), such as Top Gun: Maverick, are finally unleashed in cinemas around the country. The Top Gun sequel arrives in theaters on July 2. Oh wait— That's one week before Black Widow is released! Niiice!

Photo of the Day: The 'Twin Pines Mall' Sign Gets A Permanent Display!

Just thought I'd end this month by posting this photo I took of the Twin Pines Mall sign as it got a permanent location (that is, when it's not moved out into the parking lot to celebrate a future Back to the Future Day) inside Puente Hills Mall, which portrayed the fictional plaza in the first Back to the Future movie. The sign can be seen in the Macy's annex if you ever visit the shopping center in the City of Industry. Would be cool if a replica of the DeLorean also had a permanent home at this mall, but I'm not greedy. Having this sign is cool enough.

Celebrating 'Back to the Future Day' One Last Time!

A few hours ago, I drove back to the Puente Hills Mall in the City of Industry to take part in one last celebration to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Robert Zemeckis' classic sci-fi film. Not only were the DeLorean (actually, there were many DeLoreans present) and Doc Brown's van still on display, but a concert was held by a rock band known as the Flux Capacitors before a screening of the first Back to the Future movie was shown. I would've stayed for the screening if I didn't have to go to work early tomorrow, and there wasn't such a large crowd of people who showed up at Puente Hills Mall tonight! Anyways, here are photos that I took of the festivities this evening...

HAPPY 'BACK TO THE FUTURE' DAY!

Just thought I'd share these new photos that I took at Puente Hills Mall as this shopping plaza continues to commemorate 30 years since it portrayed Twin Pines Mall and Lone Pine Mall in the first Back to the Future movie. Even though the DeLorean (the one modified as a time machine, to be exact) is no longer on display inside the mall's first floor lobby, Doc Brown's van and the Twin Pines Mall sign itself are currently exhibited at Puente Hills...where they will remain till October 25 (this Sunday). So if you're a fan of Robert Zemeckis' sci-fi classic, visit the mall now! Especially considering the fact that after this year, the events of Back to the Future Part II, like Roland Emmerich's 2009 disaster flick 2012, will become dated. Oh, and let's not forget Terminator 2: Judgment Day (Skynet was originally supposed to launch nukes across the planet on August 29, 1997—decimating humankind and bringing about the rise of the machines)...but that film is still awesome. Carry on.

BACK TO THE FUTURE: Celebrating Its 30th Anniversary at the 'Real' Twin Pines Mall...

Earlier today, I visited Puente Hills Mall (which is less than 5 miles from where I currently live) when I discovered that the DeLorean and Doc Brown's van from Back to the Future are being displayed at the shopping plaza that doubled for Twin Pines Mall and Lone Pine Mall in the movie. This is due to the fact that the classic sci-fi comedy celebrates the 30th anniversary of its release this year. Back in 2010, I watched Back to the Future at the AMC 20 inside Puente Hills Mall as it commemorated the 25th anniversary of Robert Zemeckis' film. I believe that the DeLorean and the van made an appearance at the mall that year as well...but I never saw them (they were both possibly displayed outside in the parking lot; I never bothered checking).



The DeLorean is parked right in the middle of the lobby on the mall's first floor, while the van is almost parked in the exact same spot where Marty McFly chatted with Doc before fleeing from those Libyan terrorists in Brown's time machine to the year 1955. Check these vehicles out if you have the time! Don't know how long they'll remain on display at Puente Hills Mall, though. Carry on.

Looper... Earlier this week, I watched the new sci-fi film starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt and Jeff Daniels. It was $6 well-spent (I attended a matinee screening of the flick). Looper is an excellent movie about a hit man (a.k.a. a 'looper') named Joe (Gordon-Levitt) who's paid to eliminate targets sent to the past (Joe's present day) via time machine. Needless to say, things start to go wrong for Joe as he carries out his dirty work...and is suddenly confronted with executing someone who's obviously very important to his own life: himself. Bruce Willis plays an older version of Joe, and when the two finally confront each other, all hell breaks loose.



Not only does Looper convey the interesting theme of what people do when they confront an older version of themselves (obviously not possible...currently), and are forced to kill them, the movie also presents such other themes as a man bent on seeking revenge for the death of his wife, and how far a mother named Sara (Blunt) will go to protect her own son. Not only is time travel possible in the world of Looper, but so is telekinesis...which plays a major part in why Sara (Blunt sports a nice American accent portraying this character) is both fearful and protective of her son. And why Bruce Willis' Joe goes to the past to eliminate—well, I won't spoil this part of the movie for you.



Unlike more genial time travel flicks like Back to the Future, Looper treats the ability to visit the past as something totally not to be trifled with. Time travel is banned in the realm of Looper...with only the criminal underworld taking advantage of this volatile technology (one gang using time travel for nefarious purposes being the one led by Abe, played by Jeff Daniels). As mentioned at the start of this paragraph, Looper is not really a feel-good film...and it ends on both a dreary and heartfelt note. It's heartfelt in that Sara goes through all lengths—including risking her own life—to save her own son, and it's dreary in that Gordon-Levitt's Joe—realizing that his own personal actions (including those committed by his older self) will lead to a cycle of pain and anger—chooses to perform the ultimate sacrifice to ensure that the misdeeds of his past (and future) won't cause any more harm to those closest to him. Intense stuff. Which is why you should check out Looper if you haven't done so already.

IMAGES OF THE DAY... ComicBookMovie.com posted this cool fan-made poster below that was inspired by Drew Struzan—who is best known for his awesome artwork on Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Back to the Future and other classic movies. The two other images in this entry were taken on the set of The Dark Knight Rises as it filmed in Pittsburgh during the past month.


Alexander Stojanov - deviantART


Getty Images

LAST MONTH, I went to the Frank & Son Collectible Show in the City of Industry, Calif., to see up-close a couple of famous cars featured in past movies and TV shows. Among the vehicles on display were the DeLorean from Back to the Future, the Camaro used for Bumblebee in Transformers, KITT from the classic TV series Knight Rider and even the Batmobile from the 1960s Batman TV show. Also shown was a van customized to look like Ratchet from the Transformers cartoon series in the 1980s.

LINK: Additional photos I took at the Frank & Son Collectible Show



I had to contribute a small monetary donation (which would be used to buy gas to transport these vehicles around) so I could enter the exhibit hall where these automobiles were shown. It’s all good. All I can say is, hopefully they’ll have the Tumbler from Batman Begins and The Dark Knight on display next time. That is all.

YESTERDAY, I saw Paranormal Activity 2...and as expected, I thought the film was pretty darn scary. Every time that ominous rumbling sound was heard in the background during a scene, you know that something freaky was obviously gonna happen inside that house—whether it was at night or at day. Of course, it would’ve been more frightening if most of the shocking moments in the movie weren’t seen in the TV ads [though it was showing shots from these scary scenes that obviously got me and every other person who saw this film to wanna watch Paranormal Activity 2 (or PA2)...DUHHH]. In the first Paranormal Activity, the most intense scene in that flick was the moment Katie was dragged out of her bed and down the stairs in her house by an evil unseen entity. A similar scene occurs with Katie’s sister Kristi after she is dragged out of her son’s nursery room in PA2...but for me, the "been there, seen that" attitude after seeing the first flick diminishes the impact of this scene. However, I have to give the filmmakers credit for nicely tying the story of this film with the first one. Paranormal Activity 2 is a prequel to the 2009 surprise hit (which was actually shown at the Screamfest Film Festival in 2007 but released nationwide in the U.S. on October 16 of last year).



If there’s one gripe that I have with Paranormal Activity 2, it’s that the backstory seemed like it was ripped off from an episode of the hit TV show Supernatural (the whole "making a deal with a demon to live a more prosperous life" bit). I’m surprised Jared Padalecki and/or Jensen Ackles (who play ghosthunters Sam and Dean Winchester on Supernatural) didn’t make cameos in the movie. Or at the very least, the daughter in PA2, Ali, tried to find out via her laptop computer how to contact a ‘crossroads demon’ (a recurring character/villain on Supernatural) to deal with the haunting of her family. Anyways...



I also watched Back to the Future at the theater yesterday. The 1985 sci-fi adventure classic was shown during a special 12:30 PM screening at the AMC theater in Puente Hills Mall (which served as the Twin Pines Mall in Back to the Future). Needless to say, it was a sell-out crowd...as lots of other people wanted to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the release of Robert Zemeckis’ hit film. Everyone in the audience got free theatrical posters of the movie afterwards. Would you guys chew me out if I said this was actually the first time I saw Back to the Future in its entirety? Would you chew me out even more if I said I never saw Back to the Future 2 and only bits and pieces of Back to the Future 3 as well? Great Scott! Quit hurling tomatoes at me!