Caucus Update: "Crawling from the Wreckage" edition

I pulled off the road to pull in a parking lot to take a phone call (a radical notion, for sure).

I just happened to pull in here.




Yes, it is probably no surprise that the Presidential candidates set up campaign headquarters in minimalls.  It's probably not a surprise either than when things are done, the places just get generally abandoned. 

I pass Ron Paul's headquarters every day (sharing space with a tanning salon, a diet planner, and a Quizno's).  It at least looks slightly like the owners got their lease money back.

Sam Brownback's '08 headquarters were probably there for about a year (longer than the campaign needed them), and in one of life's most paradoxical moments, I will never forget when the Girls Gone Wild bus was parked across the road from the failed Kansan candidate's HQ.

I love the caucus, but note to campaigns, please turn out the lights upon leaving.

Ghost Rider, Motorcycle Hero

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance - I have to admit that I want to like the Ghost Rider movies.  Ghost Rider was one of the coolest comic book characters around when I grew up, but has not aged well (I am not sure if it is too 1980s or the appeal is too much aimed at 12-year olds).  It is such a blend of the fantastic, that it seems almost unfilmable as a concept.  I also want to like Nicholas Cage, though his career at this point is a punchline.  I still like and remember the guy from Wild at heart, Con-Air and The Rock.

The sequel/reboot actually appears to have made the right step in bringing in the directors of Crank (Neveldine and Taylor).  The first Ghost Rider film was (in my opinion and others) one of the absolute worst movies made in the last 5 to 10 years.  In theory, one couldn't imagine a movie with Peter Fonda, Sam Elliott, and Donal Logue to be that bad, but there you go.

Of course, I think that film failed by trying to put a supernatural hero who sold his sold to the devil and now has a flaming skull, and trying to make it as he could just show up in the real world, and everything would work.

Neveldine and Taylor make the correct move by making this over the top.  It occasionally (and at its best) crosses into Sin City territory.  By making that change, Nicholas Cage's over-the-top performance actually works more for the movie than it did in the first one.

The supporting cast is head and shoulders over the first (There's no terrible emo-stereotypes like Wes Bentley's charatcer in this one).  Violante Placido brings a lot more depth to the female role than Eva Mendes did (whose only role in the first movie was to appear hot).

It's probably little praise, but the best thing that can be said about this movie is that it is the Ghost Rider movie that should have been made in the first place.  At that, I still find it hard to recommend to anyone but the most hardcore fans of the genre.  I have spent a good part of the last two decades watching straight-to-video movies, and GR:SoV is essentially that with a bigger budget and a Hollywood lead.

Neveldine and Taylor get a lot of credit here.  This film has a lot going against it, but N&T make the most of it.  The script is a mess.  It takes too long to set up (which is a paperthin premise in the first place), the ending is predictable, and it seems too long even at 95 minutes.  I also suspect a lot of viewers would find it confusing.

The movie is also limited by Cage in the main role.  There are dozens and dozens of actors who could bring more depth to this role, but this movie (and if the series continues) will never rise above being "Nicholas Cage playing Ghost Rider" as long as he has the lead role.