You are currently browsing the monthly archive for June 2008.
Against my better judgment I went and saw Wanted, and I will say it was just, just awful. Imagine a combination of Matrix style theatrics with the abrasive self-pity of Fight Club and the ridiculous violence of Shoot ‘em Up. I think the thing that irritated me the most about this movie was its total waste of potential. At first the effects are exciting and new but after about the 17th bending bullet in the first 12 minutes it gets a little old. An even bigger disappointment was the plot. It has some major potential. If only they knew how to harness their dark powers for good instead of money. There were a lot of points in the movie that I wish they would had elaborated on and thought that maybe it wasn’t important and they will quench my curiosity somewhere else down the line. They did not. Needless to say I was glad I only spent 6 dollars on it instead of 10 and would caution others to not even spend 3. If you insist on seeing it, wait for the glorious 50 cent matinee at the dollar theater.
Contrast that movie with the joy that comes with seeing Wall E. I’m going to claim spoiler on this one. Though this movie did not create an immense amount of burst out laughter, it was engaging. The movie really turned out to be a pretty good sci-fi movie more than a computer-animated film. It showed how our future earth would look if we can’t curb our consumerist ways. I’m not much for hippie themes but I could stomach this one, probably because that theme was a bit more subversive than the main plot of robot love. I think my favorite part of the movie is that all the people in it are portrayed as extremely obese and lazy, because in the future we have robots do everything for us, including watching Jackie Chan movies. I would go see this movie again, but would have a debriefing with my nephews again, so they don’t turn into Al Gore worshipping hippies.
A couple of weeks ago a friend and I sat on a tail gate and watched a lightning show and spoke of dreams past, present, and future. And I know what your thinking, a tailgate, how deliciously white trash. Besides the point if nothing else the song is worth listening to.
So in loo of my ability to walk I have to start using shoes. In the chaos that followed my leg breaking the EMT did his thing and cut off my shoe. I’m still ok with this decision. What bothers me is that when I ask someone for a 72″ shoe they look at me as if I believed in unicorns. My response is I bagged me one this morning and I will drag its bloody carcass in here if you don’t get me my shoe lace.
So last night while my mom and her quilting gang were out sipping margaritas and stitching the names of their next council of five into a quilt made entirely of Amish Defector’s beards, I was rummaging through the kitchen and happened upon this little treasure trove hidden above the fridge. It was a good night.
This weekend was a bit of a let down seeing as how I wanted to see The Love Guru, but it seems I may have dodged the proverbial bullet. Everything I have heard has been nothing but bad. Even those who went knowing the plot was nothing to be excited about were still disappointed.
I guess it was supreme blessing that saved me from the movie. Our home town theater didn’t have the movie on tap, and the consensus was not to drive an hour and waste the gas on some lowered expectation.
Nevertheless we were able to see Get Smart. I shared a similar sentiment about this movie that I shared with The Love Guru. I wasn’t expecting a whole lot from it. I really thought it could go either way. The movie doesn’t get off to a quick start. The development is slow and the humor is suspiciously British. As the movie goes on it develops a more Americanized British humor, by this I mean, think the office but with less stupidity and physical comedy.
Thought some of the funny parts are in the previews they are by no means the only ones. Truly the saddest thing about the funny parts in the previews is that in the movie they are almost depressing. Get Smart’s bouts of funny come from its timing and unexpectedness. The previews ruin what could have been some of the funniest parts, merely by you knowing the punch line before it could be set up.
Outside of that this movie has some fantastic life lessons to it. I know they aren’t revealed in the subtlest manner, and I’m sure that will be its over all downfall to the movie going elite, but as far as family friendly movies go that are actually worth watching I would throw this one in the ring.
So this week I went to see The Happening and The Incredible Hulk. I definitely think these are two that should wait until DVD, and with that what you should be surveying whether you truly are a fan of either franchise.
On Friday a friend and I went to see The Hulk. There were far less people there than I had expected for all the promotion that it had. I guess most people were still dry heaving from the last one or are far less of a geek than I am (though there were far geekier people there than I). The movie itself was a mid level movie, what it had going for it in the plus column was negated with equally crappy things in the negative. Edward Norton did a fine job in the movie, and this was one of the first times I can recall seeing Liv Tyler looking neither like a teenager nor a manikin. The movie starts off at a good pace and is well written. They do a good job of pacing the movie at the start and not showing the hulk right off the bat. The low points of the movie are when they introduce the military and the hulk’s nemesis. Long story short the bad guy doesn’t hit his stride acting until almost the very end of the movie. All in all if you’re a fan of The Hulk, this movie is far better than the last, but if you’re one of those supper geeks than the movie will be blasé and the only part that will matter is the last minute.
Day two, The Happening, in true Shyamalan fashion the movie is methodically paced, but as you find out shortly this movie is R rated (I’m sure the real reason why you want to see it anyway). As far as his movies go this one was one of my more favorite premises. The movie gets fairly graphic in the ways that people die although it does not linger on any single death too long. My biggest complaint with the movie is that it peeks too soon. I’ll leave it at that, pace wise for those who don’t necessarily like Lord of the Rings think about how the last thirty minutes of the third movie felt, very similar feeling. I would definitely wait until DVD on this one, though it has a good premise it was one of my least favorite Shyamalan movies.
Also as a point of professionalism, when you make a full length feature film and your not planning on it being a joke, don’t let the boom mic drop in the frame and make it past all the editing teams. I can’t for certain say that that is what happened, nor am I going to pay the extra money to see it again, but at one point in the movie either it was horrible framing or a huge lapse in judgement but something slips into the top of the frame and is very distracting. If you end up seeing it let me know what you thought it was.
On a side note watching either of these two movies is far better if you see them with some good sound. Keep that in mind when choosing your theater. Also after seeing The Happening, I realize my generation is seriously depraved. While everyone was leaving you could hear “worst movie I’ve ever seen” scattered through out the theater. My only thought was, the movie was awful because every time someone died you laughed. They didn’t come to see a suspense movie they came to watch people die. Keep that in mind when a movie disappoints you, to ask yourself if you gave it a legitimate shot.
Let’s all take a moment to laugh at the poor piecing together of photos….
And yes that is my handy work. let that be a lesson to those of you who think Billy Bob Thorton should be allowed to still star in movies. horrible horrible things will happen
At the end of the summer I will be moving back to Conway. With this move comes some major decisions, like should I continue with school, do I work for my father, if not can I find a different job, should I continue eating vegetables, do I take night classes, where do I live, should I continue to watch Conan, Just a few of the things. Some of them have some strong leads, but I’m not willing to say that any of them have definite answers.
So if anyone happens to know of any full time positions available I am currently open to suggestions.
My summer movie viewing kicked off this weekend, and did not disappoint. I’m going to go ahead and add spoiler alert to this just in case I say some unspecific comment and someone cries that I ruined the movie for them. I started the weekend off with Don’t Mess With the Zohan and polished it off with Kung-fu Panda.
Don’t Mess With the Zohan is what I have come to expect from the previews. The premise of the movie is ridiculous to begin with, so when i was bombarded with sex and hummus jokes, I wasn’t surprised. There are no end to the references of Adam Sandler’s bulge, and i would say sexual innuendo but that implies they were trying to be coy with the dialogue. An interesting side to this movie was they did a good job in my oppinion of not really taking sides with the whole Israel and Palestinian feud, though they do use an incredible amount stereotype jokes.
Does liking this movie make me a bad person? Yes.
Should you go see this movie? probably not.
Am I still saying you should? Yes. It’s a win win for everybody (at least those of us who have learned to ignore our Martin Short consciences)
So I was supposed to go and see Kung-fu Panda with my nephews but I was undercut by a their grandmother who lives next door. I think the whole cute grandmother things is a cover up, to become some form of grandmother overlord gathering all grandchildren to amass her forces. Because what heartless group of individuals would slaughter 5 year olds. So Kung-fu Panda Great movie to take the wee ones to you’ll both enjoy. Although I do think it is subconsciously encouraging obesity, and don’t let Entertainment Tonight fool you Angelina Jolie may be doing a voice but she may only have a paragraph’s worth of dialogue and here characters lips were nowhere big enough to make me believe that was Angelina, maybe she should have been the monkey.(heartless comment maybe, refer to prior conversation) Nevertheless good movie.
Not to say these movies we sub par but I think everyone’s movie going experience will be way better this summer if you drop your expectations at the door. Think to highly of a movie going in and your bound to think the book was better.
So for those who know me, you may know I don’t like reading very much. I think that this broken leg combined with the lack of people I know being in town has pushed me to doing it. Its not that i neccisarily hate reading it is more that I don’t have the attention span for it, but as of late I’ve been forced to build a stomach for it.
The book, 320 pages with pictures, that I just finished in a little under 2 weeks was Mark Steele’s Half Life/Die Already. Now this isn’t my first encounter with Mr. Steele. He contributes to Relevant Magazine and also has a precursor to the book called Flashbang (this book came earlier in my life and took about 2 years to polish off). Prior to this I had read maybe three other other books Subway Art, Pocket Guide to the Bible, and Everybody Poops. Outside of those i have faked every book book report and test from kindergarden to the present.
I’m not going to write a review I’m sure there are far more useful reviews written in 3 other places on the internet, but I will say that this book is defiantly worth reading. I would also recommend picking up his first book since they deal with a lot of the same issues which a big point to his new book. I sure I will be referencing things I learned from reading this in the future, which I think bodes a better review than anything me and Matthew Mcconaughey could come up with.
