Yesterday, I went and saw 'The Hunger Games' with my wife. As we were talking about the movie afterwards, I told her I guess I didn't see what the big deal was all about. Not the movie itself...it was an enjoyable, well done movie that stuck pretty close to its source material. I was referring more to the little of bit of 'too much violence' controversy that has followed the movie. Many of the frequent early reviews said contained some variation of the theme 'this would be an excellent movie if it wasn't for all the violence.'
Frankly, I didn't see that much violence. Certainly no worse than what one saw in 'The Lord of the Rings' Trilogy. In fact, there were points where Katniss looked much less blood-splattered than Aragon.
My wife, perhaps more insightful of human nature than I am, said she thought the problem people had was that in 'Hunger Games', the violence was kid on kid. She may be right...I mean there aren't a whole lot of movies where you'll see a 17-year old reach out and just snap a 14-year olds neck.
When it comes to movies, she thought the real problem might be that folks have stopped believing what PG-13 is supposed to mean. 'The Hunger Games' is certainly a movie where you need to stop and evaluate your individual child. An 11-year old that plays a lot of Call of Duty would probably be fine. My 9-year old would have gotten weepy about the scene where they were roasting a squirrel over the open fire, let alone killing each other.
It is a good movie. They do as good of a job of translating the 'combat' section of the book to screen as they could have done. The only thing lacking in the transition to the movie is opening part of the book...you don't quite see how desperate and razor thin the edge is for these folks living in District 12. It feels too much like modern day Appalachia and not enough Mad Max.
The acting and casting are good. Is Jennifer Lawerance prettier than what I pictured Katniss? Sure...but she IS Katniss in this movie. They also re-do things a bit to make her a more sympathetic character. The movie lacks some of her internal monologue where is drives home just how much she is playing Petta, and how much she think Petta might be playing her. To watch the movie, you might think they actually like each other. I'm curious to see how they handle this in the later movies.
Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket impressed me. The picture in my mind of Effie was closer to 50-something and dumpy, not a knock-out hottie like Elizabeth Banks is in real life...but she captures the character perfectly, and the make-up the have her in keeps her beauty from being distracting.
My wife dug Lennie Kravitz also impresses as Cinna, coming across as one of the few warm, friendly roles in the movie. Donald Sutherland, as the evil, manipulative President Snow is quite the opposite, but there is no one else I can picture in that role now.
Not a perfect movie, but one of the better 'from a book' movies I have seen in a long while. I would give it 8.75 out of 10.
Showing posts with label Movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Movies. Show all posts
4.01.2012
2.05.2012
Chronicle
Movie night with the wife last night. After one of my co-workers gave The Grey a so-so review, we decided to go see the new 'found footage' movie, 'Chronicle'.
Boy, am I glad we did. My wife called it 'entertaining', but I was much more impressed than that. While it's not literally a 'comic book movie' since it's not based on a comic book, it is a movie about a few high-school kids being exposed to something mysterious, and finding out that they have developed telekinesis, so it plays out as a 'super hero origin' story.
My only complaint about the movie is that the 3 main characters are stereotypes....but they are well played and well casted stereotypes. You have Andrew, the uber-shy geek, with a dying mom and an alcoholic dad, Matt, his cousin, popular despite his slightly geeky psycho babble, and Steve, the Class President. Andrew is the driving force in the movie, having acquired a video camera to help him view his life remotely. He happens to have his camera handy when the other two boys want to investigate something strange they have found.
The movie progresses from them learning they have the powers, taping what they have found they can do. They start with moving rocks, and baseball, and progress to using their powers to perform practical jokes, before learning that if they move themselves, they can even fly.
Of course, things must get dark. Andrew, with his downtrodden life at home, is no longer helpless. There are no 'with great power comes great responsibility' speeches, but Matt does want to talk about rules. And then, there are fights. The final confrontation in down-town Seattle reminds me of the battle in Metropolis, from Superman 2....but better.
Like I said, I was more impressed than my wife. If The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises are even 90% as good as this movie, it's going to be a great year for Comic Book Action movies. It's a very short movie too...run time about 85 minutes...
I say you give it a 9 out of 10.
Boy, am I glad we did. My wife called it 'entertaining', but I was much more impressed than that. While it's not literally a 'comic book movie' since it's not based on a comic book, it is a movie about a few high-school kids being exposed to something mysterious, and finding out that they have developed telekinesis, so it plays out as a 'super hero origin' story.
My only complaint about the movie is that the 3 main characters are stereotypes....but they are well played and well casted stereotypes. You have Andrew, the uber-shy geek, with a dying mom and an alcoholic dad, Matt, his cousin, popular despite his slightly geeky psycho babble, and Steve, the Class President. Andrew is the driving force in the movie, having acquired a video camera to help him view his life remotely. He happens to have his camera handy when the other two boys want to investigate something strange they have found.
The movie progresses from them learning they have the powers, taping what they have found they can do. They start with moving rocks, and baseball, and progress to using their powers to perform practical jokes, before learning that if they move themselves, they can even fly.
Of course, things must get dark. Andrew, with his downtrodden life at home, is no longer helpless. There are no 'with great power comes great responsibility' speeches, but Matt does want to talk about rules. And then, there are fights. The final confrontation in down-town Seattle reminds me of the battle in Metropolis, from Superman 2....but better.
Like I said, I was more impressed than my wife. If The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises are even 90% as good as this movie, it's going to be a great year for Comic Book Action movies. It's a very short movie too...run time about 85 minutes...
I say you give it a 9 out of 10.
8.29.2011
The Final Countdown
While trying to figure out what to watch during our Sunday evening snuggling on the couch, I had an overwhelming burst of nostalgia...Netflix recently added the movie The Final Countdown! For those of you who didn't have HBO back in the early-to-mid 1980's, you might not have seen The Final Countdown...set in Modern Times(which for this movie is 1980), The Final Countdown stars Kirk Douglas, Martin Sheen, and The Guy that plays the head Cuban in Red Dawn and involves the USS Nimitz getting sucked back through a 'time portal' to December 6th, 1941.
That's right...F-14's vs. Mitsubishi Zero's...who can resist that? I couldn't when I was 12(I must have watched that movie 35-40 times on HBO) and I found I couldn't resist it now. It didn't take much convincing for my wife to be willing to give it a try(have I mentioned how amazing she is?).
Sometimes, when you haven't seen a movie in a long, long time, it doesn't quiet measure up to the movie that is in your mind. The Final Countdown does a pretty good job of living up to the what was in my memory...slightly less action-packed that I remember..there is only 1 real scene where you get to see just how awesome it would be to have a Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier on your side at the beginning of WWII(and they never even mention that as a strategic asset, Nimitz would have had nukes on board). The other thing that caused a mental flinch out of me was the dungarees the guys were wearing, and THEIR BEARDS. Talk about a flashback...
SWMBO thought the movie was okay, but that it could have used a bunch more stuff blowing up, as in the whole Japanese fleet. She was much more impressed with how young Martin Sheen looked, and how much he sounded like Charlie. She kept waiting for him to talk about 'winning', and offering to use 'tiger blood' to fight the Japanese.
If somehow you have never previously seen this movie, and you have Netflix, it's worth and hour and a half of your time...
That's right...F-14's vs. Mitsubishi Zero's...who can resist that? I couldn't when I was 12(I must have watched that movie 35-40 times on HBO) and I found I couldn't resist it now. It didn't take much convincing for my wife to be willing to give it a try(have I mentioned how amazing she is?).
Sometimes, when you haven't seen a movie in a long, long time, it doesn't quiet measure up to the movie that is in your mind. The Final Countdown does a pretty good job of living up to the what was in my memory...slightly less action-packed that I remember..there is only 1 real scene where you get to see just how awesome it would be to have a Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier on your side at the beginning of WWII(and they never even mention that as a strategic asset, Nimitz would have had nukes on board). The other thing that caused a mental flinch out of me was the dungarees the guys were wearing, and THEIR BEARDS. Talk about a flashback...
SWMBO thought the movie was okay, but that it could have used a bunch more stuff blowing up, as in the whole Japanese fleet. She was much more impressed with how young Martin Sheen looked, and how much he sounded like Charlie. She kept waiting for him to talk about 'winning', and offering to use 'tiger blood' to fight the Japanese.
If somehow you have never previously seen this movie, and you have Netflix, it's worth and hour and a half of your time...
7.28.2011
Oh, Liam...did you really need a paycheck THAT bad?
For most of my life, whenever I have heard that Liam Neeson was going to be in a movie, it was easy to assume: 'Oh, a serious movie...no need to see that'. Not that he made bad movies(quite the contrary, they were quite good, Schindler's List, Rob Roy, and Nell are all good, good movies) but when I was younger, I didn't always have a lot of use for serious movies.
Around the millenium, this started to change. Roles as Qui-Gon Jinn, worlds weakest Jedi, Ra's Al Ghul in Batman Begins, and the voice of Aslan began to give him some serious 'Entertaining Movie' cred(not that he didn't deserve that already for 'Dark Man'). In, this peaked with the unexpectedly excellent movie 'Taken'. Neeson nailed it, and was totally spot on in a great role in a great movie.
Should have stopped there. I didn't see 'Clash of the Titan' or 'The A-Team' but I didn't hear much good about them.
Today, I found myself watching the newly released trailer for 'Battleship'(based on the game!) and I was unable to look away from the horror, which mean I saw Mr. Liam Neeson in there slumming it with likes of bikini model Brooklyn Decker(not a bad person to slum with...hubba hubba), Rhianna(another hubba hubba I wouldn't mind slumming with) and lots of CGI aliens.
That's right...the (Based on the game!) movie 'Battleship' has aliens in it. And it must be about time travel also, because there is screen shot of an Iowa Class Battleship firing a broadside, and the Navy hasn't had an active battleship since the USS Missouri was decommissioned in 1992.
Given the interest in the genre crossing Cowboys vs. Aliens, I would have been much more interested in a WWII Era Task Force encounters some aliens movie than I am in this piece of feces...
Around the millenium, this started to change. Roles as Qui-Gon Jinn, worlds weakest Jedi, Ra's Al Ghul in Batman Begins, and the voice of Aslan began to give him some serious 'Entertaining Movie' cred(not that he didn't deserve that already for 'Dark Man'). In, this peaked with the unexpectedly excellent movie 'Taken'. Neeson nailed it, and was totally spot on in a great role in a great movie.
Should have stopped there. I didn't see 'Clash of the Titan' or 'The A-Team' but I didn't hear much good about them.
Today, I found myself watching the newly released trailer for 'Battleship'(based on the game!) and I was unable to look away from the horror, which mean I saw Mr. Liam Neeson in there slumming it with likes of bikini model Brooklyn Decker(not a bad person to slum with...hubba hubba), Rhianna(another hubba hubba I wouldn't mind slumming with) and lots of CGI aliens.
That's right...the (Based on the game!) movie 'Battleship' has aliens in it. And it must be about time travel also, because there is screen shot of an Iowa Class Battleship firing a broadside, and the Navy hasn't had an active battleship since the USS Missouri was decommissioned in 1992.
Given the interest in the genre crossing Cowboys vs. Aliens, I would have been much more interested in a WWII Era Task Force encounters some aliens movie than I am in this piece of feces...
7.10.2011
Marking October 11th on the calander...
While the wife watched Burlesque yesterday(maybe a review to follow...wasn't the worst movie that's ever played on my TV) I found an interesting distraction on the internet machine:
The first trailer to the newest take on The Three Musketeers. I'm not sure...especially since this one looks like it sticks to the Dumas novel the way you know a movie that says 'Based on a true event' sticks to that event.
I have enjoyed the last few Musketeer Movie's...there was Young Gun Musketeer's with Charlie Sheen, Kiefer, the always hot Rebecca De Mornay, and the always entertaining Tim Curry as Richelieu.
Then a few years ago(it was actually TEN YEARS already?) there was The Musketeer, which was lacking in story and acting, but had some of the most entertainingly choreographed fight scenes I have ever seen, and a menacing Tim Roth in it.
Anyway, this new one looks sufficiently steam punky that when I showed my wife the trailer, she expressed interest. The dirigible frigates remind me of an 18th century version of the dreadnaughts from Larry Corriea's newest book...
The first trailer to the newest take on The Three Musketeers. I'm not sure...especially since this one looks like it sticks to the Dumas novel the way you know a movie that says 'Based on a true event' sticks to that event.
I have enjoyed the last few Musketeer Movie's...there was Young Gun Musketeer's with Charlie Sheen, Kiefer, the always hot Rebecca De Mornay, and the always entertaining Tim Curry as Richelieu.
Then a few years ago(it was actually TEN YEARS already?) there was The Musketeer, which was lacking in story and acting, but had some of the most entertainingly choreographed fight scenes I have ever seen, and a menacing Tim Roth in it.
Anyway, this new one looks sufficiently steam punky that when I showed my wife the trailer, she expressed interest. The dirigible frigates remind me of an 18th century version of the dreadnaughts from Larry Corriea's newest book...
6.19.2011
First Class
This evening my wife and I went out to see X-Men: First Class. It is a proper name for the movie, as both my wife and I found it to be a first class evening of entertainment.
First, I must confess that I am not just a comic book geek, but an X-Men geek in particular. I thought that I would be a little pouty because the First Class in this movie where NOT the first class in the comic books...but I turned out to be okay with it. Havok was a good character to use to show the struggles controlling a power...without Jean Grey, you don't need cyclops. Banshee allowed you to show character who could learn to use a power differently.
Mystique is a fan-favorite character...she is also, especially when used with Beast in this movie, an excellent mutant for driving home the 'acceptable' part of being a mutant, with her ability to 'hide' in society as an attractive blonde girl. All she as to do is hide everything she is. Beast meanwhile, is someone who can look normal while just wearing big shoes...and despises it.
As far as the mentors go...my opinion is Magneto was a much better character in this movie than Charles Xavier. Magneto has lived a hard life, and has an honest, though jaded, opinion of the world. Charles has spent his time in country estates, going to Oxford, and quite frankly, is a bit of a prig.
There isn't a lot of character time spent with the bad guys...but Kevin Bacon, as the big baddy Sebastien Shaw, does a really good job. He is believable as a Nazi doctor, and very believable as a power brokering, behind the scenes mastermind. He fit's perfectly into the 60's, and you have to believe that Sebastien Shaw would have had a secret entrance into the Playboy Mansion to hang out with Hef and the girls whenever he wanted to.
I was not overly blown away by January Jones as Emma Frost. In her defense, Emma is a tough nut to crack. One of the more overly sexed-up characters in a genre that makes fan-boys happy by sexing up even their most mundane creations, it takes more to be Emma Frost than just a white bustier. There needs to be a charisma that Ms. Jones didn't bring to the role. Early rumors had said that Alice Eve, from 'She's Out of Your League' was going to play Emma...this might have been better...more lifelike at least.
My only other real problem with this movie was the use of Moira Mactaggert. Now, I would rather have seen Eve Myles play the part than Rose Byrne...but Rose wasn't bad...it's more the fact that the character was warped from a Scot's geneticist to a CIA Agent. I know it fit the plot better, but instead of trying to cash in on the Moira MacTaggert character....make up a new one! They already created two (new to me anyway) mutants for this movie....would creating a CIA liaison have been too much?
Minor complaints, all.
For the fan-boy's out there(SPOILER!)...there was a cute little scene with Hugh Jackman, and another nod to Marvel continuity with a cameo by Rebecca Romijn as an older Mystique. I liked the girl(Jennifer Laurence) playing Mystique...I know she has been cast as Katniss in the upcoming Hunger Games movies...so...I look forward to her showing her acting chops playing a very different type of character.
8.5-9 out of 10.
First, I must confess that I am not just a comic book geek, but an X-Men geek in particular. I thought that I would be a little pouty because the First Class in this movie where NOT the first class in the comic books...but I turned out to be okay with it. Havok was a good character to use to show the struggles controlling a power...without Jean Grey, you don't need cyclops. Banshee allowed you to show character who could learn to use a power differently.
Mystique is a fan-favorite character...she is also, especially when used with Beast in this movie, an excellent mutant for driving home the 'acceptable' part of being a mutant, with her ability to 'hide' in society as an attractive blonde girl. All she as to do is hide everything she is. Beast meanwhile, is someone who can look normal while just wearing big shoes...and despises it.
As far as the mentors go...my opinion is Magneto was a much better character in this movie than Charles Xavier. Magneto has lived a hard life, and has an honest, though jaded, opinion of the world. Charles has spent his time in country estates, going to Oxford, and quite frankly, is a bit of a prig.
There isn't a lot of character time spent with the bad guys...but Kevin Bacon, as the big baddy Sebastien Shaw, does a really good job. He is believable as a Nazi doctor, and very believable as a power brokering, behind the scenes mastermind. He fit's perfectly into the 60's, and you have to believe that Sebastien Shaw would have had a secret entrance into the Playboy Mansion to hang out with Hef and the girls whenever he wanted to.
I was not overly blown away by January Jones as Emma Frost. In her defense, Emma is a tough nut to crack. One of the more overly sexed-up characters in a genre that makes fan-boys happy by sexing up even their most mundane creations, it takes more to be Emma Frost than just a white bustier. There needs to be a charisma that Ms. Jones didn't bring to the role. Early rumors had said that Alice Eve, from 'She's Out of Your League' was going to play Emma...this might have been better...more lifelike at least.
My only other real problem with this movie was the use of Moira Mactaggert. Now, I would rather have seen Eve Myles play the part than Rose Byrne...but Rose wasn't bad...it's more the fact that the character was warped from a Scot's geneticist to a CIA Agent. I know it fit the plot better, but instead of trying to cash in on the Moira MacTaggert character....make up a new one! They already created two (new to me anyway) mutants for this movie....would creating a CIA liaison have been too much?
Minor complaints, all.
For the fan-boy's out there(SPOILER!)...there was a cute little scene with Hugh Jackman, and another nod to Marvel continuity with a cameo by Rebecca Romijn as an older Mystique. I liked the girl(Jennifer Laurence) playing Mystique...I know she has been cast as Katniss in the upcoming Hunger Games movies...so...I look forward to her showing her acting chops playing a very different type of character.
8.5-9 out of 10.
5.22.2011
THOR!
Last night being the third Saturday of the month meant that it was Movie Night for the wife and I. Since we lost interest in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise about 2/3rds of the way through the 2nd movie, we had zero interest in sitting through another 2.5 hours of CAPTAIN JACK SPARROW. Instead, my wife let me indulge my comic book side by taking in Marvel's latest superhero flick on the Road to The Avengers: Thor!
When it comes to comic books, I mostly identify myself as an X-Man fan...so, Marvel's Mutant stories are what interest me the most. What I know of Spider Man, Iron Man, Captain America and Thor come mostly from their cross-overs with the X-Men and are nothing that would single me out as particularly geeky. Luckily, this hasn't kept from enjoying the most recent run of comic book movies..if we just forget that Daredevil and Electra(and Fantastic 4 #2) ever happened, comic book movies have been pretty decent the last ten years or so.
Thor was a good movie. Comparing it to other comic book movies, I would say it is right about up there with the first Iron Man movie, which means it still falls short of The Dark Night.
The two concerns I had heading into Thor were could you find an actor that could pull off Being Thor, and would Sir Anthony Hopkins, playing the role of Odin, phone it in for a pay check?
Well, Sir Anthony didn't phone it in...he did a fine job playing Odin, even if Odin did sound a bit like Hannibal Lecter. On the other concern, Chris Hemsworth did an outstanding job as Thor. I was a little worried because with the Hulk, you can use CGI. With Iron Man, it's CGI in suit...but Thor has always just been a big, blond haired guy...and Chris Hemsworth was big enough to pull it off. The added benefit of this was that as my wife was oooh and ahhing over how nice he looked, she didn't notice me making the same noises over the female leads.
Natalie Portman is Natalie Portman. She sure is pretty, and she is recognized as being a good actress. She plays the mortal Jane Foster, an astrophysicist researching the atmospheric convulsions caused by the Asgardians making the jump to Midgard(Earth).
Kat Dennings plays Natalie's Portman's assistant. She acts as the films comic relief element, and she is criminally under used. I have dug her quite a lot ever since seeing her in Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. While reading reviews of the movie, I came across pictures taken at the premier of Thor, and found this one. Allow me to indulge my baser red-blooded male instincts for a minute.
Hubba Hubba...that's your comic relief?
Okay...back to the movie.
Tim Hiddleston, playing Loki, has just as much effect on the movie as Thor....every good hero needs a good villian, and Loki is a good one. It's amazing what happens when you bring in actual actors to act in your comic book movies....people care about them. While there is no doubt in this one Loki is the bad guy, Hiddleston makes you at least feel some sympathy for him. He's bad, but he's not slimy bad.
The final bit of casting that threw me for a loop was seeing Rene Russo playing Frigga, Thor's MOM!!!!!! Yes, I guess she is approaching 60(just turned 57) but...it's Rene Russo...she's a hottie..she's not supposed to be playing a God's MOM!!!!!
Good movie...give it a B+. Now, we just need Captain America not to suck, and we can all have high hopes for The Avenger's next summer.
The only two disappointments from this movie are that Natalie Portman drives this kick-butt 4WD white van that my wife wants BADLY now. As near as I can tell, it is a Austrian Model 710K Pinzgauer. Not exactly a dime a dozen.
The other disappointment is ZERO usage of the KISS version of God of Thunder. Could have at least had it playing on a car radio or something.
When it comes to comic books, I mostly identify myself as an X-Man fan...so, Marvel's Mutant stories are what interest me the most. What I know of Spider Man, Iron Man, Captain America and Thor come mostly from their cross-overs with the X-Men and are nothing that would single me out as particularly geeky. Luckily, this hasn't kept from enjoying the most recent run of comic book movies..if we just forget that Daredevil and Electra(and Fantastic 4 #2) ever happened, comic book movies have been pretty decent the last ten years or so.
Thor was a good movie. Comparing it to other comic book movies, I would say it is right about up there with the first Iron Man movie, which means it still falls short of The Dark Night.
The two concerns I had heading into Thor were could you find an actor that could pull off Being Thor, and would Sir Anthony Hopkins, playing the role of Odin, phone it in for a pay check?
Well, Sir Anthony didn't phone it in...he did a fine job playing Odin, even if Odin did sound a bit like Hannibal Lecter. On the other concern, Chris Hemsworth did an outstanding job as Thor. I was a little worried because with the Hulk, you can use CGI. With Iron Man, it's CGI in suit...but Thor has always just been a big, blond haired guy...and Chris Hemsworth was big enough to pull it off. The added benefit of this was that as my wife was oooh and ahhing over how nice he looked, she didn't notice me making the same noises over the female leads.
Natalie Portman is Natalie Portman. She sure is pretty, and she is recognized as being a good actress. She plays the mortal Jane Foster, an astrophysicist researching the atmospheric convulsions caused by the Asgardians making the jump to Midgard(Earth).
Kat Dennings plays Natalie's Portman's assistant. She acts as the films comic relief element, and she is criminally under used. I have dug her quite a lot ever since seeing her in Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. While reading reviews of the movie, I came across pictures taken at the premier of Thor, and found this one. Allow me to indulge my baser red-blooded male instincts for a minute.
Hubba Hubba...that's your comic relief?
Okay...back to the movie.
Tim Hiddleston, playing Loki, has just as much effect on the movie as Thor....every good hero needs a good villian, and Loki is a good one. It's amazing what happens when you bring in actual actors to act in your comic book movies....people care about them. While there is no doubt in this one Loki is the bad guy, Hiddleston makes you at least feel some sympathy for him. He's bad, but he's not slimy bad.
The final bit of casting that threw me for a loop was seeing Rene Russo playing Frigga, Thor's MOM!!!!!! Yes, I guess she is approaching 60(just turned 57) but...it's Rene Russo...she's a hottie..she's not supposed to be playing a God's MOM!!!!!
Good movie...give it a B+. Now, we just need Captain America not to suck, and we can all have high hopes for The Avenger's next summer.
The only two disappointments from this movie are that Natalie Portman drives this kick-butt 4WD white van that my wife wants BADLY now. As near as I can tell, it is a Austrian Model 710K Pinzgauer. Not exactly a dime a dozen.
The other disappointment is ZERO usage of the KISS version of God of Thunder. Could have at least had it playing on a car radio or something.
4.30.2011
'Salt' needs more seasoning.
SWMBO and I LOVE streaming netflix. It is one of the reasons we are able to make it with just basic(and I mean BASIC) cable. One of our few complaints about the streaming options on netflix is a lack of 'current' releases, so, when 'Salt' showed up as a available, my wife was pretty excited. Who am I to not let her get what she wants sometimes?
I wasn't overly impressed. Giving it it's due, I can't say it was bad...it just wasn't better than other movies of it's genre. It was no better than the Bourne movies with Matt Damon, didn't hold a candle to 'Taken', and doesn't deserve to be compared to 'Hanna'.
Angelina Jolie plays Evelyn Salt, a CIA agent, even though she works at a building CLEARLY labeled as a petroleum company, which just goes to show you that all oil companies are evil. 20 minutes before she is supposed to leave for the day for her wedding anniversary, a Russian Defector walks in, needing a quick debrief. Bummer on the timing, and bummer on what he says....because he accuses Angelina of being a Russian Sleeper Agent. OMG!
Ready, set, chase!
Angelina plays the rabbit, and the two main hounds per suing her are Liev Schreiber, who plays her defensive boss, and Chiwetel Eliofor(who was the global warming scientist in 2012, and more importantly, The Operative in Serenity, and played with Clive Owen in Children of Man) playing the Counter Intelligence guy who's out to catch her.
So. Chase, Chase, Chase. Angelina does some McGuyver type stuff, beats a few people up, jumps off bridges and from the top of one truck to the top of another truck, and escapes.
Then she dyes her hair, beats up a few more people, and let's herself get captured, just to escape again, and we find out, that MAYBE she is the bad guy. And she is far from alone as the bad guy.
My wife and I both agreed that the movie had one or two really cool parts, especially when she dispenses 'Final Justice' to the main bad guy.
The plot is not really the problem in this movie. It is no more goofy or unlikely than any other action thriller that has come out in the last 10 years. I can't believe I'm going to say this as a guy, but my real problem with the movie might be Angelina Jolie.
For a span of 6 years or so(from Bone Collector to Mr. and Mrs. Smith) you would not have gotten much argument from me if you wanted to say that Angelina Jolie was one of the 5 most attractive women in the world. Even in Salt, she still has a classically beautiful face...but...what bothers me, is she in thin verging on the point of frail. Jumping from truck to truck on the freeway, I think she would have snapped both her legs(okay, so would Jason Statham, in real life...but he looks the part). Even as a 'highly trained Russian Assassin' she would not have been able to go toe-to-toe with other 'highly trained' types. Liev Schrieber is 6 inches taller and outweighs her by what....80 pounds?
All this bashing, and I am still going to give it 3 out of 5 stars...it's not the movies fault that Hollywood has told Angelina she needs to be 5'8" and 120 pounds to be beautiful. It's not this movies fault that 'Taken' and 'Hanna' are better. It's still a fair-to-middling flick, with occasional sparks of 'Oh, cool' thrown in.
I wasn't overly impressed. Giving it it's due, I can't say it was bad...it just wasn't better than other movies of it's genre. It was no better than the Bourne movies with Matt Damon, didn't hold a candle to 'Taken', and doesn't deserve to be compared to 'Hanna'.
Angelina Jolie plays Evelyn Salt, a CIA agent, even though she works at a building CLEARLY labeled as a petroleum company, which just goes to show you that all oil companies are evil. 20 minutes before she is supposed to leave for the day for her wedding anniversary, a Russian Defector walks in, needing a quick debrief. Bummer on the timing, and bummer on what he says....because he accuses Angelina of being a Russian Sleeper Agent. OMG!
Ready, set, chase!
Angelina plays the rabbit, and the two main hounds per suing her are Liev Schreiber, who plays her defensive boss, and Chiwetel Eliofor(who was the global warming scientist in 2012, and more importantly, The Operative in Serenity, and played with Clive Owen in Children of Man) playing the Counter Intelligence guy who's out to catch her.
So. Chase, Chase, Chase. Angelina does some McGuyver type stuff, beats a few people up, jumps off bridges and from the top of one truck to the top of another truck, and escapes.
Then she dyes her hair, beats up a few more people, and let's herself get captured, just to escape again, and we find out, that MAYBE she is the bad guy. And she is far from alone as the bad guy.
My wife and I both agreed that the movie had one or two really cool parts, especially when she dispenses 'Final Justice' to the main bad guy.
The plot is not really the problem in this movie. It is no more goofy or unlikely than any other action thriller that has come out in the last 10 years. I can't believe I'm going to say this as a guy, but my real problem with the movie might be Angelina Jolie.
For a span of 6 years or so(from Bone Collector to Mr. and Mrs. Smith) you would not have gotten much argument from me if you wanted to say that Angelina Jolie was one of the 5 most attractive women in the world. Even in Salt, she still has a classically beautiful face...but...what bothers me, is she in thin verging on the point of frail. Jumping from truck to truck on the freeway, I think she would have snapped both her legs(okay, so would Jason Statham, in real life...but he looks the part). Even as a 'highly trained Russian Assassin' she would not have been able to go toe-to-toe with other 'highly trained' types. Liev Schrieber is 6 inches taller and outweighs her by what....80 pounds?
All this bashing, and I am still going to give it 3 out of 5 stars...it's not the movies fault that Hollywood has told Angelina she needs to be 5'8" and 120 pounds to be beautiful. It's not this movies fault that 'Taken' and 'Hanna' are better. It's still a fair-to-middling flick, with occasional sparks of 'Oh, cool' thrown in.
4.29.2011
Easily distracted by small, shiney objects...
I have sort of an addiction when it comes to movies....I love to know everything about them before they come out. Well, not everything, because I do like plot-twist surprises....but as far as who is playing what part, what the general point of the movie is, and most especially...I like watching the trailers.
If SWMBO had her way, we would walk in with the popcorn after the last trailer had finished, and they were starting the titles for the main feature. Me? Half the time I am more interested in the trailers for what is coming next than I am for the movie we are supposed to be watching. A psychologist would probably say that points to some deeper flaw in my psyche, like 'not being able to enjoy what you have in the present'. Bah....I just found out long ago that you can figure out 90% of most movies from the trailers.
Yesterday was a big day, trailer-wise. As summer rapidly approaches, the final trailers for most of the big summer movies are starting to come out. Yesterday brought a new trailer for X-Men:First Class, perhaps our final trailer ever for a Harry Potter movie, and the full length trailer for Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon.
I'm pretty much 'all-in' on this movie. There is no possible middle ground, it is either going to be the best(and by best I mean most entertaining mind diversion) of the year, or the worst of the year. I'm voting for best of the year, myself, and have circled July 1st on my calendar already.
If SWMBO had her way, we would walk in with the popcorn after the last trailer had finished, and they were starting the titles for the main feature. Me? Half the time I am more interested in the trailers for what is coming next than I am for the movie we are supposed to be watching. A psychologist would probably say that points to some deeper flaw in my psyche, like 'not being able to enjoy what you have in the present'. Bah....I just found out long ago that you can figure out 90% of most movies from the trailers.
Yesterday was a big day, trailer-wise. As summer rapidly approaches, the final trailers for most of the big summer movies are starting to come out. Yesterday brought a new trailer for X-Men:First Class, perhaps our final trailer ever for a Harry Potter movie, and the full length trailer for Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon.
I'm pretty much 'all-in' on this movie. There is no possible middle ground, it is either going to be the best(and by best I mean most entertaining mind diversion) of the year, or the worst of the year. I'm voting for best of the year, myself, and have circled July 1st on my calendar already.
4.26.2011
Easy A
Over the weekend, my wife and I snuggled in on the couch to watch a movie. SWMBO selected 'Easy A'. She had heard that it was funny, and one of the best 'Teen Comedy's' to come along since John Hughes stopped directing movies. I had not heard that, but I did know that the movie had a very high esthetic appeal Emma Stone in it.
Emma is an actress on her way up in the world. The only movie I previously remember seeing her in was Zombieland, where she played Witchita. She has been cast to play Gwen Stacy in the newest Spider Man reboot, and I can almost forgive her coloring her beautiful natural red hair blah blonde...it has the potential to be a big enough movie series.
Okay...the movie was really funny...and the claims my wife had made about it being one of the funniest teen movies since John Hughes are not totally unfounded. I mean, I'm not a teenager anymore, but it's the funniest teenager based movie I have seen since American Pie.
Emma Stone plays Olive, and like all stunningly hot red-heads, she is unpopular...or at least not as popular as she wishes she was. Quite by accident while trying to dodge a weekend camping trip with her best-friends goofy family, she ends up lying about how she spent her weekend. The story she spins involves a sexual tryst with a college kid, and begins changing her reputation in what she considers a positive way.
Soon she is making up similar stories for other downtrodden boys at school, and she begins to embrace the 'tramp' image...which is cool because she wears a lot of bustiers. Because they are reading the Scarlet Letter in class, she begins sewing A's on all her clothes. The Christian Chastity group doesn't like this, and eventually sentiment in the school begins turning against her. The plot comes to a head when one of the boys she doesn't really sleep with gets chlamydia, and blames it on her anyway.
I found the movie very enjoyable, and would rate it very high as a 'hour and a half distraction' movie. About 20 minutes into the movie, my wife made a valid observation, that 5 years ago, Lindsay Lohan would have played the part being played by Emma Stone, and done just as well. What I can't picture is anyone else playing the roles of Emma's parents...Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson were PERFECT. They are the type of character actors who make movies like this.
Giving it 4 stars out of 5...the only thing neither my wife or I could believe was that this movie was rated PG-13. Granted...there is no real nudity, but the whole topic of the movie is sexual promiscuity...I think I heard every sexual innuendo I had ever heard in this movie, and learned a few new ones.
Emma is an actress on her way up in the world. The only movie I previously remember seeing her in was Zombieland, where she played Witchita. She has been cast to play Gwen Stacy in the newest Spider Man reboot, and I can almost forgive her coloring her beautiful natural red hair blah blonde...it has the potential to be a big enough movie series.
Okay...the movie was really funny...and the claims my wife had made about it being one of the funniest teen movies since John Hughes are not totally unfounded. I mean, I'm not a teenager anymore, but it's the funniest teenager based movie I have seen since American Pie.
Emma Stone plays Olive, and like all stunningly hot red-heads, she is unpopular...or at least not as popular as she wishes she was. Quite by accident while trying to dodge a weekend camping trip with her best-friends goofy family, she ends up lying about how she spent her weekend. The story she spins involves a sexual tryst with a college kid, and begins changing her reputation in what she considers a positive way.
Soon she is making up similar stories for other downtrodden boys at school, and she begins to embrace the 'tramp' image...which is cool because she wears a lot of bustiers. Because they are reading the Scarlet Letter in class, she begins sewing A's on all her clothes. The Christian Chastity group doesn't like this, and eventually sentiment in the school begins turning against her. The plot comes to a head when one of the boys she doesn't really sleep with gets chlamydia, and blames it on her anyway.
I found the movie very enjoyable, and would rate it very high as a 'hour and a half distraction' movie. About 20 minutes into the movie, my wife made a valid observation, that 5 years ago, Lindsay Lohan would have played the part being played by Emma Stone, and done just as well. What I can't picture is anyone else playing the roles of Emma's parents...Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson were PERFECT. They are the type of character actors who make movies like this.
Giving it 4 stars out of 5...the only thing neither my wife or I could believe was that this movie was rated PG-13. Granted...there is no real nudity, but the whole topic of the movie is sexual promiscuity...I think I heard every sexual innuendo I had ever heard in this movie, and learned a few new ones.
4.10.2011
Uniquely Hilarious
Or Hilariously Unique. Either way it quite perfectly describes the movie my wife and I watched last night...the 'mockumentary' Best in Show.
I enjoyed this movie WAY more than I thought I would, and my wife deserves 100% of the credit. Other times we had discussed watching this movie, I usually got my 'who farted?' look, and we would agree on something else...not nearly enough guns, explosions, or fart jokes to be something I would be interested in watching. Luckily, my wife is stubborn. Last night she decided to start watching it, and I said fine...you go ahead and watch it, I'll just play on the computer. About 5 minutes into the movie, the computer got a lot less interesting.
It seems a very limiting plot idea for a movie...follow the lives of several different, very diverse people as they get themselves, and their dogs, ready for a very prestigious dog show. It's not the plot we are here to watch though...it's the actors, a veritable Who's Who 'Oh That Guys!' and 'Look, it's Her's!'. And they all do such an amazing job that it's almost painful to watch...because you KNOW these people are out there in the real world.
Watching bad things happen to Jason Stratham's characters is okay, because that person doesn't exist. Seeing Eugene Levy end up sleeping in a utility room because his credit card is cancelled is not. But, because it is Eugene Levy, it's funny.
I give this movie 4.5 stars...if it could stay as funny as it was, but add in a few explosions, than it would have gotten 5 stars.
I enjoyed this movie WAY more than I thought I would, and my wife deserves 100% of the credit. Other times we had discussed watching this movie, I usually got my 'who farted?' look, and we would agree on something else...not nearly enough guns, explosions, or fart jokes to be something I would be interested in watching. Luckily, my wife is stubborn. Last night she decided to start watching it, and I said fine...you go ahead and watch it, I'll just play on the computer. About 5 minutes into the movie, the computer got a lot less interesting.
It seems a very limiting plot idea for a movie...follow the lives of several different, very diverse people as they get themselves, and their dogs, ready for a very prestigious dog show. It's not the plot we are here to watch though...it's the actors, a veritable Who's Who 'Oh That Guys!' and 'Look, it's Her's!'. And they all do such an amazing job that it's almost painful to watch...because you KNOW these people are out there in the real world.
Watching bad things happen to Jason Stratham's characters is okay, because that person doesn't exist. Seeing Eugene Levy end up sleeping in a utility room because his credit card is cancelled is not. But, because it is Eugene Levy, it's funny.
I give this movie 4.5 stars...if it could stay as funny as it was, but add in a few explosions, than it would have gotten 5 stars.
3.20.2011
Now, that's an entertaining movie...
For Date Night last night, the wife and I went to see Battle: Los Angeles.
To steal a line from a review I read prior to going to see this movie: This is the movie Micheal Bay wishes he could make.
Total popcorn flick...I'm not sure there was much more than about 20 minutes without gunfire/explosions in the whole movie, and 10 of that was during the whole 'character development' part at the beginning of the movie.
What I really like(and this is based of alien movies like 'Contact' and 'Signs') are movies where they don't keep you guessing about the aliens. In Battle" Los Angeles, there is no guessing, because they start the movie with fighting, and THEN roll you back 24 hours to introduce everything.
The plot? Well...aliens invade the Earth to steal our water. Aaron Echhart plays a Marine Staff Sargeant who is getting ready to retire. He's a combat veteran who won some medals, but might have got some guys killed, including the brother of one of the guys in his new unit. That lets folks doubt him, AND gives him a chance to win them all back. Their Marine unit is initially sent into the conflict zone to retrieve some civilians behind the lines, but the mission quickly becomes survival.
I like alien invasion flicks where the aliens are tough, but not invincible...no force fields, or regeneration powers. Just fancier guns than ours. Our bombs and tanks can kill them, you just need to hit them enough to keep them down. This movie also does a good job of addressing the whole .223 vs .308, in my mind at least. They have to shoot these aliens A LOT to keep them down.
This movies about 17 times better than Skyline which the wife and I went an saw last year. I would go as far to say it might even be better than Independence Day...although it's tough to compare...ID was flashier, bigger...this one if a much grittier movie....I can't/won't compare it to Saving Private Ryan...but maybe the Big Red One, or even, A Bridge to Far.
To continue with the Independence Day comparison, we do get to the point where Aaron Eckhart's character gets to give hi big motivational speech...and in this catagory, there is some fail. I was MUCH more ready to go kill some aliens after Bill Pullman's speech in ID than after Aaron Eckharts monologue.
Still...very good movie...almost two hours long, but it felt like about 45 minutes. Most worthy of paying the extra cash to watch/listen to it at the theater instead of waiting for it on video.
To steal a line from a review I read prior to going to see this movie: This is the movie Micheal Bay wishes he could make.
Total popcorn flick...I'm not sure there was much more than about 20 minutes without gunfire/explosions in the whole movie, and 10 of that was during the whole 'character development' part at the beginning of the movie.
What I really like(and this is based of alien movies like 'Contact' and 'Signs') are movies where they don't keep you guessing about the aliens. In Battle" Los Angeles, there is no guessing, because they start the movie with fighting, and THEN roll you back 24 hours to introduce everything.
The plot? Well...aliens invade the Earth to steal our water. Aaron Echhart plays a Marine Staff Sargeant who is getting ready to retire. He's a combat veteran who won some medals, but might have got some guys killed, including the brother of one of the guys in his new unit. That lets folks doubt him, AND gives him a chance to win them all back. Their Marine unit is initially sent into the conflict zone to retrieve some civilians behind the lines, but the mission quickly becomes survival.
I like alien invasion flicks where the aliens are tough, but not invincible...no force fields, or regeneration powers. Just fancier guns than ours. Our bombs and tanks can kill them, you just need to hit them enough to keep them down. This movie also does a good job of addressing the whole .223 vs .308, in my mind at least. They have to shoot these aliens A LOT to keep them down.
This movies about 17 times better than Skyline which the wife and I went an saw last year. I would go as far to say it might even be better than Independence Day...although it's tough to compare...ID was flashier, bigger...this one if a much grittier movie....I can't/won't compare it to Saving Private Ryan...but maybe the Big Red One, or even, A Bridge to Far.
To continue with the Independence Day comparison, we do get to the point where Aaron Eckhart's character gets to give hi big motivational speech...and in this catagory, there is some fail. I was MUCH more ready to go kill some aliens after Bill Pullman's speech in ID than after Aaron Eckharts monologue.
Still...very good movie...almost two hours long, but it felt like about 45 minutes. Most worthy of paying the extra cash to watch/listen to it at the theater instead of waiting for it on video.
3.15.2011
Monsters
Following the (almost) obsessive way in which my wife and I blazed through Bones and then Buffy, we are making a dedicated effort to get more diversity into our viewing habits. It was with this is mind then that we settled down to watch the movie ‘Monsters’ last night.
‘Monsters’, not to be confused with ‘Monster’ in which Charlize Theron and Cristina Ricci get all scarified, is a British Sci-fi/suspense flick. Filmed for under $500,00 using ‘guerilla film-making’ techniques: filmed on location, with minimal scripting and actors, and just using whatever people happened to be around to be the extras, it is a pretty good flick.
A couple of quick scenes, with some story-telling in between set’s up the movie: About 6 years ago, a NASA launched space probe crashed to earth on the U.S./Mexico border. New species and changes to existing species were noted, and so a large portion of Northern Mexico has been fenced off as the Infected Zone. The military maintains this zone, controlling outbreaks of the ‘creatures’ with superior firepower. Early on we can see that the creatures are dangerous to military convoys, but immune to say…an air strike.
The two main characters in the film are a young blond girl who needs to get back to the US, and a world-wise, but sometimes sleazy photographer that her rich dad has hired to get her back to the US.
Of course, their journey isn’t as easy as hoping on a plane and flying home. They have to first take a train to the coast, and then catch a ferry up the Atlantic coast. The movie never quite goes into why her rich dad doesn’t hire a chartered airplane to fly her home…probably would have made for a short movie.
Needless to say, things go poorly on their way to the coast, and the girl misses the last boat, causing her to need to travel by, truck, foot and boat THROUGH the Infected Zone north to The Wall that the Us has built to keep the creatures out. Along the way, we are treated to some suspense-filled nights, and some deep symbolism in regards to building walls along our southern border to keep undesirables out. There is also some character development, as we learn maybe the pretty rich girl isn’t as excited to get back to her life as she should be, and the photographer isn’t as sleazy as he seemed.
You aren’t kept waiting too long on the aliens…they appear all through movie as silhouettes, and really the only way to describe them is as giant land octopuses. They are strong, but it might have been more intimidating if there was a 2nd group of smaller, faster ones.
My first instinct is to give it 7 out of 10, but allowing for the manner in which it was made, and it’s budget, I give it 8 out of 10…I would rather watch 75 movies like this than one minute of Battlefield Earth.
3.13.2011
Up
Because a good movie is going to be a good movie no mater when it is watched, my wife I usually use our limited trips to the movie theater to watch movies that might not be the 'best' movie of the bunch, but rather a movie that would benefit the most from being seen in a theater vs. at the house. Therefore, it's not uncommon for us to be WAY behind the power curve on watching movies that 'everyone' else has seen. SWMBO and I have yet to see 'Fargo' or 'The Big Lebowski', while we have seen both Transformers movies.
A perfect example of this would be the fact that we just got around to watching 'Up', one of the most universally acclaimed movies of the last few years. It's 98% rating on Rotten Tomato makes it the best reviewed widely released movie of 2009, beating Zombieland and Inglorious Basterds. It won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature, the third of 4 in a row for Pixar.
That's a tough buildup to live up to...but, if anything...'Up' exceeded my expectations.
It was a neat movie...great story, with WAY interesting characters. I can not picture Carl being played anyway other than how Ed Asner played him...it was perfectly done.
All of that were things that I expected. What I didn't expect was the depth of emotion in this film.
I make no secret of the fact that I am a crier(well, if it was a secret, it isn't now)...but it's not when you would expect. I'm pretty immune to standard 'tear-jerker' stuff. It's the poignant stuff that gets me...the missed opportunities and people heroically die to save others. I cry at the end of 'Backdraft', and 'Saving Private Ryan' and 'Charlotte's Web'(I was 9!) and even at the end of stupid movies like 'Armageddon' and 'Pearl Harbor'. Let's not even talk about 'Watership Down'(I was even younger then 9!) As you can see, it's been deeply ingrained and reinforced in my personality.
While it was a great movie, and at times a very funny movie, 'Up' also had some of the saddest moments in a movie I have had to deal with in a long time. It could be that it is just an averagely sad movie, but the things that make it sad are hitting me at time when I am very vulnerable to those particular things. The opening seen and the monologue that followed are 100% spot on examples of a life together, and how the real world can conspire to steal your dreams.
That's probably laying it on thick...but there are Carl and his wife, Ellie, with their bottle of change they are saving to fill in the last page in their Adventure Book, and stuff keeps happening. Through all that though, they obviously still love one another, having a relationship that is very enviable.
It is kind of where I find myself now. I have started a new(well, 6 months ago it was new...not sure how long I can play the new job card) job, in a new city with my family. We are currently renting an apartment that we do not like(hate is too strong, but at the rate the dislike is growing, it could be hate someday). Because our house in Belfair hasn't sold yet, we are rapidly approaching a point where we will need to make some decisions, namely, do we rent month to month here, or do we just find someplace we might like a little more, like a small house with a yard to rent, and then sign a 1-year lease to let things happen as they will with our old house.
Both these options are lame compared to my one-time goal of jumping feet-first into buying a house in the Tri-cities. Renting long term upsets me...I know, from a straight monthly 'goes in/goes out' standpoint that with what we have for a down-payment, I can buy a house in the 175K range, and come out with a mortgage a few hundred lower than what I will be paying in rent...the challenge comes in convincing a lender of that. I am not sure that I can get approved for a 2nd mortgage before getting out from under our first one.
Continuing to rent is also a smarter move from a professional view-point...I am still not sure I made the right decision job-wise. Currently there is an investigation underway at my new job that has 4 people suspended(with pay). Things are as tense as they have ever been, and I am not sure that ANY outcome to the investigation will make things better. Plus, there are real estate concerns. In September, The Stimulus money runs out, and 1800 people will be laid off...not to mention that some of the projects at Hanford ARE starting to make progress, and that means jobs will be going away. Just deciding to rent for a year should give the local housing market a chance to do it's shimmy, and then I can get into it next summer....if I haven't decided to run away from this job by then.
So in this case, the smarter thing is also the more cautious thing...and as Carl learned in 'Up', sometimes the safe route keeps you from living your adventures with the one you love. But, as Carl also learned in up...sometimes it is the boring times you remember.
Like sitting on the couch with your family, and looking over your two beautiful girls, and realizing that your wife is crying also.
A perfect example of this would be the fact that we just got around to watching 'Up', one of the most universally acclaimed movies of the last few years. It's 98% rating on Rotten Tomato makes it the best reviewed widely released movie of 2009, beating Zombieland and Inglorious Basterds. It won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature, the third of 4 in a row for Pixar.
That's a tough buildup to live up to...but, if anything...'Up' exceeded my expectations.
It was a neat movie...great story, with WAY interesting characters. I can not picture Carl being played anyway other than how Ed Asner played him...it was perfectly done.
All of that were things that I expected. What I didn't expect was the depth of emotion in this film.
I make no secret of the fact that I am a crier(well, if it was a secret, it isn't now)...but it's not when you would expect. I'm pretty immune to standard 'tear-jerker' stuff. It's the poignant stuff that gets me...the missed opportunities and people heroically die to save others. I cry at the end of 'Backdraft', and 'Saving Private Ryan' and 'Charlotte's Web'(I was 9!) and even at the end of stupid movies like 'Armageddon' and 'Pearl Harbor'. Let's not even talk about 'Watership Down'(I was even younger then 9!) As you can see, it's been deeply ingrained and reinforced in my personality.
While it was a great movie, and at times a very funny movie, 'Up' also had some of the saddest moments in a movie I have had to deal with in a long time. It could be that it is just an averagely sad movie, but the things that make it sad are hitting me at time when I am very vulnerable to those particular things. The opening seen and the monologue that followed are 100% spot on examples of a life together, and how the real world can conspire to steal your dreams.
That's probably laying it on thick...but there are Carl and his wife, Ellie, with their bottle of change they are saving to fill in the last page in their Adventure Book, and stuff keeps happening. Through all that though, they obviously still love one another, having a relationship that is very enviable.
It is kind of where I find myself now. I have started a new(well, 6 months ago it was new...not sure how long I can play the new job card) job, in a new city with my family. We are currently renting an apartment that we do not like(hate is too strong, but at the rate the dislike is growing, it could be hate someday). Because our house in Belfair hasn't sold yet, we are rapidly approaching a point where we will need to make some decisions, namely, do we rent month to month here, or do we just find someplace we might like a little more, like a small house with a yard to rent, and then sign a 1-year lease to let things happen as they will with our old house.
Both these options are lame compared to my one-time goal of jumping feet-first into buying a house in the Tri-cities. Renting long term upsets me...I know, from a straight monthly 'goes in/goes out' standpoint that with what we have for a down-payment, I can buy a house in the 175K range, and come out with a mortgage a few hundred lower than what I will be paying in rent...the challenge comes in convincing a lender of that. I am not sure that I can get approved for a 2nd mortgage before getting out from under our first one.
Continuing to rent is also a smarter move from a professional view-point...I am still not sure I made the right decision job-wise. Currently there is an investigation underway at my new job that has 4 people suspended(with pay). Things are as tense as they have ever been, and I am not sure that ANY outcome to the investigation will make things better. Plus, there are real estate concerns. In September, The Stimulus money runs out, and 1800 people will be laid off...not to mention that some of the projects at Hanford ARE starting to make progress, and that means jobs will be going away. Just deciding to rent for a year should give the local housing market a chance to do it's shimmy, and then I can get into it next summer....if I haven't decided to run away from this job by then.
So in this case, the smarter thing is also the more cautious thing...and as Carl learned in 'Up', sometimes the safe route keeps you from living your adventures with the one you love. But, as Carl also learned in up...sometimes it is the boring times you remember.
Like sitting on the couch with your family, and looking over your two beautiful girls, and realizing that your wife is crying also.
12.11.2010
Movie Review: Tangled
To forget about my worries and the way the world was going to Hades in a Hand Basket for a while, I took the wife and kids out to go see 'Tangled' yesterday afternoon. In case you have been trapped under a rock, or Filibustering in the Senate for the last month, and haven't seen the commercials, Tangled is Disney's update on the Repunzel Fairly tale.
There are a few differences between the Brothers Grim version, and this one, made, as usual by Disney, to sand the harsh corners of the real dirty world off the fairy tale. Instead of Repunzel being taken by the Mother Gothel character because her father wanted a magic plant, and was willing to trade the life of his then unborn daughter for the life of his pregnant wife, she is the daughter of the king and queen, and she is kidnapped for her magical hair. Also, instead of the attempted rescuing being performed by a prince, it's charming roguish thief. And they added a horse and chameleon for comic relief.
Any question? Good...ready, break!
It's a good movie. Getting to see it with my wife and kids pushed it to a great afternoon(but for one thing we will get to later). The plot, as you can imagine, is fairly boiler plate...girl locked in tower with only a chameleon for a friend, girl broken out of tower to go see some floating lights, evil Mother Gothel's gives chase. Boy and girl fall for each other, broken up soEvil Step Mother Mother Gothel can lure her back to tower, realize they really do love one another, and dashing rescue. In between there are exciting chase scenes with the worlds coolest horse, and since it's Disney, there are couple of songs and some dancing barbarians talking about their dreams. None of the songs are as memorable as 'Beauty and the Beast' or 'A Whole New World' from Aladdin, but they are well sung. Mandy Moore was the voice of Repunzel, and this was a well cast movie.
The animation was well done. Hair was very life like, and the characters faces and emotions were well done. The added for comic effect horse and chameleon were great, and in general I would say this movie was funnier than it was romantic. The Mother Gothels character stole the show, her evil powers in this one being limited to 'Ultimate Passive Agressiveness', which seams pretty appropriate for the world we live in now.
So, all in all, I can think of nothing negative to say about the movie. One thing shocked me, in that occasionally, there was no doubt cleavage shown on the Repunzel character. They said she was 18, so this was realistic, but usually in the past Disney has stuck to high cut collars and bumps. Guess animation technology is getting to good to ignore it. I was not offended or anything...just made me feel a little funny(and creepy) to notice it.
Okay...bitch mode on now. The version of the movie was saw was in 3-D. First one of the new crop of 3-D movies I have seen. It seemed to work good, certainly didn't detract from the movie. Now...would I have enjoyed the movie just as much in 2-D....yeah...it didn't add that much for me. I'm not the target audience for the 'Wonder of butterfly's and lantern's coming towards you' effect. My girls dug it.
However, for seeing the 3-D version, we were charged more money. In fact, it cost the 4 of us $48 for our tickets. Then, when we got inside, to get a large popcorn and large sprite to share(and a pretzel because SWMBO skipped lunch) it was another $18. I expected the snack price, but not the 'sorry, not only no matinee price for 3-D, AND it costs extra) put me in a pretty grumpy mood for the first 20 minutes.
Luckily, the move was good enough to get me out of it.
If you have kids, go see this movie. If you don't have kids, wait for video and see how disconcerting YOU find Repunzels cleavage and big green eyes.
There are a few differences between the Brothers Grim version, and this one, made, as usual by Disney, to sand the harsh corners of the real dirty world off the fairy tale. Instead of Repunzel being taken by the Mother Gothel character because her father wanted a magic plant, and was willing to trade the life of his then unborn daughter for the life of his pregnant wife, she is the daughter of the king and queen, and she is kidnapped for her magical hair. Also, instead of the attempted rescuing being performed by a prince, it's charming roguish thief. And they added a horse and chameleon for comic relief.
Any question? Good...ready, break!
It's a good movie. Getting to see it with my wife and kids pushed it to a great afternoon(but for one thing we will get to later). The plot, as you can imagine, is fairly boiler plate...girl locked in tower with only a chameleon for a friend, girl broken out of tower to go see some floating lights, evil Mother Gothel's gives chase. Boy and girl fall for each other, broken up so
The animation was well done. Hair was very life like, and the characters faces and emotions were well done. The added for comic effect horse and chameleon were great, and in general I would say this movie was funnier than it was romantic. The Mother Gothels character stole the show, her evil powers in this one being limited to 'Ultimate Passive Agressiveness', which seams pretty appropriate for the world we live in now.
So, all in all, I can think of nothing negative to say about the movie. One thing shocked me, in that occasionally, there was no doubt cleavage shown on the Repunzel character. They said she was 18, so this was realistic, but usually in the past Disney has stuck to high cut collars and bumps. Guess animation technology is getting to good to ignore it. I was not offended or anything...just made me feel a little funny(and creepy) to notice it.
Okay...bitch mode on now. The version of the movie was saw was in 3-D. First one of the new crop of 3-D movies I have seen. It seemed to work good, certainly didn't detract from the movie. Now...would I have enjoyed the movie just as much in 2-D....yeah...it didn't add that much for me. I'm not the target audience for the 'Wonder of butterfly's and lantern's coming towards you' effect. My girls dug it.
However, for seeing the 3-D version, we were charged more money. In fact, it cost the 4 of us $48 for our tickets. Then, when we got inside, to get a large popcorn and large sprite to share(and a pretzel because SWMBO skipped lunch) it was another $18. I expected the snack price, but not the 'sorry, not only no matinee price for 3-D, AND it costs extra) put me in a pretty grumpy mood for the first 20 minutes.
Luckily, the move was good enough to get me out of it.
If you have kids, go see this movie. If you don't have kids, wait for video and see how disconcerting YOU find Repunzels cleavage and big green eyes.
11.16.2010
Movie Review
After the dinner with the friends with the Best Turkey in the World on Saturday, my wife and I dropped the kids off with one of her friends for some sitting, and then went and saw the Movie 'Skyline'.
Here's the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rtqUy34Tjk
Enjoy the trailer? Get you all kinds of excited? Me too. Which requires a disclaimer on my part. You see, I am a movie trailer and spoiler junkie. Can't get enough...I love the website www.io9.com for it's fairly constant barrage of sci-fi related previews. You might think this would make me hard to please/surprise when it comes to the movies themselves, but really I am usually not hard to please.
In the case of 'Skyline' it had been on my radar for somewhere in the 6-8 month range as a 'Want to Pay to See This in the Theater' movie. This put it somewhere in between 'Cloverfield' and 'Transformers' on my Anticipation Meter. Unlike the other two movies, it didn't measure up. Some spoilers ahead if you are the type to care about that...
Movie starts out good and fast...bunch of attractive 20-somethings are hanging out in LA, recovering from a party, when an overpowering blue light appears and folks start disappearing. We soon discover it's aliens...and the aliens look pretty neat. The alien threat is not the weak part of this movie...they are quite menacing and come in a enough shapes and sizes to represent a threat at all times.
First major hurdle of the movie is the 20-somethings trying to decide if they are going to hole up or if they are gonna make a break for it, heading for their boat at the marina. They decide to make a break for it, and several minutes of chaos and panic ensue, some it quite thrilling, but when things settle down again, you realize the films critical flaw:
You don't give a Rats Ass what happens to any of these folks. A few quick attempts are made to get you to care about the characters: You find out without much mystery that one of them is pregnant, and then later that one of them is cheating on his significant other...I guess this is supposed to create instant empathy...but no. I don't think it was the actors faults: I didn't recognize most of the cast, but two of them I did...Donald Faison, who plays Turk on Scrubs, and Brittany Daniels, one of the Sweet Valley High twins(looking every bit her 34 years).
More hiding in the apartment, followed by an appearance by the US Military, bringing hope, followed by another chase/chaos scene, and we're done...with a very cop-out type ending. If you want to let the aliens win, just let the aliens win! Don't let them win, and try to offer a little twist at the end.
Rotten Tomatoes gives the movie a 14%...I think it's better than that. If you don't have a top of the line TV at home, the aliens might be good enough to justify seeing a matinee in the theater...but if you do have a nice TV, just wait to see it on REDBOX and you will get your monies worth. SWMBO, who was looking forward to it almost as much as me, described it as 'a missed opportunity'.
Here's the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rtqUy34Tjk
Enjoy the trailer? Get you all kinds of excited? Me too. Which requires a disclaimer on my part. You see, I am a movie trailer and spoiler junkie. Can't get enough...I love the website www.io9.com for it's fairly constant barrage of sci-fi related previews. You might think this would make me hard to please/surprise when it comes to the movies themselves, but really I am usually not hard to please.
In the case of 'Skyline' it had been on my radar for somewhere in the 6-8 month range as a 'Want to Pay to See This in the Theater' movie. This put it somewhere in between 'Cloverfield' and 'Transformers' on my Anticipation Meter. Unlike the other two movies, it didn't measure up. Some spoilers ahead if you are the type to care about that...
Movie starts out good and fast...bunch of attractive 20-somethings are hanging out in LA, recovering from a party, when an overpowering blue light appears and folks start disappearing. We soon discover it's aliens...and the aliens look pretty neat. The alien threat is not the weak part of this movie...they are quite menacing and come in a enough shapes and sizes to represent a threat at all times.
First major hurdle of the movie is the 20-somethings trying to decide if they are going to hole up or if they are gonna make a break for it, heading for their boat at the marina. They decide to make a break for it, and several minutes of chaos and panic ensue, some it quite thrilling, but when things settle down again, you realize the films critical flaw:
You don't give a Rats Ass what happens to any of these folks. A few quick attempts are made to get you to care about the characters: You find out without much mystery that one of them is pregnant, and then later that one of them is cheating on his significant other...I guess this is supposed to create instant empathy...but no. I don't think it was the actors faults: I didn't recognize most of the cast, but two of them I did...Donald Faison, who plays Turk on Scrubs, and Brittany Daniels, one of the Sweet Valley High twins(looking every bit her 34 years).
More hiding in the apartment, followed by an appearance by the US Military, bringing hope, followed by another chase/chaos scene, and we're done...with a very cop-out type ending. If you want to let the aliens win, just let the aliens win! Don't let them win, and try to offer a little twist at the end.
Rotten Tomatoes gives the movie a 14%...I think it's better than that. If you don't have a top of the line TV at home, the aliens might be good enough to justify seeing a matinee in the theater...but if you do have a nice TV, just wait to see it on REDBOX and you will get your monies worth. SWMBO, who was looking forward to it almost as much as me, described it as 'a missed opportunity'.
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