Jan 29, 2008
Jan 28, 2008
Jan 25, 2008
Movie Reviews @ The Temple
There Will Be Blood - FUCKING HELL! Words cannot express how amazing this movie is. Top to bottom, it blew me away. There are no flaws! I mean, maybe tiiiiny flaws, but all completely mitigated by their circumstance. I thought the kid wasn't a great actor until his big event, then it turns out he's amazing. I thought the music was a tiny bit hokey, but it fits in the style and I can't really critique it. Also, the moaning crescendo sound? Yeah, that's LOST's sound. Sorry if you had the idea first, but that's what it is, you can't have it. Besides that? PERFECT. All the performances are astounding. Daniel Day Lewis has an amazing evolution and is brilliant. The preacher is complex and incredible. The kid should not be that good. The brother was totally unexpected and marvelous. All these characters are different but tied in and just work so amazingly well. It has beautiful locations, beautifully shot, some symbolism that even I picked up. There is parallelism in the writing that knocked me out. And I only picked up like 3 or 4 instances, imagine how many there really were! Oh my god I have no idea how to choose between it and No Country For Old Men (which I am ashamed to realize I never talked about here when I saw it). They are both perfect amazing movies. I want to see this over and over, it was absolutely fantastic. Seriously, I think I'm gonna pee my pants.
Jan 22, 2008
Jan 21, 2008
Movie Reviews @ The Temple
And here goes another 80 million movies. I realize no one cares what I think, but I rather like writing it down for when I forget in, like, a week.
Cloverfield - so cool! Really, it did everything it wanted to do very well, and it was great. There's a few dumb things you have to forgive, some forced humor, some convenient plot, the whole artifice of the found tape bullcrap that doesn't really hold up. But it was actually very funny, pretty well acted, and super cool as far as revealing things as it went along. Totally lived up to what I hoped.
Juno - This is pretty much as good as everyone says. The first 20 minutes annoyed the crap out of me. I'm so sick of bullshit old people writing dialog for bullshit young characters. "Hey man! that's the widget! yeah, that outfit is totally juicebox!" See? I can do it too, pick random words as new adjectives or interjections and you are totally cool and young. ANYway, besides that bunch of crap, the movie is great. I didn't love the main girl till the end, because the first 1/2 is laden with all the aforementioned bullcrap. But in the end she is great. And the supporting cast is universally amazing. Michael Sera (playing the same character, again, unfortunately) still does great, the step-mom and dad are awesome. Jason Bateman and Jennifer Gardner are completely amazing. Especially the latter, who is nominally playing an extreme role, but does it with perfect balance and honesty. So anyway, it's a very good movie.
The Orphanage - Wow, very very good as well! I've seen three great movies in four days. This is totally what a scary movie should be, tense and atmospheric and not dumb. I guess the Japanese movies do this as well, but I liked this more than any of the Japanese horrors I've seen. There was a bit of mystery hunting in the last 30 minutes that sorta sucked, but the rest of the movie had me all the way through. Can't say the ending, of course, but I will say that it could have been super lame but wasn't. Maybe not everyone's style, but I was okay with it.
By the way, I saw the trailer for the american version of The Eye again after having seen the original. I think this will be the first time I've ever done it in that order. But anyway, from what I can tell, I saw excerpts from every single scene in the trailer, up to and including the ending! It looks like a very direct remake, which seems sort of lame, but it will be interesting to compare, I guess.
In The Name Of The King - Ok ok, before you say anything, I have never paid money for an Uwe Boll film (for the uninitiated, his entire career is making awful video game movies). But I have also never not paid for a Jason Statham movie (unless you count War, which I don't). So you see I really had no choice. In the end, it was pretty damn awful. The production values were surprisingly adequate. Sets looked good, costumes looked alright, weapons and armor of the heroes looked proper, though some minor characters were clearing armed in tin foil. Special effects, too, were actually quite good. A couple failings (in the woods, in the last sequence), but the teleport effect is actually the coolest I have ever seen. The acting, however, is horrible. And the writing is the most god awful, horrendous, mind-splititng, puke-inducing drek ever shat onto a page. Well, maybe not ever, but it is really bad. Just ever pathetic cliche, over worked joke, unnecessary explanation, etc. If you watch it on mute, the action is good enough. Just don't listen, your ears might bleed.
Hairspray - Well, this was fun I guess. I don't understand my relationship with musicals. Chicago is my favorite of all time, I looooove it, and it's pretty corny. Somehow that music, that time period, charms me. Across the Universe & Sweeny Todd recently made me happy. This seemed fun, but I didn't love any of the music, the characters were mostly annoying. I did like the group dance sequences though.
Rescue Dawn - This was pretty tense, pretty good! It's basically a vietnam POW camp story. It looks like an old vietnam movie, though it came out last year, which is really great. It sort of feels like not a lot happens, but that's the point I guess. Everyone does a pretty good job, including Steve Zahn, surprisingly. And Bale is, as he is continually proving, great. Dunno what else to say, I think it's great, you should see it.
Resident Evil: Exctinction - What? What did you expect? It's RE. Zombie attacks, you shoot it. Zombie dog attacks, you kick it. Zombie bird attacks, you light it on fire. Then do it some more. Then ogle Mila Jovavich a little. Then some more stabby stabby shooty shooty. Then you go home. This is how it goes. By the way, this movie makes me want a Walking Dead movie, or even better tv show, SO MUCH. Walking Dead is a comic, probably the best zombie story I've ever read/seen, it's really great.
Color of the Cross - So... this is basically black jesus. Made by a company called Black Christian Films, ha. An entirely normal jesus story, retold with a black guy playing jesus, and occasionally someone says "do you think they are persecuting him because he is black?" No seriously, they say that. I mean, it would have been a legitimate question, if the messiah shows up in double digits BC and he is a different race than most of the jews. But still, it seemed entirely unneccessary, the whole movie. I suppose it's no worse than whiter than snow jesus movies, but I don't really dig them either, so wadayawant?
Jan 19, 2008
Jan 14, 2008
Jan 13, 2008
Jan 10, 2008
Movie Reviews @ The Temple
Jeez, one measly writers' strike and I have no choice but to watch a kajillion movies:
Sweeney Todd - Pretty good! The movie part was great, the style was great (Burton Blue, naturally), the musical part was alright. Some songs were good, some not so much. The only overtly bad thing was the title sequence, which was awful. I know the blood was supposed to be stylistically reminiscent of the blood in the movie, but jeez was it bad looking.
The Golden Compass - Sigh. Why must you ruin great things, Hollywood Types?! I mean, it wasn't awful. CGI was mostly okay (besides the persistant problem that CGI stands out unrealistically). The fights were pretty cool, I guess. Nicole Kidman was nicely evil, Sam Eliot is a badass, Daniel Craig was unfortunately forgetable. There were lots of little things that worked, and lots of things that annoyed me. The whole movie felt like it was on fast forward. Maybe this was because I know the full plot, but if you didn't, you'd probably just feel confused. Also, I was so incredibly annoyed with Lyra and her "I do what I want!" attitude, which I don't remember feeling much of with the book. So, I don't know, it wasn't awful, just lots of flaws. Good enough, I hope, to make another one.
Across The Universe - Holy shit balls, this was great! Interesting to see a week after Sweeney Todd, cuz I think it blows it out of the water. There's nothing original about the story (apparently it's just a Hair rip-off anyway), and it was by no means perfect, but it is just handled in such a fantastic way, I loved it. The choreography (or whatever you'd call it) of the musical numbers is magical, the songs are great, the gospel version of Let It Be is fucking amazing. Eddie Izzard, I'm sad to say, was in the weakest part of the film (a super-surreal carnival-inspired but ultimately lackluster trip). Still, falling just short of Chicago, I think this is the second best musical I've ever seen.
Hair - Well, now I had to go see Hair just to compare to Across the Universe. I'm not sure it gets a fair shake from me, it's so old, and silly, and the songs are not my style, it couldn't help but fall short to the amazing AtU. The ending was pretty wow, and I'm sure it was great for it's time. But it's hard for it to appeal to me on first viewing in 2008.
The Kingdom - Well, despite being CSI: Riyadh for a while, this was actually quite good. I always feel unsure with these type things (and there are increasingly more these days) if they do the subject justice, it's hard to tackle and make entertaining, I imagine. Nonetheless, I thought they did both and I enjoyed it.
Shoot 'em Up - Hahahaha. This movie is 5 pounds of ridiculous in a 3 pound bag. It is also 4 pounds of awesome in a similarly sized, but different color, 3 pound bag. Which is to say, it is more ridiculous than awesome (though the ratio is more like 5 to 1), but there is awesomeness to be had, if you're into it.
Halloween, 2007 Edition - So, did we need this? Nah. Was it alright? Sure. Boobs, blood, slow lumbering guy who I discovered is much more threatening when in fast forward. What else did you want?
The Brave One - Everyone likes vigilante movies, right? This was a different take, I guess. It didn't totally catch me, to be honest. No real failing, I just wasn't taken in by it. Maybe in the wrong mood, maybe not for me, dunno.
Evan Almighty - Seems like it shoulda been funny. I guess I was playing a game at the same time. Some funny moments, but just seemed like an exaggeration of the first one that was funny, I think.
The Eye - So there's a remake of this coming, I figured I'd watch the original. It was pretty cool, not really a scary movie. Some tense moments which were good, but nothing like the ring or grudge. And in that sense I actually liked it more than those, neither ring nor grudge really scared me. So it was more of a thriller, rather american actually, were there's this ability, a mystery, a solution, etc. Nothing awesome, but worth seeing.
Step Up - Well, this was a dance movie, I was hoping to see lots of cool stuff. Frankly I saw way better on every single episode of So You Think You Can Dance. I was totally dissappointed.
Goya's Ghosts - Well, this was an interesting one. Period piece, around the time of the Inquistion & Napoleon. The first 20 or 30 minutes were fantastic, and the last 10 minutes were as well. The middle... seemed a little meandering to me. I mean, there's a pretty focused story, but somehow the middle felt loose. It felt like it went fast, but at the same time that not a lot was happening, sorta weird. The acting was respectible from the three main people. Javier Bardem (from No Country For Old Men) is pretty good, though nothing like NCFOM, Natalie Portman has a smallish crazy role that's fine. Over all, it's interesting, but something is wrong.
Elizabeth - I know I'm years behind on this one, but I wanted to watch the sequel, and I had never seen this one. No surprise, it was very good. A very nice historic drama, well acted and full of intrigue and all that. Quite good.
Elizabeth: The Golden Age - What the hell happened?! The hollywood'd up the first movie! It's all war and battles and STUPID soap opera romance bullcrap. I have no idea why anyone came back for this.
The Condemned - This movie is alright in a simple action way, but it sort of argues with itself and loses. The idea is 10 convicts fight to the death on some island for uber internet ratings/money. Of course there is talk about if this is right or not. So nominally, the movie is saying this is wrong, but they are making us a fake version of it anyway, because we all want to see people beat the shit out of each other. BUT, assuming you've made that seemingly hypocritical decision, the movie is monstrously tame. There is some implied brutality, but nothing really shown, barely any blood, certainly no gore. If you want to be disgusting, be disgusting! If you want to say such things are bad, don't do it. Pick one, I don't care, just make up your mind!
Inland Empire - Wtf? Ok, well this is one of those movies, either self-indulgent or genius depending on your point of view. It's David Lynch, I've never seen any of his movies, so I didn't know it'd be so effin' weird. It's all psychological and stuff, all filmed on what seems like handy cam way zoomed it so it seems nightmarish. There were a couple parts with really terrifying sounds too. In the end, this film is either beyond me or I don't care, I'm not sure which. I'm sure you could put a lot of effort into deciphering what was real and what wasn't, or if that's not even the point. It's 3 hours and I totally don't have the energy/capability to figure it out. But if you are into that sorta thing, you'll love it.
Jan 9, 2008
Jan 7, 2008
Jan 5, 2008
Giuliani TV Ad
I haven't been mentioning politics at all here, but here's an absolutely astounding Giuliani ad. Here's a sneak preview: he's a flaming asshole.
Dec 30, 2007
Book Reviews @ The Temple
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card - Jeez, what kind of nerd spends 28 years NOT reading Ender's Game? Well I finally got to it, and it is fantastic, as you might expect. Much different and darker than I expected, but great nonetheless.
Speaker For The Dead - The first sequel to Ender, also a very good book. Nothing like Ender, I'm afraid, but a solid scifi book with a good universe and story.
No god but God by Reza Aslan - Wow. Wowie zowie. This book is amazing. The most dramatic piece of non-fiction I've read in a long time. I always feel like I know pathetically little about Islam and its history, but this book was a great help. Moreover, his primary argument is that the current violence in that part of the world is a result of a Muslim Reformation, an internal struggle. Christianity had one of these 15 centuries in and it was bloody and violent. Islam is now in it's 15th century, but the weapons are bigger and the consequences (of both their actions and ours) more severe. I say again, an amazing book, maybe the best I read all year.
Movie Reviews @ The Temple
Walk Hard - This was good! I was surprised, the previews made me think not so much. And this is a parady of the Johnny Cash movie, and parodies for me usually don't have the legs to make a full movie, the gag gets old. But I actually kept this one and laughed quite a bit. It's not taking any crowns, it's not Anchorman or Ricky Bobby, but it was fun.
Aliens Vs. Predator 2 - Good, I guess. Guns and 'splosions and all that. I guess I wasn't totally in the mood for the gore (which is ruthless choosing its victims), so I didn't feel jazzed by it. But I felt like if I had been in the mood I would have enjoyed it quite a bit. Like the first, you have to completely ignore any logic, especially concerning the gestation cycle of the aliens, but oh well, it's not like you expected otherwise.
Beowulf 3D - Um... ok I guess. Considering just the movie, it was alright. As much as I love seeing technology advance as far as the animation, the Zemeckis brand has never impressed me and mostly annoyed me, I hated Polar Express. Some of them looked pretty good, some of the time. John Malkovich's character looked awful all of the time. The action stuff was cool, I guess, excepting the retarded Austin Powers obscure the sausage scene. When it comes to the 3D, I still find this to be a technology completely an unnecessary novelty. It offers nothing beyond fancy title screens and "omg there's a rock coming at my face" thrills. I'm sure someday it will develop into a medium that utilizes its advantages over 2D to tell stories in completely different ways. Though that's clearly not today, I suppose it has to start somewhere, it's that's ok for now.
Seraphim Falls - Been waiting a while for this one, finally was able to. It didn't totally catch me, for most of it. It's sort of a Searchers-style slow chase movie. Parts of that were good, but the cavalcade of characters they met on the way sometimes felt forced and hokey to me. But then the last 15 minutes came along and allasudden made it a good movie. The ending was weird, not sure if I agree with what they did (there were only two real options), but the last sequence was so surreal and cool, I decided they knew what they were doing.
Captivity - Meh. If the purpose was to be scary, no. If the purpose was to be Saw, no. If the purpose was to ogle Eliza Cuthbert, not even that.
For Your Consideration - Ha! This movie is insane. I love it, but it's pretty damn annoying. Everyone in this movie is a douche, which is sort of the point. It's a behind the scenes, creating and releasing a movie. I mostly liked it a lot, it's pretty funny. But it's pretty dang over the top. Sometimes it's bad to play obnoxious so well. That being said, I probably like it more than any other Christopher Guest movie I've seen.
The TV Set - This is an old one, very much like For Your Consideration, except behind the scenes on writing, filming, and releasing a TV show. Not as over the top as FYC, and as a result both not as good and not as annoying. So what am I saying here? I guess these people can't win with me!
My Super Exgirlfriend - Why do I even watch these movies?
Flushed Away - Kind of Wallace and Grommit animation does Ratatouille. Cute, I guess, but I saw it yesterday and I already forgot what happened.
Dec 23, 2007
Traveler IQ Challenge
Totally cool game. I got lvl 6 with 160,000 on the first try. I gotta say, though, it's really embarassing to be off by 15 thousand miles.