I can't sit through the Mike Myers Cat in the Hat movie. Just can't, I get to the part when Mike actually shows up, I stop paying attention, I fall asleep, and I don't wake up again until things get really loud and inexplicably colorful. I tried watching it again, same exact thing happened. I can watch the Jim Carrey Grinch film though and I used to think it was weird that I could watch one but not the other until I tried watching an episode of an old kids show I used to love called KaBlam! Same thing, couldn't pay attention, almost fell asleep; but this was a show that I used to watch. Tested Rocko's Modern Life, able to pay attention; that was when I truly learned the difference between kids stuff and family friendly stuff. Thank goodness ParaNorman is "family friendly stuff."
FILM
ParaNorman is about a kid who sees dead people and has to stop them after a witches curse starts bringing them back to life. What's so great about the film is how dark and progressive the humor is, from beginning to end I couldn't stop thinking to myself, "I can't believe they actually said/did that." See, a kids film panders to kids, it'll be filled with humor that only kids will laugh at and plots only a kid would care about. Cat in the Hat is a kids film, KaBlam was a kids show, it's the type of material only a really conservative family would call family friendly. You know the type of family: don't let their kids watch TV and even have parental blocks on their OWN television. Family friendly stuff understands that an adult is watching the film too and so it's structured more around that. Sure, it'll be filled with kids jokes and the likes but it tends to be packed full of more adult related humor. ParaNorman is that kind of film, Rocko's Modern Life is that kind of show. Seriously, I can't watch Rocko's Modern Life the same way I did when I was a kid because I've passed a point of intelligence that allows me to understand adult stuff and let me tell you: Rocko's Modern Life is super perverted and raunchy. ParaNorman isn't along the perverted/raunchy adult humor lines but it is along the dark humor lines as I mentioned, so many jokes are the type of jokes you'd feel bad for saying at a funeral. That's what I love about the film, how awesomely messed up it could be.
VOICE ACTING
It's also a pretty well done stop motion animation film with some pretty good voice acting. In my opinion, good voice acting makes you wonder who voiced the part or makes you think the person chosen to voice the part was perfect for it. Anna Kendrick, Casey Affleck, and even John Goodman fall into that first category. Goodman's character sounded familiar throughout the film but I couldn't quite place who it was until the credits. Jeff Garlin falls into the second category, his voice is fitting as the overweight dad of Norman. Christopher Mintz-Plasse, however, is a terrible voice actor, but that's probably because he has such a recognizable and probably hard to cover up kind of voice.
AUDIENCE
Yup, I've got a comment to say about the audience, it's been a while since I've mentioned them. If you go see the film, be prepared for the possibility of an annoying kid or two. We had one in our audience. Throughout the entire film this little girl with the loudest laugh I've ever heard kept making comments toward the film, the parents shh'ed her though. It also wasn't until everyone was leaving that I noticed it wasn't a little girl at all, it was a boy. Poor kid, voice like that may give him a crappy childhood, although I'd bet money he grows up to have the voice of Morgan Freeman or the movie trailer guy.
FINALLY
I'd say this was a pretty good film. It's good for the whole family. It's also especially good for fans of the horror fiction genre. I didn't mention this in the film paragraph, but the film is packed full of references to classic horror films. I'll give this film a solid B, see it if you get the chance, it's worth the watch.
Friday, August 24, 2012
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Spoiled Milk: The Expendables 2
SPOILER ALERT! The Expendables 2 had some things I didn't understand in it. I'm going to try to make this quick and explain what I found wrong with the film.
1) The hell did everyone go? Schwarzenegger appears at the beginning, then goes away for most of the film and doesn't show up until the end. What was he doing all that time? Li appears at the beginning, then goes away for the rest of the film. Where'd he go? Well, he had to drop this guy off at some location that I can't remember for a reason that I don't believe was actually given. My issue is that he never comes back. Why? Someone kills Liam and that's why that guy couldn't come back, but nobody killed Li, so where did he go? He didn't just call up The Expendables and say, "herro guise, mishun acomprished, come get me."? And don't call me racist for that quote, he literally talks like that in the film.
2) The plutonium. Willis needed it, Van Damme needed it. Why? Basic bomb building stuff I guess.
3) Why didn't they give Charisma Carpenter a bigger part?! They replaced Li with some asian chick, why couldn't that be Carpenter? 'Cause the asian lady is trained to be awesome? Who's to say Charisma's character isn't trained (she is the girlfriend of an Expendable after all)? Also, all the asian lady does is act sexy and shoot stuff, Charisma could just as easily do the same. I'm just really bitter 'cause I'm a fan of Charisma Carpenter and have no clue who Nan Yu is.
So there it is. I'm sure I can think of a lot more specific stuff, but I'll let it slide along with the rest of the stuff I didn't like about the movie. Remember, I do these kind of reviews out of respect, this movie is worth me pointing out at least some of it's flaws, maybe not all of them, but some of them. END SPOILER!
1) The hell did everyone go? Schwarzenegger appears at the beginning, then goes away for most of the film and doesn't show up until the end. What was he doing all that time? Li appears at the beginning, then goes away for the rest of the film. Where'd he go? Well, he had to drop this guy off at some location that I can't remember for a reason that I don't believe was actually given. My issue is that he never comes back. Why? Someone kills Liam and that's why that guy couldn't come back, but nobody killed Li, so where did he go? He didn't just call up The Expendables and say, "herro guise, mishun acomprished, come get me."? And don't call me racist for that quote, he literally talks like that in the film.
2) The plutonium. Willis needed it, Van Damme needed it. Why? Basic bomb building stuff I guess.
3) Why didn't they give Charisma Carpenter a bigger part?! They replaced Li with some asian chick, why couldn't that be Carpenter? 'Cause the asian lady is trained to be awesome? Who's to say Charisma's character isn't trained (she is the girlfriend of an Expendable after all)? Also, all the asian lady does is act sexy and shoot stuff, Charisma could just as easily do the same. I'm just really bitter 'cause I'm a fan of Charisma Carpenter and have no clue who Nan Yu is.
So there it is. I'm sure I can think of a lot more specific stuff, but I'll let it slide along with the rest of the stuff I didn't like about the movie. Remember, I do these kind of reviews out of respect, this movie is worth me pointing out at least some of it's flaws, maybe not all of them, but some of them. END SPOILER!
Movie Review: The Expendables 2
AHHHHHHH!!!! I'm going to rip my shirt off and run around town doing manly stuff like fighting, pillaging, and bear-baiting! This is what has become of me after watching The Expendables 2!
PLOT
Uhhhhhhhhhhhh... hmmmm, there were some guns... oh, and an explosion... something about plutonium... hey Chuck Norris is in this! Yeah, I'm going to lay it out flat for you, this isn't a movie about plot, it's a movie about getting ALL the action stars together in one movie. The first one already did that though, so the second sort of lost part of it's pizazz as far as the all-star cast was concerned. I really liked the beginning and the end, that's where all the awesome action is, everything in between is boring exposition and Chuck Norris. Sure, action movies need a bit of substance to them lest they be senseless, but it's a movie featuring all the greatest action stars of all time, it gets a free pass on sense in my book.
CAST
Couldn't understand a damn person in this film most of the time except Bruce Willis and Liam Hemsworth (aka, the Hemsworth from Hunger Games and not Thor... disappointing much, film?) Naw, but I wanna talk about Hemsworth and Willis along with Schwarzenegger, Van Damme, Norris, and Li. Why not the rest? 'Cause I don't got anything to say about the rest that the first movie didn't already establish.
Hemsworth is way too talented an actor to be in this film and seems to only get bit parts because his brother Chris is more famous. Like I said, he was the only actor I could understand, also the only character I cared about. The rest could live or die and I'd just enjoy the action, but Liam's character actually had depth to him and I respected that.
Willis and Schwarzenegger get bigger parts and they are awesome! If you come to the movie for references to old action films, these guys deliver on that front in the most satisfying of ways.
Van Damme plays an archetypal kills-everyone-he-sees kind of bad guy, but it wasn't a waste of a part for him. He delivers standard action villain stuff. I did spend half the movie wondering if it actually was Van Damme because I had forgetten he had been cast in it, but that's beside the point.
Norris and Li are the most wasted characters in this film. With Li, expect 5min of screen time, then nothing for the rest of the film. With Norris you'll get your obligatory Chuck Norris joke but no roundhouse kicks, take it or leave it. There's also one member of the cast I forgot to mention.
ODE TO CHARISMA CARPENTER
Oh Charisma Carpenter, it is lovely to see you in this film. You were in the last film and I had wondered if you'd be in this one as well. Since Cordelia Chase on Buffy and Angel you haven't done much relevant work. I respect The Expendable films for keeping your career alive. So say I, Casey, the poet.
DIRECTING
Simon West is known for such things as Con Air, Tomb Raider, The Mechanic, and a bunch of Budweiser commercials.... I never thought I'd say this, but, I miss Stallone's directing. The first film had building action and awesomeness, but no real depth. This one had some action and awesomeness and a sad attempt at depth that really didn't go anywhere. Also, some of the scenes were handled wrong, like the Chuck Norris Stuff. First off, it seemed like his part was written for Clint Eastwood (you'll see what I mean). Second, Norris' first scene (the awesome reveal scene) just kind of happens and doesn't really have much kick to it... y'know, like a roundhouse kick! And third, the joke was misplaced, they put it at the very beginning of his scene, if they had put it at the end it would have ended the scene with a good feeling. Instead we get the reveal and joke up front and then Norris just kind of deflates until he's off screen.
AND FINALLY
As awesome as The Expendables 2 was, I kind of liked the first one more. It's not that I expected the sequel to be any better, it's that I had at least expected it to deliver the same thing the first one did. Instead some of the film falls short. That being said, all the bad stuff is worth sitting through for the awesome stuff as well as the humorous stuff. I give this film somewhere between a B- and a C+. Fans of the actors, the explosions, and the guns should go see it if they get the chance, the rest of you can make it a rental. But don't pirate it, the movie (or was it the theater?) warned us not to!
PLOT
Uhhhhhhhhhhhh... hmmmm, there were some guns... oh, and an explosion... something about plutonium... hey Chuck Norris is in this! Yeah, I'm going to lay it out flat for you, this isn't a movie about plot, it's a movie about getting ALL the action stars together in one movie. The first one already did that though, so the second sort of lost part of it's pizazz as far as the all-star cast was concerned. I really liked the beginning and the end, that's where all the awesome action is, everything in between is boring exposition and Chuck Norris. Sure, action movies need a bit of substance to them lest they be senseless, but it's a movie featuring all the greatest action stars of all time, it gets a free pass on sense in my book.
CAST
Couldn't understand a damn person in this film most of the time except Bruce Willis and Liam Hemsworth (aka, the Hemsworth from Hunger Games and not Thor... disappointing much, film?) Naw, but I wanna talk about Hemsworth and Willis along with Schwarzenegger, Van Damme, Norris, and Li. Why not the rest? 'Cause I don't got anything to say about the rest that the first movie didn't already establish.
Hemsworth is way too talented an actor to be in this film and seems to only get bit parts because his brother Chris is more famous. Like I said, he was the only actor I could understand, also the only character I cared about. The rest could live or die and I'd just enjoy the action, but Liam's character actually had depth to him and I respected that.
Willis and Schwarzenegger get bigger parts and they are awesome! If you come to the movie for references to old action films, these guys deliver on that front in the most satisfying of ways.
Van Damme plays an archetypal kills-everyone-he-sees kind of bad guy, but it wasn't a waste of a part for him. He delivers standard action villain stuff. I did spend half the movie wondering if it actually was Van Damme because I had forgetten he had been cast in it, but that's beside the point.
Norris and Li are the most wasted characters in this film. With Li, expect 5min of screen time, then nothing for the rest of the film. With Norris you'll get your obligatory Chuck Norris joke but no roundhouse kicks, take it or leave it. There's also one member of the cast I forgot to mention.
ODE TO CHARISMA CARPENTER
Oh Charisma Carpenter, it is lovely to see you in this film. You were in the last film and I had wondered if you'd be in this one as well. Since Cordelia Chase on Buffy and Angel you haven't done much relevant work. I respect The Expendable films for keeping your career alive. So say I, Casey, the poet.
DIRECTING
Simon West is known for such things as Con Air, Tomb Raider, The Mechanic, and a bunch of Budweiser commercials.... I never thought I'd say this, but, I miss Stallone's directing. The first film had building action and awesomeness, but no real depth. This one had some action and awesomeness and a sad attempt at depth that really didn't go anywhere. Also, some of the scenes were handled wrong, like the Chuck Norris Stuff. First off, it seemed like his part was written for Clint Eastwood (you'll see what I mean). Second, Norris' first scene (the awesome reveal scene) just kind of happens and doesn't really have much kick to it... y'know, like a roundhouse kick! And third, the joke was misplaced, they put it at the very beginning of his scene, if they had put it at the end it would have ended the scene with a good feeling. Instead we get the reveal and joke up front and then Norris just kind of deflates until he's off screen.
AND FINALLY
As awesome as The Expendables 2 was, I kind of liked the first one more. It's not that I expected the sequel to be any better, it's that I had at least expected it to deliver the same thing the first one did. Instead some of the film falls short. That being said, all the bad stuff is worth sitting through for the awesome stuff as well as the humorous stuff. I give this film somewhere between a B- and a C+. Fans of the actors, the explosions, and the guns should go see it if they get the chance, the rest of you can make it a rental. But don't pirate it, the movie (or was it the theater?) warned us not to!
Monday, July 30, 2012
Movie Review: The Dark Knight Rises
It's finally come to an end, Christopher Nolan put the final touches on the legend of the Dark Knight and boy did he do an excellent job of it. I'm going to assume anyone reading this is already in the loop as to what DKR is about so I'm just going to jump into the review.
CAST
DKR has a pretty well known cast going for it, at least if you're a fan of Nolan's work. Yup, you've seen most of them before and because they all did a great job I'm only going to concentrate on 4, the noobs: Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Anne Hathaway, and Tom Hardy. Marion Cotillard is that beutiful number you may remember as Leo's wife from Inception, in DKR she plays a woman with some power or at least some money, or both and I accepted her character every second she was on screen. Not only is she breathtaking she's also a good actress. She starts out as what feels like a throwaway character and builds from there, all the while doing it with grace. How about that handsome mofo Joseph Gordon-Levitt, do I really need to say more? He's JG-L, you either like him or you like him, in this film, I liked him. He played an excellent beat cop and a believably upstanding member of Gotham (we all know those are few and far between.) He ends up playing one of the more interesting roles in the film and I think a lot of that comes from his acting. He seems the most human of all the characters, he's the one guy the audience will definitely identify with, at least as far as his actions are concerned. Then we come to Anne Hathaway as Catwoman, now she knows how to strut her stuff pretty well in the film but her character didn't seem all too fleshed out. For what she was given however, Hathaway did a fair job with it. All of this coming from a guy who was never really an Anne Hathaway fan, I always thought she was just average, now I know she's a little bit above that. Did I want to know more (but not in the "she's a mysterious character" sort of way), sure, but I'm okay with what I got.
BANE!!!
Now we come to the main man (besides the Bat) Bane! I feel I need a different paragraph just for him. Tom Hardy's Bane is easily my favorite villain of the trilogy. Yes, the Joker was the coolest, but Bane was the most dramatic, the most personal. I feel like I'll be crucified for saying I liked Bane more than the Joker, but let me explain myself. I liked Bane for different reasons than the Joker. Ledger was given a character with no real development other than he's a crazy clown and turned in an awesome performance. Hardy was given a character with more depth to him and brought him to life. Again, Ledger had one hell of a performance, but Hardy is arguably at least as good for his character and I just happen to like Bane more. The performance certainly wasn't Bronson either (for any movie buffs reading this), but it wasn't supposed to be, and I still think Hardy did an excellent job in this role as well as Bronson. A lot of the personalization of the character comes from the writing, sure, but acting, it's all in Hardy's eyes. It kind of has to be (what with the mask and all.) There's more to Bane than just the crazy megalomania and you can see that in his eyes, or really, behind his eyes, somewhere inside him. Yes there's a person behind that mask and he feels just like the rest of us. Also, don't worry about his voice too much, they managed to clear it up a lot, just keep your ears open during his scenes.
SCORE
Speaking of keeping your ears open, let's talk about the score of the film. Hans Zimmer dishes out another amazing score. My favorite thing about his scoring of both this film and Dark Knight is what he did with the villains. Everytime I think of the Joker I hear that weird white noise and everytime I think of Bane from hear on out I'll hear the chant (I'm sure you've heard it already.) A good composer can define the sound of a movie a great composer can define the sound of a legend and Zimmer most certainly does that. Another thing I like is when the villain's sound plays, it doesn't just play while we see the character, it plays before. Doing that gives things an ominous feeling, when you hear the chant or the white noise you know something is waiting around the corner about to ruin your day.
DIRECTING
What can I say about Christopher Nolan without sounding biased? He's my favorite director and still is, there's just something about his films that draws me in and I completely get lost in his world. DKR definitely feels like the 3rd film in a trilogy, so it's got that going for it. Only negative thing I can say is that the first half drags a little. Or maybe a lot, but it's all set-up anyways and it does have entertaining moments in it so it's not that big of a problem. Incidentally, once the film picks up good gawd in the heavens above does it pick up. Certainly picking up the slack of the first half and then some, so really, it more than evens things out. I should also note that the 2hr 45min runtime doesn't feel that long, at least it didn't to me.
So there you have it, my review of DKR, everything from cast to directing was put together so well it has easily become my favorite Batman film. Best final note I can give about this film is lose any assumptions. Don't assume Bane's going to sound like shit, don't assume low or high expectations, don't assume any rumors you may have heard about it are true or false. If you can go into it with a clear and open mind and view the film as it's own seperate entity that's part of a bigger picture you will be more than pleasantly surprised. Even if you do assume things you'll still come out of the theater feeling like you saw a good film, I give The Dark Knight Rises an A+!
CAST
DKR has a pretty well known cast going for it, at least if you're a fan of Nolan's work. Yup, you've seen most of them before and because they all did a great job I'm only going to concentrate on 4, the noobs: Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Anne Hathaway, and Tom Hardy. Marion Cotillard is that beutiful number you may remember as Leo's wife from Inception, in DKR she plays a woman with some power or at least some money, or both and I accepted her character every second she was on screen. Not only is she breathtaking she's also a good actress. She starts out as what feels like a throwaway character and builds from there, all the while doing it with grace. How about that handsome mofo Joseph Gordon-Levitt, do I really need to say more? He's JG-L, you either like him or you like him, in this film, I liked him. He played an excellent beat cop and a believably upstanding member of Gotham (we all know those are few and far between.) He ends up playing one of the more interesting roles in the film and I think a lot of that comes from his acting. He seems the most human of all the characters, he's the one guy the audience will definitely identify with, at least as far as his actions are concerned. Then we come to Anne Hathaway as Catwoman, now she knows how to strut her stuff pretty well in the film but her character didn't seem all too fleshed out. For what she was given however, Hathaway did a fair job with it. All of this coming from a guy who was never really an Anne Hathaway fan, I always thought she was just average, now I know she's a little bit above that. Did I want to know more (but not in the "she's a mysterious character" sort of way), sure, but I'm okay with what I got.
BANE!!!
Now we come to the main man (besides the Bat) Bane! I feel I need a different paragraph just for him. Tom Hardy's Bane is easily my favorite villain of the trilogy. Yes, the Joker was the coolest, but Bane was the most dramatic, the most personal. I feel like I'll be crucified for saying I liked Bane more than the Joker, but let me explain myself. I liked Bane for different reasons than the Joker. Ledger was given a character with no real development other than he's a crazy clown and turned in an awesome performance. Hardy was given a character with more depth to him and brought him to life. Again, Ledger had one hell of a performance, but Hardy is arguably at least as good for his character and I just happen to like Bane more. The performance certainly wasn't Bronson either (for any movie buffs reading this), but it wasn't supposed to be, and I still think Hardy did an excellent job in this role as well as Bronson. A lot of the personalization of the character comes from the writing, sure, but acting, it's all in Hardy's eyes. It kind of has to be (what with the mask and all.) There's more to Bane than just the crazy megalomania and you can see that in his eyes, or really, behind his eyes, somewhere inside him. Yes there's a person behind that mask and he feels just like the rest of us. Also, don't worry about his voice too much, they managed to clear it up a lot, just keep your ears open during his scenes.
SCORE
Speaking of keeping your ears open, let's talk about the score of the film. Hans Zimmer dishes out another amazing score. My favorite thing about his scoring of both this film and Dark Knight is what he did with the villains. Everytime I think of the Joker I hear that weird white noise and everytime I think of Bane from hear on out I'll hear the chant (I'm sure you've heard it already.) A good composer can define the sound of a movie a great composer can define the sound of a legend and Zimmer most certainly does that. Another thing I like is when the villain's sound plays, it doesn't just play while we see the character, it plays before. Doing that gives things an ominous feeling, when you hear the chant or the white noise you know something is waiting around the corner about to ruin your day.
DIRECTING
What can I say about Christopher Nolan without sounding biased? He's my favorite director and still is, there's just something about his films that draws me in and I completely get lost in his world. DKR definitely feels like the 3rd film in a trilogy, so it's got that going for it. Only negative thing I can say is that the first half drags a little. Or maybe a lot, but it's all set-up anyways and it does have entertaining moments in it so it's not that big of a problem. Incidentally, once the film picks up good gawd in the heavens above does it pick up. Certainly picking up the slack of the first half and then some, so really, it more than evens things out. I should also note that the 2hr 45min runtime doesn't feel that long, at least it didn't to me.
So there you have it, my review of DKR, everything from cast to directing was put together so well it has easily become my favorite Batman film. Best final note I can give about this film is lose any assumptions. Don't assume Bane's going to sound like shit, don't assume low or high expectations, don't assume any rumors you may have heard about it are true or false. If you can go into it with a clear and open mind and view the film as it's own seperate entity that's part of a bigger picture you will be more than pleasantly surprised. Even if you do assume things you'll still come out of the theater feeling like you saw a good film, I give The Dark Knight Rises an A+!
Friday, July 6, 2012
Spoiled Milk: The Amazing Spider-Man
Welcome loyal reader to a new blog post I like to call, "Spoiled Milk." Why call it that? 'Cause I'm going to take the movies I see and talk about the nitty gritty plot detail that didn't sit well with me. Spoiled Milk has two meanings essentially: 1) I'm going to spoil plot points, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! So yeah, spoiler alert and stuff, 2) movies are like milk, good for your bones, but if they spoil, things can go bad. Don't get me wrong, I love movies and let's be clear, I loved Amazing Spider-Man, but every movie has mistakes. I don't think mistakes bring a movie down, they're only natural. In fact, I think some mistakes, especially ones that can be cleared up can sometimes make a movie stronger. It's when everything goes wrong that a movie sucks. So please, don't let what I'm about to bring up make you think the movie is bad. I challenge you to think about the plot and come up with your own answers. Let's begin.
1) The Lab Tour Scene. Alright, I'm assuming anyone reading this has seen the movie, again, I warned you this whole post has spoilers. Something didn't sit right with me in this scene. Peter sneaks into a "Future Intern Tour" thing at Oscorp and is told by Gwen not to sneak off. So what does Peter do? He sneaks off. The issue that I have is that in a lab filled with dozens of white coated scientists NOBODY saw this hipster kid sneaking off into restricted areas and decided to say, "Hey kid, you can't be back here!" Sure, he was wearing a badge, but anyone with a brain, lets say a room full of smart scientist, could tell that he doesn't belong. Hell, I'm sure they knew a group of future interns where coming in today, any scientist could easily assume he's part of that group. Either way, it would have been smart to check his badge to confirm this rather than letting him walk away unnoticed. In fact, he does get noticed, by Gwen. An actual intern notices him but nobody else does? Bullshit. So that's my first issue, I can let it slide if you just consider that maybe Peter got lucky. Fine, moving on.
2) The Random Warehouse Scene. So Parker gets bit, then asks Gwen out and then goes skateboarding with hipster music to celebrate. But he celebrates in some random warehouse somewhere. Why? Does he skate there often? If so, why hasn't anybody caught him. Sure, he's alone, but the place doesn't look abandoned, it looks like people still use it. Maybe I just missed something with this one so I guess I can let it slide.
3) Unmasked by George Stacy Scene. So the vigilante that the cops are after gets unmasked by a cop and Peter spends a good couple of seconds showing his face to New Yorks Finest. I don't have a problem with why he showed it, I have a problem with why Peter Parkers face wasn't plastered all over the news the next day. Sure the public had been evacuated, so they wouldn't be there to take pictures. But police helicopters have cameras and they where right on him after his unmasking, spot light and all. George Stacy even warns Parker to leave at the end 'cause the cops will have to arrest him. So it's not like the NYPD will stop their man hunt. Spider-Man could convince George Stacy that vigilantes are sometime necessary, but ALL of "New York's Finest"? It's not like Stacy's going to be around to tell them to get rid of that helicopter footage that must have been taken. So what's stoping them? Here's what would happen the next day: the media plays helicopter footage of a tall gangly brunette teenager in a spider suit beating up a bunch of cops with the headline, "Can anyone identify this kid?" "Yeah, that's Peter Parker," says the guy who goes to school with Spider-Man. Andrew Garfield has a pretty recognizable face. Anyways, maybe George told them to scrap the footage before he died or something.
So there you have it, all the spoiled rotten parts of The Amazing Spider-Man. If you saw it, maybe you agree with me, if not, I would like your answers to these issues. If you have issues of your own, I'd like to hear them, maybe I missed one. Hope you enjoyed the read!
1) The Lab Tour Scene. Alright, I'm assuming anyone reading this has seen the movie, again, I warned you this whole post has spoilers. Something didn't sit right with me in this scene. Peter sneaks into a "Future Intern Tour" thing at Oscorp and is told by Gwen not to sneak off. So what does Peter do? He sneaks off. The issue that I have is that in a lab filled with dozens of white coated scientists NOBODY saw this hipster kid sneaking off into restricted areas and decided to say, "Hey kid, you can't be back here!" Sure, he was wearing a badge, but anyone with a brain, lets say a room full of smart scientist, could tell that he doesn't belong. Hell, I'm sure they knew a group of future interns where coming in today, any scientist could easily assume he's part of that group. Either way, it would have been smart to check his badge to confirm this rather than letting him walk away unnoticed. In fact, he does get noticed, by Gwen. An actual intern notices him but nobody else does? Bullshit. So that's my first issue, I can let it slide if you just consider that maybe Peter got lucky. Fine, moving on.
2) The Random Warehouse Scene. So Parker gets bit, then asks Gwen out and then goes skateboarding with hipster music to celebrate. But he celebrates in some random warehouse somewhere. Why? Does he skate there often? If so, why hasn't anybody caught him. Sure, he's alone, but the place doesn't look abandoned, it looks like people still use it. Maybe I just missed something with this one so I guess I can let it slide.
3) Unmasked by George Stacy Scene. So the vigilante that the cops are after gets unmasked by a cop and Peter spends a good couple of seconds showing his face to New Yorks Finest. I don't have a problem with why he showed it, I have a problem with why Peter Parkers face wasn't plastered all over the news the next day. Sure the public had been evacuated, so they wouldn't be there to take pictures. But police helicopters have cameras and they where right on him after his unmasking, spot light and all. George Stacy even warns Parker to leave at the end 'cause the cops will have to arrest him. So it's not like the NYPD will stop their man hunt. Spider-Man could convince George Stacy that vigilantes are sometime necessary, but ALL of "New York's Finest"? It's not like Stacy's going to be around to tell them to get rid of that helicopter footage that must have been taken. So what's stoping them? Here's what would happen the next day: the media plays helicopter footage of a tall gangly brunette teenager in a spider suit beating up a bunch of cops with the headline, "Can anyone identify this kid?" "Yeah, that's Peter Parker," says the guy who goes to school with Spider-Man. Andrew Garfield has a pretty recognizable face. Anyways, maybe George told them to scrap the footage before he died or something.
So there you have it, all the spoiled rotten parts of The Amazing Spider-Man. If you saw it, maybe you agree with me, if not, I would like your answers to these issues. If you have issues of your own, I'd like to hear them, maybe I missed one. Hope you enjoyed the read!
Movie Review: Amazing Spider-Man
Who would have guessed Nick Fury appears at the end of The Amazing Spider-Man? Just kidding! Although that would have been cool. Anyways, for this review I'm going to do things a tad differently, I'm going to take the Amazing Spider-Man and compare it to Sam Raimi's Spider-Man to see how they hold up. I know it probably won't be fair for one of the movies, but hey, this is the era of The Gritty Reboot, the Amazing Spider-Man wouldn't have gotten made if Raimi's 3rd movie didn't bomb and need a reboot. Let's get started.
So the Amazing Spider-Man was about a kid who gets bitten by a poisonous spider and gets super sick, he spends most of the movie in the hospital being kind to all the other sick folk which earns him the name, the Amazing Spider-Man. He dies at the end, it's tragic. Naw, that didn't happen, but do I really need to say what does? It's Spider-Man, kid gets bit, kid is now superhero, fights a giant lizard. It's pretty standard, but then, so was Raimi's, they're both superhero films, pretty standard stuff. This one, though, does something these new reboots are doing, revealing an origin that not many people are aware of. This provides a moderately new and fresh take on the hero, they don't expand on the origin plot too much in Amazing, but it's still there. Points to them.
Now we get to the cast and let me tell you, they're the most amazing part of the film. Sure Tobey was nerdy, but Andrew felt real, he wasn't just some nerdy kid with glasses, he was a nerdy kid with glasses who also wears contact lenses. Seriously though, his interaction with Emma (the love interest) felt a thousand times more realistic and awkward than anything Tobey and Kirsten could dish out. Flash Thompson also had a slightly bigger part, wasn't just some jack-ass bully. The bad guy Rhys Ifans (the lizard) wasn't my favorite though, his acting was good as Curt Connors but his Lizard dipped into Raimi's Schizo-Villain territory. Martin Sheen's Uncle Ben on the other hand, loved him. Sure he didn't feel as warm-hearted as Cliff Robertson's Ben, but Sheen felt like a mofugen parent and that counts for something. Overall, I'd have to give the point to Amazing for accomplishing the "gritty realism" aspect quite nicely with the characters.
Let's have the directors battle it out now. In one corner: Sam Raimi of Spider-Man. In the other: Marc Webb of The Amazing Spider-Man. Raimi had experience and plenty of movies under his belt and it showed in his movie with pomp and circumstance. Webb is fairly new, only doing 500 Days of Summer before this and a ton of music video directing. From a directorial stand point, Raimi did a far better job. A friend of mine mentioned that Amazing was paced wrong at points and I'd have to agree. Granted, most of it was stuff from Raimi's Spider-Man that they had to get out of the way quickly to move on, but other parts had it too. That being said, Webb did a decent job for being new to the major motion picture. However, I've got to give the point to Raimi on this one.
I'm going to talk about something now I've never mentioned before in my reviews: the score of the film. I'm only doing this because the Amazing Spider-Man had an interesting score. James Horner did the score for Amazing while THE Danny Elfman did the score for Spider-Man, yup, THE Danny Elfman. Both composers have given the sound to many a movie, Elfman however, is more recognized if you've watched any Tim Burton movie recently. I have to say, Elfman's work on Spider-Man was fantastic, it kept things fast paced and yet blended seamlessly into the movie, which is what a good score should be. Horner's work though, didn't. Most of the film had what I think was an indie rock soundtrack and even good moments like one with the lizard resorted to cliche monster movie piano strikes. Don't get me wrong, it's cool, just not fitting. So ultimately I'm giving the point to Raimi's Spider-Man.
Well that leaves them tied, how are we going to break this. I know, I know, which one stayed closest to the source material. I'm just going to say this now, the Amazing Spider-Man did. Raimi's Spider-Man had the Goblin in the movie and no Gwen Stacy. Instead we got the classic bridge scene but this time Mary Jane was the one being tossed off it and naturally she had to be saved. The Amazing Spider-Man takes Parker back to highschool with his first love, still has the bully Flash Thompson, but also gives us NYPD's George Stacy as a character. So I'm going to have to say, The Amazing Spider-Man wins.
It was a close call and the Raimi films are still really good and changed the way people think about superhero movies, but the Amazing Spider-Man is the result of that. It was allowed to be taken more seriously and had great effort put into it, yeah it had it's problems, but I feel it's the superior film. I give it an A+, see it for yourself, who knows, maybe you'll like the Raimi one better or something.
So the Amazing Spider-Man was about a kid who gets bitten by a poisonous spider and gets super sick, he spends most of the movie in the hospital being kind to all the other sick folk which earns him the name, the Amazing Spider-Man. He dies at the end, it's tragic. Naw, that didn't happen, but do I really need to say what does? It's Spider-Man, kid gets bit, kid is now superhero, fights a giant lizard. It's pretty standard, but then, so was Raimi's, they're both superhero films, pretty standard stuff. This one, though, does something these new reboots are doing, revealing an origin that not many people are aware of. This provides a moderately new and fresh take on the hero, they don't expand on the origin plot too much in Amazing, but it's still there. Points to them.
Now we get to the cast and let me tell you, they're the most amazing part of the film. Sure Tobey was nerdy, but Andrew felt real, he wasn't just some nerdy kid with glasses, he was a nerdy kid with glasses who also wears contact lenses. Seriously though, his interaction with Emma (the love interest) felt a thousand times more realistic and awkward than anything Tobey and Kirsten could dish out. Flash Thompson also had a slightly bigger part, wasn't just some jack-ass bully. The bad guy Rhys Ifans (the lizard) wasn't my favorite though, his acting was good as Curt Connors but his Lizard dipped into Raimi's Schizo-Villain territory. Martin Sheen's Uncle Ben on the other hand, loved him. Sure he didn't feel as warm-hearted as Cliff Robertson's Ben, but Sheen felt like a mofugen parent and that counts for something. Overall, I'd have to give the point to Amazing for accomplishing the "gritty realism" aspect quite nicely with the characters.
Let's have the directors battle it out now. In one corner: Sam Raimi of Spider-Man. In the other: Marc Webb of The Amazing Spider-Man. Raimi had experience and plenty of movies under his belt and it showed in his movie with pomp and circumstance. Webb is fairly new, only doing 500 Days of Summer before this and a ton of music video directing. From a directorial stand point, Raimi did a far better job. A friend of mine mentioned that Amazing was paced wrong at points and I'd have to agree. Granted, most of it was stuff from Raimi's Spider-Man that they had to get out of the way quickly to move on, but other parts had it too. That being said, Webb did a decent job for being new to the major motion picture. However, I've got to give the point to Raimi on this one.
I'm going to talk about something now I've never mentioned before in my reviews: the score of the film. I'm only doing this because the Amazing Spider-Man had an interesting score. James Horner did the score for Amazing while THE Danny Elfman did the score for Spider-Man, yup, THE Danny Elfman. Both composers have given the sound to many a movie, Elfman however, is more recognized if you've watched any Tim Burton movie recently. I have to say, Elfman's work on Spider-Man was fantastic, it kept things fast paced and yet blended seamlessly into the movie, which is what a good score should be. Horner's work though, didn't. Most of the film had what I think was an indie rock soundtrack and even good moments like one with the lizard resorted to cliche monster movie piano strikes. Don't get me wrong, it's cool, just not fitting. So ultimately I'm giving the point to Raimi's Spider-Man.
Well that leaves them tied, how are we going to break this. I know, I know, which one stayed closest to the source material. I'm just going to say this now, the Amazing Spider-Man did. Raimi's Spider-Man had the Goblin in the movie and no Gwen Stacy. Instead we got the classic bridge scene but this time Mary Jane was the one being tossed off it and naturally she had to be saved. The Amazing Spider-Man takes Parker back to highschool with his first love, still has the bully Flash Thompson, but also gives us NYPD's George Stacy as a character. So I'm going to have to say, The Amazing Spider-Man wins.
It was a close call and the Raimi films are still really good and changed the way people think about superhero movies, but the Amazing Spider-Man is the result of that. It was allowed to be taken more seriously and had great effort put into it, yeah it had it's problems, but I feel it's the superior film. I give it an A+, see it for yourself, who knows, maybe you'll like the Raimi one better or something.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Movie Review: The Hunger Games
Here are a 1,001 things I liked about this film in natural succession.
1,001: Just kidding, although if you gave me enough time I could name at least a couple of hundred things I liked about The Hunger Games. The first thing I've got to say is that it was intense. I don't sit on the edge of my seat for most movies and when I do it's usually because I have to go to the bathroom. But my goodness this movie just pulls you in and keeps you going throughout. All of the acting was exquisite. This is the part where I usually talk about each actor I liked, but if I did that you'd die of starvation before you finished reading. I'm only going to mention the lead actress and that's only because I liked her character more in the movie than I have from the parts that I've read in book. (I've only actually read up to the part where Katniss trains for the games.)
Second thing I can mention is the directing. I have to mention the directing here because it was some of the finest directing I've seen in a movie. Granted, the movie had odd directing at one or two moments, but when it was good it was great and it was 98% good directing. *SPOILER* The scene where Rue dies, it made me question life and death, it was all sorts of powerful and moving. *END SPOILER*
The final thing I feel I should bring up in this review is the weird controversy surrounding the casting of this film. Apparently people got really racist over the casting of the characters Rue and Cinna as black people, because they didn't view the characters to be dark skinned. I think this is some weird marketing strategy and the whole thing is set up. One of the things you'll hear is that they're pretty much described as African American in the book. Rue has "satiny brown skin," that's a direct quote, google search that for second and laugh at the stupidity of people who apparently don't know what satiny brown looks like. Either way, both actors did extremely well, freaken Lenny Kravitz played Cinna. Yes, THE Lenny "I'll make you wet with my words when I sing to you" Kravitz.
Anyways, that's all I've really got say. I give this movie an A++, see it, even if you haven't read the book. Or at least read up to Chapter 5 to get the gist of what you need to know about weird things like what the hell a Mockingjay is. In fact, I'm afraid to read the sequels because I don't want them to spoil the movies! It may just be my opinion, but I think the movie may just be better than the book, I'll let you know when I finish reading it. Thank you for reading this, enjoy your day, and may the odds be ever in your favor.
1,001: Just kidding, although if you gave me enough time I could name at least a couple of hundred things I liked about The Hunger Games. The first thing I've got to say is that it was intense. I don't sit on the edge of my seat for most movies and when I do it's usually because I have to go to the bathroom. But my goodness this movie just pulls you in and keeps you going throughout. All of the acting was exquisite. This is the part where I usually talk about each actor I liked, but if I did that you'd die of starvation before you finished reading. I'm only going to mention the lead actress and that's only because I liked her character more in the movie than I have from the parts that I've read in book. (I've only actually read up to the part where Katniss trains for the games.)
Second thing I can mention is the directing. I have to mention the directing here because it was some of the finest directing I've seen in a movie. Granted, the movie had odd directing at one or two moments, but when it was good it was great and it was 98% good directing. *SPOILER* The scene where Rue dies, it made me question life and death, it was all sorts of powerful and moving. *END SPOILER*
The final thing I feel I should bring up in this review is the weird controversy surrounding the casting of this film. Apparently people got really racist over the casting of the characters Rue and Cinna as black people, because they didn't view the characters to be dark skinned. I think this is some weird marketing strategy and the whole thing is set up. One of the things you'll hear is that they're pretty much described as African American in the book. Rue has "satiny brown skin," that's a direct quote, google search that for second and laugh at the stupidity of people who apparently don't know what satiny brown looks like. Either way, both actors did extremely well, freaken Lenny Kravitz played Cinna. Yes, THE Lenny "I'll make you wet with my words when I sing to you" Kravitz.
Anyways, that's all I've really got say. I give this movie an A++, see it, even if you haven't read the book. Or at least read up to Chapter 5 to get the gist of what you need to know about weird things like what the hell a Mockingjay is. In fact, I'm afraid to read the sequels because I don't want them to spoil the movies! It may just be my opinion, but I think the movie may just be better than the book, I'll let you know when I finish reading it. Thank you for reading this, enjoy your day, and may the odds be ever in your favor.
Monday, March 19, 2012
Movie Review: 21 Jump Street
Who would have thought that Channing Tatum could be funny? Not to sound like I'm typcasting him, hollywood's doing a good job of that. He typically gets cast as the boyfriend role in a romance. It is for this reason that 21 Jump Street will blow your mind, and your wallet, 'cause you're gonna wanna see it over and over again.
For those of us who were not alive in the 80's, 21 Jump Street is about some young looking cops who go undercover at high schools to do things like drug busts and whatnot. The original 21 Jump was taken seriously as a drama. But in the same nature as Starsky and Hutch and The Dukes of Hazzard, serious shit from back in the day gets made into a comedy film. So lets talk about what makes this funny, we'll start with the acting of course.
I mentioned Channing Tatum already, but I didn't mention that he's the funniest one in the movie. Which isn't an insult to Jonah but a compliment to Channing, he was hilarious, I laughed the most during his scenes. That being said, Jonah Hill isn't that bad either, he just plays the character like typical Jonah Hill. Ice Cube did the same thing, he played Ice Cube. But the two are known for comedy and some people like them, the rest should see 21 Jump for Tatum. You shoul also see it for Ellie Kemper, who you may know as Erin from the Office, she also did a few things for the guys at Derrick Comedy... she was also born in Kansas City, I think I'm in love. One last thing, James Franco's younger brother is in this film and now that I know they're related, I can totally see the family resemblance, see if you can spot which role he plays when/if you see it.
I don't want to mention the two directors specifically, 'cause they're jack of all trades who have done a bunch of stuff across hollywood. So I'll just say that the directing and writing was great, there was comedy, action, and comedy-action.
Looks like this review was mostly about the acting, so I'll just leave you with a few positive comments. This movie is funny in many different kinds of ways and is all around good movie to see. I can't guarantee you'll enjoy it, but I can assume you probably will. That being said I give this movie an A+, best comedy of 2012 thus far, if you see it, take me with you, I'd like to see it again.
For those of us who were not alive in the 80's, 21 Jump Street is about some young looking cops who go undercover at high schools to do things like drug busts and whatnot. The original 21 Jump was taken seriously as a drama. But in the same nature as Starsky and Hutch and The Dukes of Hazzard, serious shit from back in the day gets made into a comedy film. So lets talk about what makes this funny, we'll start with the acting of course.
I mentioned Channing Tatum already, but I didn't mention that he's the funniest one in the movie. Which isn't an insult to Jonah but a compliment to Channing, he was hilarious, I laughed the most during his scenes. That being said, Jonah Hill isn't that bad either, he just plays the character like typical Jonah Hill. Ice Cube did the same thing, he played Ice Cube. But the two are known for comedy and some people like them, the rest should see 21 Jump for Tatum. You shoul also see it for Ellie Kemper, who you may know as Erin from the Office, she also did a few things for the guys at Derrick Comedy... she was also born in Kansas City, I think I'm in love. One last thing, James Franco's younger brother is in this film and now that I know they're related, I can totally see the family resemblance, see if you can spot which role he plays when/if you see it.
I don't want to mention the two directors specifically, 'cause they're jack of all trades who have done a bunch of stuff across hollywood. So I'll just say that the directing and writing was great, there was comedy, action, and comedy-action.
Looks like this review was mostly about the acting, so I'll just leave you with a few positive comments. This movie is funny in many different kinds of ways and is all around good movie to see. I can't guarantee you'll enjoy it, but I can assume you probably will. That being said I give this movie an A+, best comedy of 2012 thus far, if you see it, take me with you, I'd like to see it again.
Movie Review: John Carter
So there once was a story written by Edgar Rice Burroughs about a guy who ran around in a loincloth, it was called Tarzan. He also wrote a sci-fi about a guy who ran around in a loincloth and called it A Princess of Mars. It spawned an entire book series and was eventually made into the movie John Carter. The more you know!
John Carter is about a guy from the 1800's getting transported to Mars, finding out he has superstrength and can jump real high (who says white men can't jump?). He also gets caught in the middle of a war and falls in love with a princess... of mars, hence the title of the book.
The acting in this film was top notch. Bryan Cranston has a bit part, you may know him from such things as Malcom in the Middle and Breaking Bad. Willem Dafoe voices one of the CGI green martians and I didn't even know it was him. Lynn Collins runs around in hot-almost-revealing dresses and Taylor Kitsch's loincloth turns into a tent. Nothing too special to say about the acting, it's a Disney film, everything Disney does is gold including acting. Disney could take a crap, film it, and make billions at the box office. Anyways, lets take a look at the directing.
Andrew Stanton is the name of someone you've never heard of, unless you're a Disney fan. This guy's done a ton of stuff for them. Things like: Toy Story 1,2, and 3, Up, and pretty much every Disney film. So I can't really say anything bad about the guy, he obviously knows what he's doing.
On a completely unrelated note, but something I feel like I should menton, I fell asleep for the first 10-15 minutes of the film. Granted I was super tired at the time, but the first good chunk of the film is kind of boring. However, it's where a good deal of important set-ups happen for later plot points, so if you attend I'd suggest paying attention.
All-in-all it was a pretty good film. It defintetly doesn't hold a candle to Pirates, but at least it was better than Prince of Persion (which I didn't find all that bad.) That being said I give this film a B-, see it if you get the chance, but if you can't afford it now no worries on renting it or buying it on DVD. It's a nice little film, I had a problem with a certain plot point near the end, but I'll save that for anyone who's sees the film and wants to ask me about it. Anyways, thanks for reading!
John Carter is about a guy from the 1800's getting transported to Mars, finding out he has superstrength and can jump real high (who says white men can't jump?). He also gets caught in the middle of a war and falls in love with a princess... of mars, hence the title of the book.
The acting in this film was top notch. Bryan Cranston has a bit part, you may know him from such things as Malcom in the Middle and Breaking Bad. Willem Dafoe voices one of the CGI green martians and I didn't even know it was him. Lynn Collins runs around in hot-almost-revealing dresses and Taylor Kitsch's loincloth turns into a tent. Nothing too special to say about the acting, it's a Disney film, everything Disney does is gold including acting. Disney could take a crap, film it, and make billions at the box office. Anyways, lets take a look at the directing.
Andrew Stanton is the name of someone you've never heard of, unless you're a Disney fan. This guy's done a ton of stuff for them. Things like: Toy Story 1,2, and 3, Up, and pretty much every Disney film. So I can't really say anything bad about the guy, he obviously knows what he's doing.
On a completely unrelated note, but something I feel like I should menton, I fell asleep for the first 10-15 minutes of the film. Granted I was super tired at the time, but the first good chunk of the film is kind of boring. However, it's where a good deal of important set-ups happen for later plot points, so if you attend I'd suggest paying attention.
All-in-all it was a pretty good film. It defintetly doesn't hold a candle to Pirates, but at least it was better than Prince of Persion (which I didn't find all that bad.) That being said I give this film a B-, see it if you get the chance, but if you can't afford it now no worries on renting it or buying it on DVD. It's a nice little film, I had a problem with a certain plot point near the end, but I'll save that for anyone who's sees the film and wants to ask me about it. Anyways, thanks for reading!
Movie Review: Safe House
You ever see that one movie where Denzel Washington acts like Denzel Washington for 2hrs and everything looks grainy and dark. So you have seen Safe House, great, that's going to make my review a lot easier.
Safe House is about Denzel Washington being a traitor to the... well, to everybody. He gets held at a safe house for interrogation ran by Ryan Reynolds. It turns out this safe house is a cover for a male prostitution ring, so Denzel and Ryan have to infultrate it by taking their shirts off... and I'm totally bullshitting you, go dry off ladies. I won't reveal more about the actual plot of the film, but I will say that you've probably already seen it before. That being said, lets take a look at the acting.
I don't know if you caught this earlier, but just in case you didn't, Denzel Washington acts like Denzel Washingon for 2hrs. I'm not saying that's a bad things, Denzel is Denzel, I'm just saying no acting was required on his part. Ryan Reynolds on the other hand seemed to take his part seriously and actually did a convincing job in a dramatic action role. Mad-Eye Moody is also in this film, Brendan Gleeson for those who give a shit, he plays a CIA agent and his American accent is only somewhat believable. Now onto the director.
Remember how I said all of Denzel Washington's films look grainy and dark, well it turns out the director of Safe House... didn't direct any Denzel films before this. Looks like we know who was really pulling the strings during filming. Anyways, the guy directed your typical gritty action film and did a decent job I suppose.
In closing I will say that this movie was half way decent. Apart from an audience member whispering the plot of the film to someone who I assume was blind, I had an alright time. That being said, this is your typical Denzel Washington action movie, if you like that kind of stuff then go see it, if not then congrats you passed my gay test (this is Denzel and Reynolds in the same movie.) I'll give this film a C-, rent it on DVD or Blu-Ray, but only if you're having a Denzelathon. Thanks for reading!
Safe House is about Denzel Washington being a traitor to the... well, to everybody. He gets held at a safe house for interrogation ran by Ryan Reynolds. It turns out this safe house is a cover for a male prostitution ring, so Denzel and Ryan have to infultrate it by taking their shirts off... and I'm totally bullshitting you, go dry off ladies. I won't reveal more about the actual plot of the film, but I will say that you've probably already seen it before. That being said, lets take a look at the acting.
I don't know if you caught this earlier, but just in case you didn't, Denzel Washington acts like Denzel Washingon for 2hrs. I'm not saying that's a bad things, Denzel is Denzel, I'm just saying no acting was required on his part. Ryan Reynolds on the other hand seemed to take his part seriously and actually did a convincing job in a dramatic action role. Mad-Eye Moody is also in this film, Brendan Gleeson for those who give a shit, he plays a CIA agent and his American accent is only somewhat believable. Now onto the director.
Remember how I said all of Denzel Washington's films look grainy and dark, well it turns out the director of Safe House... didn't direct any Denzel films before this. Looks like we know who was really pulling the strings during filming. Anyways, the guy directed your typical gritty action film and did a decent job I suppose.
In closing I will say that this movie was half way decent. Apart from an audience member whispering the plot of the film to someone who I assume was blind, I had an alright time. That being said, this is your typical Denzel Washington action movie, if you like that kind of stuff then go see it, if not then congrats you passed my gay test (this is Denzel and Reynolds in the same movie.) I'll give this film a C-, rent it on DVD or Blu-Ray, but only if you're having a Denzelathon. Thanks for reading!
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
3 in 1 Movie Review: Romances
If you're like me on Valentine's Day... then you're all alone you sad sack of shit!!! Just kidding, I'm a fan of most holidays, despite commercialism and other negative things related to any particular holiday. This holiday is kind of special, you get to spend it with someone you absolutely love or you get to relax and enjoy being single. If you're one of the relaxing singles (I'd like your number please) or even a couple who likes to stay in on Valentine's Day (and not do dirty things I guess) then I say curl up on the couch and watch yourself a movie or two. Here's a list of my top 3 favorite love stories and a quick review on each. From 3 to 1, lets count down!
#3
The Artist.
This is a cute little film that may still may be out in theaters. It's a silent film about an actor who can't let go of the silent film era when it begins to move into the era of talking movies (or talkies as they were known.) I like this film as a love story because the romance aspect is a subplot to the rest of the film. The movie is about the film industry and one mans struggle to survive in the world. Heck, the romance aspect is so far down on the plot list that the main character ends up having a better relationship with his dog (not in the sick kind of way.) But the romantic aspect is such a lovely story, full of ups and downs, twists and turns, so much so that I recommend it if you decide to go out and see a movie tonight. Also, to make this a full movie review like I promised I would a few days ago, I give the movie and B, see it if you get the chance or at least buy or rent it on DVD. The directing and silent acting where also magnificant.
#2
11 Minutes Ago.
Fair warning to people who hate independent films, this is one of them. But it's not an indie film in the same sense that most of what Michael Cera makes are indie films. This one LOOKS like it was made by a bunch of college students, but that's where the comparison ends. The plot and structure to this film and how well executed it is make up for anything that may come off as amateur. It's essentially a love story about a time traveler who falls in love with a lady from a different time than his own (he's from the future.) But unlike movies like The Lake House or how I'm assuming The Time Traveler's Wife is done (I haven't actually seen it), 11 Minutes Ago marries romance and sci-fi together in such a way that you feel like neither one is lacking. What I'm saying is The Lake House was a romance with a time machine plot device, 11 Minutes Ago is a science fiction romance. I give it an A, it's on Netflix Instant, you should check it out if you can. The acting is eh but the directing is amazing!
#1
Wristcutters: A Love Story.
Last but certainly not least, my all time favorite love story. Now don't let the title fool you, this movie is a lot more light hearted and full of fun than you think. It's essentially about a guy who dies and goes to hell (I'll give you a guess as to how he dies. *Hint: Title of the movie.) In hell he finds a girl and the love story begins. This, just like the other two movies on my list blend romance with other fantastic story telling elements in an awesome way. I love this movie not only for that, but for the fantasty element it has as well as how it presents it's views on morality, life, and religion. Love this movie, I give it an A, it's on Netflix Instant as well. The acting is pretty good and so is the directing.
Well there you have it. If you're a couple, hope you enjoy watching these movies together. If you're single, try to concentrate on the other cool parts about these movies. Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it and of course, Happy Valentine's Day!
#3
The Artist.
This is a cute little film that may still may be out in theaters. It's a silent film about an actor who can't let go of the silent film era when it begins to move into the era of talking movies (or talkies as they were known.) I like this film as a love story because the romance aspect is a subplot to the rest of the film. The movie is about the film industry and one mans struggle to survive in the world. Heck, the romance aspect is so far down on the plot list that the main character ends up having a better relationship with his dog (not in the sick kind of way.) But the romantic aspect is such a lovely story, full of ups and downs, twists and turns, so much so that I recommend it if you decide to go out and see a movie tonight. Also, to make this a full movie review like I promised I would a few days ago, I give the movie and B, see it if you get the chance or at least buy or rent it on DVD. The directing and silent acting where also magnificant.
#2
11 Minutes Ago.
Fair warning to people who hate independent films, this is one of them. But it's not an indie film in the same sense that most of what Michael Cera makes are indie films. This one LOOKS like it was made by a bunch of college students, but that's where the comparison ends. The plot and structure to this film and how well executed it is make up for anything that may come off as amateur. It's essentially a love story about a time traveler who falls in love with a lady from a different time than his own (he's from the future.) But unlike movies like The Lake House or how I'm assuming The Time Traveler's Wife is done (I haven't actually seen it), 11 Minutes Ago marries romance and sci-fi together in such a way that you feel like neither one is lacking. What I'm saying is The Lake House was a romance with a time machine plot device, 11 Minutes Ago is a science fiction romance. I give it an A, it's on Netflix Instant, you should check it out if you can. The acting is eh but the directing is amazing!
#1
Wristcutters: A Love Story.
Last but certainly not least, my all time favorite love story. Now don't let the title fool you, this movie is a lot more light hearted and full of fun than you think. It's essentially about a guy who dies and goes to hell (I'll give you a guess as to how he dies. *Hint: Title of the movie.) In hell he finds a girl and the love story begins. This, just like the other two movies on my list blend romance with other fantastic story telling elements in an awesome way. I love this movie not only for that, but for the fantasty element it has as well as how it presents it's views on morality, life, and religion. Love this movie, I give it an A, it's on Netflix Instant as well. The acting is pretty good and so is the directing.
Well there you have it. If you're a couple, hope you enjoy watching these movies together. If you're single, try to concentrate on the other cool parts about these movies. Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it and of course, Happy Valentine's Day!
Thursday, February 9, 2012
4 in the Morning: Do you know where your mind is at?
So it's super early in the morning or late if you're like me and can't get a second of sleep. I could get sleep, which is the shitty part, but I wouldn't get much... so it doesn't seem worth it to try to fall asleep. I'm going to use this post to just talk for a second about my life, where it's at, where it's been, give you a clue as to why I believe I'm losing my mind. I'll just get started then.
I hate my job. That's number one on my list right now. I feel like I can say that here 'cause I highly doubt any of my coworkers or my boss read my blog. I've been told that my blogs are read by more people than I know, some just choose not to give me feedback (let's hope those people aren't my coworkers). Anyways, back on track, my job. I have to wake up at 8 tomorrow to be at work by 9:30 and I only have a half hour to set up the entire store before opening at 10, and I have to do all of this alone. Once I've opened I have to deal with what seems like the worst people in the world. Which can't be right, 'cause they're just average people and I can't believe that the average person sucks, I'm an average person and I don't want to suck. Anyways, lately all I've gotten at work is bullshit on top of bullshit, not just from the customer, but also the people I'm working for.
Last time I worked I opened alone as usual (I'm not supposed to tell people I work alone for safety reasons and such but I figure if they're not going to schedule someone to work with me then me getting beat up and robbed is on them anyways). So I opened and my boss came in for mid-shift and, as usual, all I got from her was shit. That's all I ever get, she's also technically not the boss boss (the boss boss is on leave) and all she does is tell me shit I can't do or tell me shit I'm doing wrong. So every day I work I have to look forward to bullshit from customers and bullshit from my boss it seems. Why the fuck would I want to wake up early for that? Or lose sleep over that?
I would give you my full opinion on working there, but technically I'm not allowed to and I could get fired for it... which kind of makes me want to tell you (isn't that fucked up?) In any case, I'm moving on to a different topic, my debt. My parents recently told me that the problems I have aren't as bad as they seem, so seeing as I'm apparently blind to the true natures of my problems I'm just going to tell you all the "real adult problems" I have and let you decide if I'm in a bad situation.
I'm in an extreme amount of debt and only half of that debt is actually my fault. I've got a $40 a month gym membership to a gym I don't go to that I have to pay or they'll take me to court (btw, the only other ways out of the contract is to move to a different state or die... so yeah). My credit card has been maxed out for the second time in my life and I haven't actually spent a dime of it on myself. You want to know who did? My parents, to pay for the massive amount of debt they're in. So now, ALL of their financial problems become mine. We almost got evicted a week ago because my parents couldn't afford rent. I only get paid about $200 every two weeks. I'm going to leave that there for you and move on to a really weird and moderately personal problem... my one regret in life.
Honest to goodness I only live with one regret in life, which is a very small amount for the average person I'd say. Even the shit I've been ashamed of I don't regret having done because at least I learned from those experiences. This regret came from a choice and I picked the choice that guided me towards a life of debt and depression (fact). What the other choice would have guided me too, I have no clue. Like most choices in life, this one involves a girl (to tiredly misquote the opening narration to Spider-Man in a way that only vaguely resembles the actual quote.)
The choice was to date a girl or not date a girl (she had freaken asked me out). I'll give you a guess as to which one I choose. Yup, you guessed correct, I choose not to go out with her 'cause I was a stupid idiot who was too shy a person to have a girlfriend (still am.) Anyways, she was really cute and I kind of liked her, I should have said yes... but if I had my life would have turned out completely different. Yup, one girl in freaken middle school gave me a life changing choice and I didn't even know it at the time. Now of course this wouldn't be such a life changing choice if it wasn't for a second choice I was given less than a year later. The choice to move to California.
Yup, the only reason you know me and are reading my blog right now is because of... well, me, and technically this girl. The second choice was given to me by my parents who let me decide if my dad should take a job offer in California or if he should just stay in Kansas. Now that's one of those clearly life changing decisions, but this one had a super easy answer: move to California.
I hated it in Kansas, I was bullied a lot and probably would have ended up as one of those school shooting kids if I had stayed... unless I had a really good reason to stay. A girl would have honestly been a good enough reason to stay in Kansas, especially this girl. In retrospect, out of all the girls I've ever dated or potentially had a chance to date, she probably would have been the best of them... then again, it was Middle School, I was 14, the only thing people have in common at that age are liking the pizza the school serves for lunch, so what did I know? But chances are, I would probably find her awesome today.
If I had been dating this girl at the time I would have choose to stay in Kansas. I never would have moved to California and my life would be completely different right now. That's a very difficult thing to get past: what my shitty life is right now vs how things could have been different. So anyways, that's all I really ahve to say this early in the morning (late at night?), if you read this please for the love of all that is holy let me know, even if you simply tell me you read it. Adios amigos!
I hate my job. That's number one on my list right now. I feel like I can say that here 'cause I highly doubt any of my coworkers or my boss read my blog. I've been told that my blogs are read by more people than I know, some just choose not to give me feedback (let's hope those people aren't my coworkers). Anyways, back on track, my job. I have to wake up at 8 tomorrow to be at work by 9:30 and I only have a half hour to set up the entire store before opening at 10, and I have to do all of this alone. Once I've opened I have to deal with what seems like the worst people in the world. Which can't be right, 'cause they're just average people and I can't believe that the average person sucks, I'm an average person and I don't want to suck. Anyways, lately all I've gotten at work is bullshit on top of bullshit, not just from the customer, but also the people I'm working for.
Last time I worked I opened alone as usual (I'm not supposed to tell people I work alone for safety reasons and such but I figure if they're not going to schedule someone to work with me then me getting beat up and robbed is on them anyways). So I opened and my boss came in for mid-shift and, as usual, all I got from her was shit. That's all I ever get, she's also technically not the boss boss (the boss boss is on leave) and all she does is tell me shit I can't do or tell me shit I'm doing wrong. So every day I work I have to look forward to bullshit from customers and bullshit from my boss it seems. Why the fuck would I want to wake up early for that? Or lose sleep over that?
I would give you my full opinion on working there, but technically I'm not allowed to and I could get fired for it... which kind of makes me want to tell you (isn't that fucked up?) In any case, I'm moving on to a different topic, my debt. My parents recently told me that the problems I have aren't as bad as they seem, so seeing as I'm apparently blind to the true natures of my problems I'm just going to tell you all the "real adult problems" I have and let you decide if I'm in a bad situation.
I'm in an extreme amount of debt and only half of that debt is actually my fault. I've got a $40 a month gym membership to a gym I don't go to that I have to pay or they'll take me to court (btw, the only other ways out of the contract is to move to a different state or die... so yeah). My credit card has been maxed out for the second time in my life and I haven't actually spent a dime of it on myself. You want to know who did? My parents, to pay for the massive amount of debt they're in. So now, ALL of their financial problems become mine. We almost got evicted a week ago because my parents couldn't afford rent. I only get paid about $200 every two weeks. I'm going to leave that there for you and move on to a really weird and moderately personal problem... my one regret in life.
Honest to goodness I only live with one regret in life, which is a very small amount for the average person I'd say. Even the shit I've been ashamed of I don't regret having done because at least I learned from those experiences. This regret came from a choice and I picked the choice that guided me towards a life of debt and depression (fact). What the other choice would have guided me too, I have no clue. Like most choices in life, this one involves a girl (to tiredly misquote the opening narration to Spider-Man in a way that only vaguely resembles the actual quote.)
The choice was to date a girl or not date a girl (she had freaken asked me out). I'll give you a guess as to which one I choose. Yup, you guessed correct, I choose not to go out with her 'cause I was a stupid idiot who was too shy a person to have a girlfriend (still am.) Anyways, she was really cute and I kind of liked her, I should have said yes... but if I had my life would have turned out completely different. Yup, one girl in freaken middle school gave me a life changing choice and I didn't even know it at the time. Now of course this wouldn't be such a life changing choice if it wasn't for a second choice I was given less than a year later. The choice to move to California.
Yup, the only reason you know me and are reading my blog right now is because of... well, me, and technically this girl. The second choice was given to me by my parents who let me decide if my dad should take a job offer in California or if he should just stay in Kansas. Now that's one of those clearly life changing decisions, but this one had a super easy answer: move to California.
I hated it in Kansas, I was bullied a lot and probably would have ended up as one of those school shooting kids if I had stayed... unless I had a really good reason to stay. A girl would have honestly been a good enough reason to stay in Kansas, especially this girl. In retrospect, out of all the girls I've ever dated or potentially had a chance to date, she probably would have been the best of them... then again, it was Middle School, I was 14, the only thing people have in common at that age are liking the pizza the school serves for lunch, so what did I know? But chances are, I would probably find her awesome today.
If I had been dating this girl at the time I would have choose to stay in Kansas. I never would have moved to California and my life would be completely different right now. That's a very difficult thing to get past: what my shitty life is right now vs how things could have been different. So anyways, that's all I really ahve to say this early in the morning (late at night?), if you read this please for the love of all that is holy let me know, even if you simply tell me you read it. Adios amigos!
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Movie Review: Chronicle
You know what was a good movie, Office Space. That movie was funny and smart. But this review is about Chronicle, so lets get crackin' my homies!
Chronicle is a film about 3 highschool seniors who get super powers and tear some shit up. Everyone who worked on the film was an essential "nobody" who's getting their start in cinema and let me tell you, they all did pretty amazing. In the directing category we have the "found footage"/POV style format which was introduced to the modern public with Cloverfield, popularised by Paranormal Activity, and is now kind of over used. However, despite all the typical stuff you see with POV directing, this movie did some pretty cool things with it that went above and beyond the norm. I would describe a few breathtaking scenes but that could spoil the movie for you. I'll move on to acting.
For a bunch of actors I don't recognize, they did a pretty good job. With the exception of HUD from Cloverfield, not that many of these "found footage" actors seem to go on to do anything else recognizable. Goodness I hope the actors in Chronicle do. On a side note, the actor who plays Andrew (the cameraman character and essential star of the film) reminds me of a young Leonardo DiCaprio, the friends I saw the movie with agreed.
There are so many awesome things I want to tell you about this film, like the many awesome scenes, interesting plot, and the nice superhero theme they eloquently sewed into the film. But I think it's best if you see this movie yourself, I give it an A+. See it, then see it again, and be sure to invite me with you both times. Thanks for reading!
Chronicle is a film about 3 highschool seniors who get super powers and tear some shit up. Everyone who worked on the film was an essential "nobody" who's getting their start in cinema and let me tell you, they all did pretty amazing. In the directing category we have the "found footage"/POV style format which was introduced to the modern public with Cloverfield, popularised by Paranormal Activity, and is now kind of over used. However, despite all the typical stuff you see with POV directing, this movie did some pretty cool things with it that went above and beyond the norm. I would describe a few breathtaking scenes but that could spoil the movie for you. I'll move on to acting.
For a bunch of actors I don't recognize, they did a pretty good job. With the exception of HUD from Cloverfield, not that many of these "found footage" actors seem to go on to do anything else recognizable. Goodness I hope the actors in Chronicle do. On a side note, the actor who plays Andrew (the cameraman character and essential star of the film) reminds me of a young Leonardo DiCaprio, the friends I saw the movie with agreed.
There are so many awesome things I want to tell you about this film, like the many awesome scenes, interesting plot, and the nice superhero theme they eloquently sewed into the film. But I think it's best if you see this movie yourself, I give it an A+. See it, then see it again, and be sure to invite me with you both times. Thanks for reading!
Friday, February 3, 2012
Superman Saves Too
I'm writing this because of Superman and I never thought this would be one of the hardest blogs I'd ever write. But not for the reasons you'd think. I've been having a rough day, hell, a rough month, maybe even year. As I go along, I hope to convey why I'm having a hard time writing this and why the blog is written because of Superman, but not because of Superman. Lets start with that confusing notion.
You may be thinking, Casey's writing a blog about Superman because he's a fan of Superman and just needs something to write about in his boredom. This is not the case. I'm writing specifically about Superman today because I just experienced a moment when I needed him the most. Yes, a moment when I needed a fictional superhero to help me get through something.
This is a hard blog to write because of that something, and that something was: giving up. Not giving up doing something, but giving up the person I am simply because I'm tired of being that person. This is where Superman comes in and why I like him.
Many people have compared me to Superman and for good reason, I aspire to be like him. I don't mean I want to fly and shoot lasers out of my eye (although that would be awesome), I mean I want to be like the type of person he is. Superman is a symbol of hope, he is a man who has achieved great things fictionally and hell, non-fictionally. Not only can his character stand the test of time but his comic does as well. This is why I like the big blue boyscout.
Every time I feel down, or angry, or just feel like reading a comic I always go for a Superman one. I do this because every time I open a Superman comic I see a world where the nerdy nice guy gets the girl. I see a world where one man can achieve great things. I see a world where, no matter how hard things get, that one nerdy nice man never gives up.
I was very close to giving up today. Not on life, but on how I wanted to live it. A lot of people don't think I can be an asshole, that I'm always going to be the nice guy. But you know what, in a way they're right, but not for the reasons they may think. The nice guy isn't the nice guy because he's simply born that way, he's the nice guy because goddamn it he chooses to be, through thick and thin he never gives up.
I was moments away from up and deciding to be an asshole, yes, just deciding to be mean to everyone (and yes, I know how, just ask the rare person I've been an asshole to), but at the last second something saved me: a symbol, a character, a hero. This something pulled me from my anger, from my sadness, and from my hate back into the light that I struggle to remain in. Today, I was saved by Superman.
You may be thinking, Casey's writing a blog about Superman because he's a fan of Superman and just needs something to write about in his boredom. This is not the case. I'm writing specifically about Superman today because I just experienced a moment when I needed him the most. Yes, a moment when I needed a fictional superhero to help me get through something.
This is a hard blog to write because of that something, and that something was: giving up. Not giving up doing something, but giving up the person I am simply because I'm tired of being that person. This is where Superman comes in and why I like him.
Many people have compared me to Superman and for good reason, I aspire to be like him. I don't mean I want to fly and shoot lasers out of my eye (although that would be awesome), I mean I want to be like the type of person he is. Superman is a symbol of hope, he is a man who has achieved great things fictionally and hell, non-fictionally. Not only can his character stand the test of time but his comic does as well. This is why I like the big blue boyscout.
Every time I feel down, or angry, or just feel like reading a comic I always go for a Superman one. I do this because every time I open a Superman comic I see a world where the nerdy nice guy gets the girl. I see a world where one man can achieve great things. I see a world where, no matter how hard things get, that one nerdy nice man never gives up.
I was very close to giving up today. Not on life, but on how I wanted to live it. A lot of people don't think I can be an asshole, that I'm always going to be the nice guy. But you know what, in a way they're right, but not for the reasons they may think. The nice guy isn't the nice guy because he's simply born that way, he's the nice guy because goddamn it he chooses to be, through thick and thin he never gives up.
I was moments away from up and deciding to be an asshole, yes, just deciding to be mean to everyone (and yes, I know how, just ask the rare person I've been an asshole to), but at the last second something saved me: a symbol, a character, a hero. This something pulled me from my anger, from my sadness, and from my hate back into the light that I struggle to remain in. Today, I was saved by Superman.
Friday, January 20, 2012
... and then you die.
What is the meaning of life? That's a tough one to answer. Go ahead and ask yourself that question and think about it for a moment. Now consider that whatever answer you came up with, will probably not be the same as what some of your friends, your co-workers, or even your family came up with. So what does that mean? How can you truly know what the right answer is? Absurdism says you can't.
We seem to live in a world in which we constantly search for answers to things and can't find any. Or instead, we find a bunch of answers and can't decide which one is right, which pretty much means we haven't found an answer. Absurdism, lets you choose your own answer, while simultaneously understanding that there technically isn't an answer, at least not one you can find. You essentially get 3 options with this:
1) Become religious: your answer is God, or Jesus, or Buddha, or Tom Cruise. They bring meaning to your life, they created it after all.
2) Kill yourself: end the life that you can't find meaning for. This one is essentially a cop-out, 'cause no matter how you look at life, you're here. Ending it would just be... I don't know, absurd.
3) Accept the bullshit, default to atheism, or find your own damn meaning: fight the power. Seems to be the best option, unless you're religious, then I refer you to number one.
For all intents and purposes, life seems to suck. That's the old saying, right? Life sucks and then you die. Go ahead and ask any "born-again Christian," I bet they'd say, "if it wasn't for Jesus, my life would suck right now." Ask any apathetic/lethargic person and they'd say, "life sucks, I'm going to go die." In general, people seem to think that life sucks. But to all of those people, all of them, that includes you Mr. and Mrs. God-fearing-Christian: Fuck you for telling me my life sucks!
Granted, you never said my life sucks specifically, but you sure implied it by saying your life sucks or that life sucks in general. Hate to quote High School Musical here, but we really are all in this together. You're life sucking without Jesus implies that my life sucks because I haven't found Jesus. You're life sucking because of all the bullshit in it implies that my life sucks because I'm going through similar bullshit. I don't think life should suck at any point, because really, what would be the point in that?
I sure as hell can't abide a world that sucks, so I choose to believe it doesn't suck by believing that life is indifferent to my problems, and boy do I have ton of them. But lets be honest here, you don't want to hear them. So what do I do to face my problems?
Whatever the hell I want, that's what. The way I look at most decisions in life is as follows: there's either a God (spirutual deity), or there isn't, either way, it doesn't really matter. Follow me on this one, if there is a God, my problems don't mean anything, 'cause eventually I'll be delivered from them. If there isn't a God, then nobody keeping track anwyays, so why worry about it?
On that note, I'll finish with one more thing. Life can be the coolest and most awesome thing in the world if you fight for it and choose to live the life you want to live... and then you die, beyond that, doesn't really matter, you're here now, make the best of it. Thanks for reading!
We seem to live in a world in which we constantly search for answers to things and can't find any. Or instead, we find a bunch of answers and can't decide which one is right, which pretty much means we haven't found an answer. Absurdism, lets you choose your own answer, while simultaneously understanding that there technically isn't an answer, at least not one you can find. You essentially get 3 options with this:
1) Become religious: your answer is God, or Jesus, or Buddha, or Tom Cruise. They bring meaning to your life, they created it after all.
2) Kill yourself: end the life that you can't find meaning for. This one is essentially a cop-out, 'cause no matter how you look at life, you're here. Ending it would just be... I don't know, absurd.
3) Accept the bullshit, default to atheism, or find your own damn meaning: fight the power. Seems to be the best option, unless you're religious, then I refer you to number one.
For all intents and purposes, life seems to suck. That's the old saying, right? Life sucks and then you die. Go ahead and ask any "born-again Christian," I bet they'd say, "if it wasn't for Jesus, my life would suck right now." Ask any apathetic/lethargic person and they'd say, "life sucks, I'm going to go die." In general, people seem to think that life sucks. But to all of those people, all of them, that includes you Mr. and Mrs. God-fearing-Christian: Fuck you for telling me my life sucks!
Granted, you never said my life sucks specifically, but you sure implied it by saying your life sucks or that life sucks in general. Hate to quote High School Musical here, but we really are all in this together. You're life sucking without Jesus implies that my life sucks because I haven't found Jesus. You're life sucking because of all the bullshit in it implies that my life sucks because I'm going through similar bullshit. I don't think life should suck at any point, because really, what would be the point in that?
I sure as hell can't abide a world that sucks, so I choose to believe it doesn't suck by believing that life is indifferent to my problems, and boy do I have ton of them. But lets be honest here, you don't want to hear them. So what do I do to face my problems?
Whatever the hell I want, that's what. The way I look at most decisions in life is as follows: there's either a God (spirutual deity), or there isn't, either way, it doesn't really matter. Follow me on this one, if there is a God, my problems don't mean anything, 'cause eventually I'll be delivered from them. If there isn't a God, then nobody keeping track anwyays, so why worry about it?
On that note, I'll finish with one more thing. Life can be the coolest and most awesome thing in the world if you fight for it and choose to live the life you want to live... and then you die, beyond that, doesn't really matter, you're here now, make the best of it. Thanks for reading!
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Movie Review: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Before I give my review of this movie I must preface this by saying three things: 1) I'm going to review the trailer before hand. (Promised someone I would.) 2) It was a loooooong movie. 3) This will probably be a loooooong post, so I hope you've got a ton of food stored somewhere.
TRAILER
Got to be one of the best trailers of the year, but then again, Sucker Punch had a good trailer and I heard that movie sucked. The trailer had a lot going for it, imagery, music, everything matched the beat, and all of it built up to the title of the film. The trailer is even more perfect because it serves as an analogy to all the hype built up about this movie. I'm sure you've heard of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (it won't make you a hipster if you have, unless you say you liked it before everyone else liked it.) It started as an award winning novel (later trilogy) and then was adapted to film by the Swedish thereby making TGWTDT (2011) a remake of a foreign film and a book-to-movie adaptation. All of this being said, I don't want to reveal my thoughts of the movie just yet, all you need to know is that it was an awesome trailer.
MOVIE
Alright, lets talk about the director, David Fincher. I've liked 4 out of the 5 movies by him. His first one, "Alien 3", sucked so hard I wonder how he even made it as a director. Then again, this is the guy who made Fight Club, Benjamin Button, and The Social Network all award winning wet dreams. So he's clearly a skilled director and it shows in TGWTDT. Every scene felt how it needed to feel and every image was captured almost perfectly. But then, I didn't really have a problem with Alien 3's directing, just the rest of it. So I'll move on from directing.
The acting was atrocious...ly amazing! As one of the people I saw the movie with said (and I'm paraphrasing): it's nice to see Daniel Craig as someone other than Bond. Rooney Mara, otherwise remembered as the chick Jessie Eisenberg bitched about in The Social Network, did all sorts of an amazing job, especially with her accent. I honestly thought they cast a foreign actress for the part, turns out Rooney's from New York, go figure. The rest of the cast is filled with a bunch of old famous people, so they obviously did good.
Now my final note of the film. So I hope I've kept you on the edge of your seat with what I thought about this film, just as the mystery of the film kept me on the edge of mine. But seeing as I've mostly given good notes, you can probably guess what I'm about to say.... I hated Alien 3... but I loved The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Absolutely loved it. It was about 3 hrs long and had a good handful of moment where it could have ended. But just like in the Lord of the Rings, it had to close off a few things it set up in the film. No problem here with doing that, it makes the movie a far more rich experience to watch. I give it an A+, see the movie. One last thing, if topics such as rape, murder, or religion leave you with a feeling of unease, you may want to stay away from the movie, unless you think you can handle it, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo really is the feel bad movie of Christmas.
TRAILER
Got to be one of the best trailers of the year, but then again, Sucker Punch had a good trailer and I heard that movie sucked. The trailer had a lot going for it, imagery, music, everything matched the beat, and all of it built up to the title of the film. The trailer is even more perfect because it serves as an analogy to all the hype built up about this movie. I'm sure you've heard of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (it won't make you a hipster if you have, unless you say you liked it before everyone else liked it.) It started as an award winning novel (later trilogy) and then was adapted to film by the Swedish thereby making TGWTDT (2011) a remake of a foreign film and a book-to-movie adaptation. All of this being said, I don't want to reveal my thoughts of the movie just yet, all you need to know is that it was an awesome trailer.
MOVIE
Alright, lets talk about the director, David Fincher. I've liked 4 out of the 5 movies by him. His first one, "Alien 3", sucked so hard I wonder how he even made it as a director. Then again, this is the guy who made Fight Club, Benjamin Button, and The Social Network all award winning wet dreams. So he's clearly a skilled director and it shows in TGWTDT. Every scene felt how it needed to feel and every image was captured almost perfectly. But then, I didn't really have a problem with Alien 3's directing, just the rest of it. So I'll move on from directing.
The acting was atrocious...ly amazing! As one of the people I saw the movie with said (and I'm paraphrasing): it's nice to see Daniel Craig as someone other than Bond. Rooney Mara, otherwise remembered as the chick Jessie Eisenberg bitched about in The Social Network, did all sorts of an amazing job, especially with her accent. I honestly thought they cast a foreign actress for the part, turns out Rooney's from New York, go figure. The rest of the cast is filled with a bunch of old famous people, so they obviously did good.
Now my final note of the film. So I hope I've kept you on the edge of your seat with what I thought about this film, just as the mystery of the film kept me on the edge of mine. But seeing as I've mostly given good notes, you can probably guess what I'm about to say.... I hated Alien 3... but I loved The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Absolutely loved it. It was about 3 hrs long and had a good handful of moment where it could have ended. But just like in the Lord of the Rings, it had to close off a few things it set up in the film. No problem here with doing that, it makes the movie a far more rich experience to watch. I give it an A+, see the movie. One last thing, if topics such as rape, murder, or religion leave you with a feeling of unease, you may want to stay away from the movie, unless you think you can handle it, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo really is the feel bad movie of Christmas.
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