12 posts tagged “movies”
Whatever, the reason was that people weren't showing up in droves to see this movie, they were really, really missing out. It's been a few years since I listened to the amazing audiobook production of the series (His Dark Materials), but I was not disappointed by this adaptation. The acting was phenomenal and the special effects were beyond impressive -- I'm still not sure how they pulled off all those deamons as well as they did. The movie suffered a little for an incredibly rushed storyline (but at least it didn't bog down) and some of the music was simply atrocious in a movie of this caliber.
I'm eager to see how the second and third books are rendered into films and I can't wait to see how they'll deal with some of the more challenging issues that crop up further into the series. I'm also looking forward to rereading (or perhaps re-listening to) the books, to see how they really measure up with their movie counterparts.
Speaking of the movies, have you all seen The Spiderwick Chronicles trailer? I haven't read the books for that series yet, but it looks like fun. Plus, a gryphon! (What more do I need in a movie? I mean, I suffered through Narnia for just a few gryphon cameos, proving that I will watch just about anything for some sweet, sweet gryphon action.)
Had a great day off from from work yesterday, lighting up Independence Day with Anthony, Matt, Anica and some pandas. (I'm still pretty clueless why they refer to themselves as pandas, since Anthony or Matt haven't enlightened me yet. Unless it's one of those secret society things?)
We kicked the good times off with Anthony and Matt inviting L and I to see Transformers with them. (I was originally planning on holding off and seeing it with my brother when he got back from Wisconsin, but I figured I might as well as go while the going was good.) I wasn't expecting a whole lot from a movie based on a two-decade-old toy franchise, but it was surprisingly well-done. (Quite a bit better than TMNT, for sure.) Even with all the blatant product placement (I choose you, Mountain Dew bot!) and frickin' awesome special effects, that managed to squeeze in a workable plot.
Following the movie, we nabbed dinner out and then adjourned back to our place for various geeky activities. Anthony and I tested out the limitations of Pokemon Battle Revolution on the Wii (and I must admit that it is far better for multiplayer than it's weak single player mode). L also showed off TEH OVERLORD. We wrapped the whole holiday off by watching and roasting the late Dungeons and Dragons animated series. (We all pretty much agreed that Uni is the most annoying cartoon character ever.)
On a different note, my birthday's coming into view next week and I'll tell you all what I'd like to see for it: more blogging from my neighbors. What's up with the lame ghost town that Vox has become? Are you all too busy having fun without me to stop and blog about it once in awhile? I feel awfully self-conscious shouting into the tubes of the Internets all by my lonesome. So please start sharing those fun summer stories and anecdotes that I know you've all been holding back on!
Without much time to spare before the release of the seventh book, I finally finished Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince a couple of weeks ago. That means I'm all set for the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on July 20th.
It's a good thing too, because we're hosting a Harry Potter midnight release party at my workplace and there's just one tiny, nagging little issue: no one else in the Children's Department has friggin' read through the series! (What's your excuse, Pants?) At least I'll be on hand to (try) and handle any book-related questions or speculations at our library Potter party.
Not only that, but it turns out I'll be trying my hand at imitating everyone's favorite (former) Potions Professor at the party by putting my chemistry education to use. Now I've merely got to bone up on my knowledge of flashy experiments that use common household chemicals, get some black hair dye, and perfect my long slow blink.
This creates a bit of a dilemma for me, however, since L and I were planning on dressing up as Hermione and Ron for the premiere of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. (Which apparently opens on my birthday?) Thus, if I still follow through with that, I'll have to dye my hair red one week and black the next. I guess I'm making up for never doing that as a teenager?
Anyone else planning on dressing up (or doing something wizardly and awesome) for either the new Harry Potter movie or book? (I just know that we're going to have to do another showing of Wizard People, Dear Reader for Anna and Erin's benefit.)
The month of May saw the arrival of the third installments for three different movie franchises: Pirates of the Caribbean, Shrek, and Spider-Man. Having seen all three with L (with Matt, Erin and Julie along for some of them) and admitting that my opinion is merely my own, here's my personal rating (without major spoilers) on how these threequel behemoths match up against each other.
- TWO THUMBS DOWN: Spider-Man 3
- Suffers From: Way too much crammed into one movie (particularly villains); let-down of Venom being merely an emo symbiont; Mary Jane even more of a whiny victim than before (or I was more oblivious to it before).
- Favorite Aspect: Harry Osborne was phenomenal, given the shitty role he was given of having to switch between hating and loving Spider-Man multiple times.
- ONE THUMB UP: Shrek the Third
- Suffers From: A less dramatic and less developed plot than than the second movie. Why reuse Prince Charming when a new villain could have been even better?
- Succeeds With: The best jokes out of all three movies, provoking the most consistent laughs.
- Favorite Aspect: The D&D playing geeks at the Worcestershire School. (Also, the Donkey / Puss-in-Boots swap.)
- TWO THUMBS UP: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
- Succeeds With: Eliminates the pacing problems and irrelevant bits of the second movie; ratchets up the drama and tension like a true trilogy finisher should; special effects done spectacularly.
- Favorite Aspect: Lord Cutler Beckett's death scene was awesomely beautiful treatment for a villain I loved to hate. (Also, the "Parlay" music track, which I've been listening to repeatedly.)
I'm curious what everyone else's opinions of these movies were! Was my order of ranking them vastly different than yours? Am I off my rocker? Tell me so in the comments!
Why do the frickin'-awesome-looking movies always have a limited release? First it was Kinsey, then it was Confederate States of America, and now it's the upcoming Civic Duty. The fact that one of my favorite actors from Six Feet Under (Peter Kraus) is starring in it adds further insult to injury.
Damn you, Boise, and your lack of limited release films that I really want to see! I'll probably have to wait for The Flicks to pick it up sometime around 2008. So it's up to all of you that don't live in Boise (I'm looking at you, Jay and Emily) to go see this and blog about it in order that I might live vicariously until then.
(Thanks to my rockin' brother Drew for cluing me into this movie and thereby frustrating me with my inability to see it anytime soon.)
The troops were gathered last night (the Pants, Ernie, Anthony, L and myself) to march on the local $2 theater to see an abysmal movie adapted from an even more abysmal book, or in short, Eragon.
Not that we have anything against dragons or dragon movies. (Quite the contrary, actually. Just ask the Pants for her opinion of Reign of Fire, if you don't believe me.) No, what we took issue with was a teenage boy becoming a bestselling sensation by blatantly cribbing The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars and then turning that trash into multi-million dollar movie. I can only fathom that the books and movie have done as well as they have because they are purely the product of a pubescent boy's wet dream of having power and respect without having to earn it. Either that, or a Faustian bargain with El Diablo himself.
The movie was predictably bad and not even a particularly memorable mashup of LotR and SW. Saphira (a terribly original name for a blue dragon, I must admit) was very striking on screen (and darn cute as a baby), but it was sad to see her play the part of a whiny teenage boy's bitch. (Speaking of adolescence, what was up with her rapid growth spurt? I guess there was no time in the film to spend making us actually want to care for these characters.) I also enjoyed Emo Kid, as he was the one interesting human character, which must've been the reason they decided not to do much with his character?
I am hoping beyond hope that a movie adaptation of Temeraire will redeem the dragon film genre, as I love those series of novels. If there is any justice left in the world, Peter Jackson will do for that series what he did for Lord of the Rings. In the meantime, there's not much to do but continue pissing on the sad, sad pile of Eragon until it fades into obscurity (where it should have remained in the first place).
(Please note, the title of this post is not intended to be offensive to those of a homosexual orientation. It merely is intended to capture the homo-erotic undercurrents that seemed to suffuse the entire film.)
L and I agreed that it was better than Underworld (and let's not even touch the travesty that was Evolutions). Recommended for those looking for an action-romance with a dash of werewolves and a great setting.
What movies have everyone else seen lately? Any yays or nays? (I heard the Pants was raving about Flushed Away and I know Anthony was planning on seeing Epic Movie.)
On the first day of Giftmas, my true dOrange group gave to me:
- Poker and Popcorn Tin (courtesy of Ernie in our second annual white elephant gift exchange).
- Okami video game and an accompanying Play-friggin'-station 2 from the ever-awesome Anthony. Way to rock L's and my world, my friend.
- Your Whole Family Is Made Out Of Meat: The Best of Dinosaur Comics book. Claws-down, the most sexy, exciting gift I got a week early. ("I guess there is a lesson here for us all.")
- Trace Memory video game for the DS.
- Veronica Mars soundtrack.
- "Guns don't kill people. Magic Missiles kill people." t-shirt. My newest, coolest and geekiest apparel.
- I (Heart) Huckabees DVD. ("How am I not myself?")
- Green fleece jacket, which I look super great in.
- Official ACI purple fleece jacket (courtesy of Drew in our family white elephant gift exchange). Go Yotes!
- Tsuro board game (courtesy of my Dad and Femie in our family white elephant gift exchange). This was actually L's pick, but since we're married, we get to share!
- Cold, hard cash from my Dad and Femie. (They know just what to get newlyweds!) My parents are pretty darn awesome and I love them.
- Warm, black pajama pants. My legs shall be frozen no longer!
- Old Navy and EB Games gift cards (from L's mom); Fred Meyer gift card (from Andy); and Record Exchange gift card (from L's Drew). I smell a shopping trip coming on.
- Picnic basket.
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Cryptonomicon book. Looks like a very meaty, man-sized read!
- Mickey and Minnie cheesy Christmas ornament for the newly married couple.
All in all, it was really rockin' Giftmas this year, not merely because of the super fine gifts, but mostly because of the fabulous times with friends and family. What an awesome end to an awesome year! Here's to hoping that 2007 will be even more crazy delicious!
What movie would you really recommend renting or seeing this weekend?
AGENT FLYNN: "That's it! I've had it with these motherfuckin' snakes on this motherfuckin' plane!"
Lamassu and I just got back from seeing the iconic Snakes on a Plane. We thought seeing a movie after dinner sounded like a nice thing to do. After reviewing the titles playing at our local first-run movie theater, the only movie out of the whole lineup that sounded even remotely entertaining involved (you guessed it) snakes and a plane.
Given that our expectations weren't that high to begin with, we both enjoyed this silly, cheesy movie. It succeeds because it doesn't try to take itself too seriously. It's a little bit gross in some parts, but it's funny as all heck if you can put up with that. Go see it while it's still in theaters!
Even if you don't see the movie, check out an awesome video mashup of TWO Internet phenomena: All Your Snakes Are Belong To Us. Geeks rejoice!
Also, check out the Cobra Starship's catchy Snakes on a Plane (Bring It). (It's going to be joining The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny on my fun RPG combat music playlist.)
BARRIS: "This is a world getting progressively worse.
Can we not agree on that?"
--A Scanner Darkly, Philip K. Dick
