So the time came to get him neutered and that went down yesterday. Should have been done awhile ago, but I digress. He is now hiding underneith my bed. He’s in pain and wants to lick the incision and he really shouldn’t. Hopefully he won’t do any damage over night, he’s gotta get a cone tomorrow. Why the hell didn’t he get any medicine from the doc to help with pain and itching?
Feel bad for him, you can just look at him and see how bummed he is.
Adventureland is your typical “The Summer That Changed My Life” movie. While it is a cookie cutter genre picture, I still liked it. Held down by Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart, Adventureland is the name of the amusement park that the kids work in.
It’s the late 80’s and James is just out of college when his European trip is cancelled due to his father losing his job and being relocated. Off to Pittsburgh, James gets a job at the amusement park to save up and move to NYC for graduate school when his friend gets back from Europe at the end of the summer.
Cue love triangle with the troubled girl and the douchebag guy, partying, fights and other such youthful trials and tribulations. The cast is great, the acting solid and the direction safe. The biggest knock against the movie is that it’s nothing special, but it isn’t a bad movie. It’s a solid story of growing up that’s entertaining enough to keep you for it’s hour and a half or so run time. It’s got some good laughs here and there making it a great movie for a rainy day.
Jason Statham returns for the second Crank film! While the first movie was goofy and dare I say original, this is a pointless movie. Much better off as a one, goofy, braindead movie, the creators of this borefest try to squeeze more excitement than God could even dream of.
Chev lives through the first movie and has his heart stolen and replaced by a battery operated one. He then runs around for the rest of the movie trying to get it back. I was willing to go for the ride in the first movie, but this is just more of the same, but none of it works. Amateur at best, from every angle Crank 2 is more annoying to watch than anything. Frantic shots and editing try to make everything exciting when there really isn’t a single good action set piece. What action there is is just ruined by the direction and editing. Every single character is irritating and more cartoon character than person. You don’t care what peoples names are, let alone if they live or die. More effort than it’s worth to watch, avoid at all costs.
My computer rebooted because of a power surge and it came back fine. The Net connection kept on trucking right from the start. Weird. I only reboot the computer for software updates so it’s always a surprise what happens when I do.
Is now in my posession. Took some debating, but I pulled the trigger. $113 after rebates so that’s pretty cheap for a computer that fits in my pocket.
Getting used to a lot of things, it’s a big jump from the LG Voyager.
Still there. Last reboot had me turning the NIC off and on.
Stephen Soderberghs’ latest directorial, made controversial by casting adult film star Sasha Grey as the lead. Sasha plays Chelsea, a high end escort in NYC working during late 2008, when the economic crisis had everyone in a tizzy. Being that sort of working girl in Manhatten, Chelsea has a lot of financial clients.
A ‘GFE’ offers more of a full services than a hooker, these ladies act more like companions (hence the gf label). More than just a hook up that knows when to hit the bricks, she’s a true actress. And who knew, but Sasha can act! She more or less listens to her clients and nods a lot, but there are a few times (when she’s smiling actually) that she really comes across as a great actress. It’s a strange thing to see really. Considering Sasha’s day job, she does act. And her Chelsea character is in a similar position. She pretends to care, to listen, to be a real friend that shows up for love and not because the John made an appointment and she’s going to be paid four figures after an hour or two.
The movie is done out of order, it follows three timelines. Chelsea being interviewed by a journalist, Chelsea at work, and Chelsea’s personal life. The presentation makes things flow a little rough to follow, you shoot from each time line and have to kinda place what Chelsea did and when. But the core of it is seeing this girl juggle this bizarre life. She can front to her clients with no problem, most of them just want someone to talk to. Sex is just a bonus, hell some of them don’t even consummate the “relationship”. Her personal life is obviously a much harder job for her to get “right”. She’s got a boyfriend and she makes some stupid choices that show her she really doesn’t have it figured out. She may have a recession proof job, but her personal life is anything but secure.
The movie was done for cheap and it’s a short movie. There’s nothing really there to linger on, you follow Chelsea for a few days and then it just kinda ends with her trucking on. The life of a high class escort is really a mystery for everyone and the intricacies of her job really isn’t explored here. That could have made the movie more interesting, but I guess her job really isn’t the focal point, just the ends to a means. I’m sure there are some documentaries out there that delves into that better than this movie ever could.
Interesting flick, it didn’t really blow my mind (tee hee!) but I think it’s worth a watch.
Watchmen is the adaptation of the milestone graphic novel (comic book!) of the same name in 1985. The story is in an alternate reality in 1985 (Nixon is President to give you an idea) where superheros exist. One of them, The Comedian is murdered and sets superhero/vigilante Rorschach into a deep investigation that leads to a Earth changing event.
There’s a long history between the superheros and it’s all laid out for you in the two and a half hour run time. Keep in mind that they left a lot of from the book with that! Zack Snyder and co. had a daunting task in front of them, a shit load of people tried to get this done as a movie or TV mini series for years. I think they pretty much pulled it off.
The look is perfect, the tone almost so. It’s a very faithful adaptation, almost to a fault. That said, I have no idea what I would change. There are some questionable music choices, but the casting is great, costumes too. Acting is solid all around and while Snyder continues to remind everyone that he loves slow motion, the directing is great too. A lot of shot for comic book frames and all that. The ending was changed as well and while I’ve seen some people bitch about it, I can see why they did it and really don’t have a problem with it.
It’s a very heady movie, just because it’s from a comic book you can’t go in thinking X-Men or Hulk. Yeah, it’s got action but nothing that really matches the typical Hollywood Summer Blockbuster.
Solid movie, I really don’t have anything bad to say about it.
This is a good 2 weeks late, but Where the Wild Things Are is one of the best movies I’ve seen in awhile.
Based on Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s story, director Spike Jonez has taken the core of the short story and expanded it into a fantastic, mature film. The book may be for children, but the movie certainly isn’t. I can’t see anyone under the age of 8 being able to understand, let alone appreciate the story and complex thoughts going on here.
I’m trying not to make this sound like a shitty ultra snooty art house film. It really isn’t, it’s just easy to go in expecting cartoon animals falling over each other and come out of it pissed when it’s actually a mature take on growing up and coming to grips with it.
It’s pretty simple, Max is a rambunxious 9 year old with an active imagination. His father is out of the picture (death? divorce?), his teenage sister has seemingly turned her back on him (she’s too cool for childish things) and his mother is trying to move on with her life with 2 kids in tow. After an argument with his mother, Max freaks out and runs away into the night. The journey with the Wild Things begins.
The Wild Things are Max. Each one is a complex emotion that Max struggles to understand and control. They all want to be loved, but don’t know how. Doing things you think are right, could push them away. Sacrificing your happiness is a rough road to take. Lashing out is easy to do. Fear makes you irrational and hard to understand. Max’s time with The Wild Things is pretty much a therapy session.
I really the whole message and the way it’s handled because it doesn’t pander to children. It doesn’t fall back on thinking that children as stupid, simple and need everything painted out in bright colors to get a simple point across. Instead of looking down to children, we get the daring take that children are just…young adults. We all go through these emotions and generally shittyness of life. The age of a person doesn’t change the emotions. It’s this daunting task that everyone goes through and has to handle in life. It’s a learning experience that changes from person to person. It’s confusing, fun, scary, uncertain, confusing.
The presentation is just fantastic. The movie is goergous. Fantastic directing, razor sharp editing, fantastic soundtrack, beautiful cinematography and top notch special effects. The Wild Things were made by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, so Max (that’s the actors real name too) had real beings to work with. Augmented with CG to animate their faces and a fantastic group of actors for voice work, there was never a time when I thought the Wild Things were not real. Max is really an amazing actor, he’s in 98% of the movie so he carries it all. This movie is impressive from end to end.
The best movies stay with you and I thought about this one for days after I saw it. It makes you think about your life and how you saw things as a kid and now see as an adult. I can see a lot of people hating this movie, not getting what it’s about. But those people are stupid, so ignore them and see it to take a trip you never knew you had to take.