Category Archives: Movies

2007

Games, Life, Movies

It looks good doesn’t it? 2006 was getting old and I think everyone needed the change. Plus, 7 is a really cool number. Time to get used to writing that new number on stuff. Usually only takes me a day or so.

I’m thinking 2007 is a year of change. A year of growth for me I think, at least that’s my goal. With this Ramapo College project I have coming up (details coming on the 19th) for their athletic department, I think it’s safe to say a change is in fact coming.

I got a new digital camera for Christmas, so I will use that one to take pics of the old one to put up on ebay. I’ve been fighting the urge to get the HD DVD player for the 360. I don’t need it, but with all the movies I’ve been watching from netflix, I want it. That and a Zune. Should offer expanded 360 functionality so that would be a perk for me. I find ipods to be terrificly overrated and priced as much. No matter which one I end up getting, I’m waiting for a coupon from Best Buy to get it. I have gift cards and certificates for BB so I’ll be able to get the HD DVD or Zune for crazy cheap with an added 10-12% off.

The release list for 360 is stacked for the first 6 months. So much so that some games will probably be pushed back just because so many AAA titles could hit very close to each other (Crackdown, Assassins Creed, Mass Effect, BioShock, Alan Wake, Forza 2, Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey). But really, the 360 is where it’s at for gaming, everyone should get one and partake in the enjoyment.

Opie and Anthony are back live tomorrow, it’s been more than a week since they went on vacation, it’ll be good to hear them back and rested.

Casino Royale

Movies

In summary: the best James Bond film in a good decade. Daniel Craig has proven the haters wrong and made himself into a fantastic Bond. Easily up their with Brosnan and given some more films I’m sure he’ll give Connery a run for his money.

Royale is a restart for this 20 film running franchise. Using the first book of the same name as the premise, the writers updated some things (brought it into modern times, changed the game of baccurate to poker and such) but have kept to the book pretty closely. It’s a much more character driven film and we get to see Bond become a 007 and go through his first mission. He’s raw, violent, makes mistakes, lives, learns, loves and gets his ass kicked. This Bond is a much more real character and they’ve taken out all the weight that was ruining these movies. The gadgets (there really aren’t any in this one come to think of it) are brought back down to reality, the stunt and special effects work is 99% practical and it works to fantastic effect. Chases and fights look and feel real, there is serious impact with every brutal hit. All the action scenes are great.

The only complaint is that the pacing is off and the movie runs a good 10 minutes too long. Some nips and tucks could have been done, replaced with some exposition here and there (near the end there are bad guys that pop out of no where and you don’t know who the hell they are and why they’re there). But that’s really my only complaint. The writing is fantastic, nothing hokey or lame, the cast did a phenomenal job and even the main villain is great. He’s not a cliched megalomaniac, he’s more real, more dangerous in his power when he needs to be. One of the best films of the year.

Full Metal Alchemist

Movies, TV

I recently finished watching the Full Metal Alchemist series (2 seasons, 51 episodes spread out on 13 DVDs) and I think it has unseated Cowboy Bebop as my favorite anime series. It’s an incredibly powerful show with some of the best characters ever made, great animation, amazing music and a plot that delivers on every level. It’s funny, it’s exciting, it’s really fucking sad. The series ended in Japan at the end of 2004 and we just got the DVDs last week. Cartoon Network finished showing the series in the US a few weeks ago, but it was a long wait regardless (I waited for the dvd’s because anime on dvd is infinitly better than watching it on tv). We just got the movie as well and I’m waiting for that from Netflix. I can’t wait because the show had one of the best endings I’ve ever seen in my life.

Brick

Movies

I watched Brick a few nights ago and it’s easily one of the Top 10 movies of the year I’ve seen. It’s a modern day film noir. Meaning it’s a detective story with really wild dialog. Think Max Payne and Sin City as recent homages to the genre.

The star of the film is Joseph Gordon-Lewitt who is best know as the kid on the TV show 3rd Rock From the Sun. He plays Branden, senior (I think) in high school who finds his ex girlfriend dead and tries to find out why and who killed her. That’s the basic premise of it. The tale quickly careens you into fantastic characters and situations with Branden leading the charge. He’s a complete bad ass as he digs for the truth, holding back to get more info when he needs it and beating ass when duty calls. It’s wonderfully shot, the cast is awesome (Levitt is my new favorite actor now), the editing is tight as can be and the dialog drips cool. I’m rambling like a fantatical movie critic, but I really love this movie.

BUT- if your the type of person who can’t follow a plot and has to ask people “what did he say? What’s going on?” this might not be the movie for you. The style of dialog takes some getting used to, they speak fast and use a certain type of vocabulary that is thick with code words. You can easily watch this movie a few times and still pull out stuff you never noticed before. Also, if you don’t buy into the premise, that these high school kids are operating in the type of world they are in (a young drug cartel), you won’t like it. If that sense of disbelief is there, it won’t have the same effect.

Buy it, rent it, do whatever you have to to see Brick.

Random stuff

Misc., Movies

Some random updates. Script is on page 10. Looks like my goal of 20 pages is going to be easily achieved, some work is going to be needed to the beginning to get it the way I want. Length wise I’m fine but I want to make the setup as good as possible.

I’ve seen a bunch of movies in the past few weeks. Pirates 2 wasn’t as good as the first, but was still a fun movie. Part 3 looks like it’s going to be great as well. Depp kicks ass.

Broken Flowers starring Bill Murray sucked something fierce. Horrendous pacing, a shit ending that made me completely regret watching the movie. I actually fast fowarded though parts it was so boring. And I didn’t have to worry about fast fowarding through anything important because those parts were just traveling scenes. Bill Murray visits 4 ex girlfriends, and he’s shown him traveling to each of them. It had to have been at least 15 minutes worth of “watch Bill get on an airplane and then drive down the road”. You even get to see him get lost, ask for directions, turn around and then drive for another 5 minutes. UGH. There were two good parts that totalled 2 1/2 minutes of screen time. The first was a drug discussion between Murray, his neighbor and the neighbors 6 year old daughter. The second scene was this gorgeous girl (she plays Sharon Stones teenage daughter) who got naked. Totally didn’t see it coming and it was awesome. Almost enough to recommend watching this pile. Worse than Lost in Translation.

Clerks II turned out much better than expected. Got to see some favorite characters from my past, got introduced to some great new ones and shared more than a few laughs with 100 other people in the theatre. Dirty talk like you’d expect from a Kevin Smith movie (along with some safe direction) and writing that only he can do. It won’t convert any Kevin Smith haters, but it was a great flick that told a great story. Thank god it didn’t suck.

Alone

Life, Movies

My script is officially under way. The title right now is “Alone” and so far I’ve finished the first act. I use “finish” as a loose term. I’m shooting for 20 pages, a horror story that is quick and easy, and with as few horrow cliches as possible. I’m definatly going to redo things after I finish (I actually have some place holder dialog because I wasn’t sure what to put, but just wanted to keep moving) as I want to make this as tight and good as possible. It feels good to get it out of my head and out on the page.

I came up with an idea dealing with Lucid Dreaming, but it looks like a movie that is coming out in the next month or so has done what I wanted to do. Not exactly what I have in mind, but it’s close enough to be annoying.

Side note: will the asses responsible for leaving spam comments please stop, it’s really annoying.

Movies!

Movies

Have seen a few movies lately.

Starting with Grandmas Boy which was hilarious. Then Hoodwinked which was a really wild mix of Red Riding Hood and The Usual Suspects. Not up to Pixar animation quality, but the facial animation is top notch and there’s some great characters in it. Great for kids and grown ups alike.

Jackie Chan’s New Police Story was a dissappointing. It’s one of his best series and while the action scenes were terrific, there weren’t enough of them. It’s a simple movie (like most Chan films) that I’d put somewhere in the middle of his catalog. Not bad, I think I was just expecting more.

Last is the Ice Harvest starring John Cusack and Billy Bob Thorton. It’s a story set in the god forsaken winter landscape of Kansas where Cusack and Thorton steal 2 million from a mob boss in order to leave the hole they call home far behind them. It had a few funny parts but the movie left me cold for some reason. It’s a morbid tale really, I thought I”d like it a lot more than I did. At an hour and a half it was the perfect length though. Worth a rental on a rainy day.

Still haven’t seen X3, I hope to rectify that this week.

Sorry that I’ve been ignoring you

Everything, Movies

It’s been a combination of being busy with the mundane and not having anything really interesting to write about.

Looks like summer (read: not cold) weather has hit NJ. It’s a welcome change. With the change of weather I’m looking to make myself more creative. The plan is to make a movie with John, it’s been far too long since our last project and we need to get something going. I’m sick of being stagnant. Hopefully Xmen 3 will stir my creative juices. I just wish Brett Ratner didn’t direct it. I hate him.

My main goal is to write more, so this month should see many more updates.

Also: see Grandma’s Boy. It’s outragous.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Movies

I could ramble on for a few hundred words, but who wants to read that. Here is my mini review:

Great movie. You just have to accept that the book had to basically be cut in half to fit into movie form. The pacing of this one is really fast, it hits all the major points and is quality film making in every regard from start to finish.

I’m bummed that some things were cut or shortened considerably (the final contest should have been longer, a whole lot was cut from the second as well) but it just had to be done. What did make it is exceptional, and in fact the climax scene was handled amazingly well. Ralph Feins hits Voldemort (and his look is fucking rightous) dead on perfect. A truly intimitating and scary villian.

My biggest question is how the fuck are they going to do book 5? I consider it the worst book (long for no reason, Harry becomes a serious tool), but I haven’t read it since the first time when it came out. There is going to be some serious slash and burn going on for the next movie.

After watching Goblet I can’t shake the feeling of how different the movies are from the books now. I think the best way to describe it is that the movies are simplified and streamlined versions of the Potter story. There have been huge plot cuts (Harrys’ parents time at Hogwarts, the relationship between Padfoot, Prongs, Wormtail and such, Rita Skeeters involvement, Dobbys role in the story and on and on). If anything, I guess the movies just make the books even stronger. I’m very thankful though that the quality of the movies has done nothing but improved.

I’d also like to make take a moment to piss of a few hundred thousand nerds. The Harry Potter universe shits all over that Star Wars trash*. This is how you make a fantasy story that isn’t festering with retarded and corny dialog, boring as hell characters, and big ass plot holes.

*My hate is mainly aimed at episodes 1-3. I have sworn to myself that I well never watch Episode 1 ever again.

Busy, busy!

Games, Movies, TV

We got some new furniture from my Aunt and Uncle who are moving to Florida in a month. I got a new bed for my room which resulted in 2 days of moving shit around. So now my room looks completely different now. Still have to hang some things up and I want to rotate the paintings that are in my room out. Got a CD tower so I can get some more room on my desk and make shit look better. We also got a new couch for the basement. It’s pretty sweet.

I am now all caught up on Lost and tonight is a new episode which I am greatly looking forward to. Last nights Nip/Tuck was another phenominal episode. No sex or violence but the other staples of the show, terrific character development and acting made it a winner.

Picked up Batman Begins and Unleashed on DVD, which I will watch after I finish disc 5 of Full Metal Alchamist. It’s weird, in the past month or so I’ve watch more anime than I have since high school. Speaking of which, everyone should see Samurai Shamploo. Now in my top 5 animes of all time (out of like 10 since 90% of anime is garbage).

Gamewise SSX 4 is out and the more I play it, the more I like it. Don’t think it’s as good as SSX3 which basically made SSX2 obsolete. Stubbs the Zombie comes out this week and I hear it’s riot, I’ll have to check it out.

Lords of Dogtown and Lost

Movies, TV

I love just about any skater/snowboarding/surfer movie I see, and Lords of Dogtown is no exception. Love might be a strong word, but I liked it a lot. It’s about the kids that basically started the skating industry as we know it today. Back in the mid 70’s the polyurathane wheel was invented (“it comes from oil!”) and these kids (The Z Boys) started doing tricks that no one had seen before, they’re also the ones that started pool skating. California was in a gnarly drought and one of ’em took his board into an empty in ground pool and the rest is history. It helps to have seen the documentary Dogtown and Z Boys as the movie just kinda plops you down on the surf and just takes off. It’s just a fun movie with some good direction, neat sound track and a pretty damn good cast. It’s got it all….sex, drugs and skating. One of the Z boys actually wrote the screenplay so it’s very accurate, although alot was cut out. Check it out.

And now I’m getting into Lost. Just finished the first disc from Netflix and I’ll probably end up whipping through the season as fast as I can to catch up. There’s so much crazy shit that it’s hard not to get sucked in. It’ll must likely take my #2 spot of favorite TV show ever behind Nip/Tuck.

Nip/Tuck- S3E2

Movies, TV

What a fucked up episode. I consider this one more of a transitional episode as this episode was more about Matt. Yeah, he’s all fucked up in the head, and he looks even more like Michael Jackson with that long hair. But at least he shaved it off. But now he knows the truth about Ava (nice guest spot for Famke) and he may, in fact, be a real fan of trannys now. But make no mistake! He’s not gay. I was suprised they let “pussy” through unedited and holy cow at Julia’s mother smoking with Matt (on screen). And then again with Julia!

I thought it was an average episode overall, but next week looks to be awesome with the continuation on Christians blooming 3 way relationship.

I also got to watch Robots which was a fun movie. Made by the studio that did Ice Age, Robots is a simple movie about the robot Rodney Cooperbottom leaving home to make a difference in the world as an inventor. He heads to Robot City to meet his idol and try and work with him. But, evil is afoot and Rodney and his new friends the Rusty’s team up to save the day. An excellent voice cast (the dude that played Kenny in Half Baked plays Lug!) and some really terrific animation. The look of the movie really stands out with some terrific and consistant art design. A ton of work was put into the character and world creation and it really shows. Good way to waste an hour twenty.

Next up: Lords of Dogtown.