Sunday, February 25, 2007
Saturday, February 24, 2007
the top ten movies of 2006
the spring challenge was today but i'm just too exhausted to care. it went good though. didn't make it to the finals, but we got close. but it's over and you gotta love that. but there is no end in sight to the piles of homework and reading and exams this coming week. yeah, the same week i will be snorkling with the fishees. tomorrow we have a 830 am flight to cabo. enjoy the oscars.
10. Letters from Iwo Jima
9. The Queen
8. Silent Hill
7. Pan's Labyrinth
6. The Da Vinci Code
5. The Fountain
4. Inside Man
3. Miami Vice
2. Borat
1. Apocalypto
and a few honorable mentions:
blood diamond
the prestige
jackass: number two
and the nominees who should win on sunday:
picture: the departed
directing: clint
actor: leo - blood diamond
supporting actor: djimon hounsou - blood diamond
actress: helen mirren - the queen
supporting actress: abigail breslin - little miss sunshine
film editing: the departed
sound editing: letters from iwo jima
animated feature: monster house
foreign language: pan's labyrinth
sound mixing: pirates of the caribbean: dead man's chest
visual effects: pirates of the caribbean: dead man's chest
adapted screenplay: borat
art direction: pirates of the caribbean: dead man's chest
makeup: apocalypto
original score: pan's labyrinth
original screenplay: the queen
original song: "i need to wake up" - an inconvenient truth
cinematography: pan's labyrinth
costume design: the queen
see ya in a week. hopefully with a tan.
10. Letters from Iwo Jima
9. The Queen
8. Silent Hill
7. Pan's Labyrinth
6. The Da Vinci Code
5. The Fountain
4. Inside Man
3. Miami Vice
2. Borat
1. Apocalypto
and a few honorable mentions:
blood diamond
the prestige
jackass: number two
and the nominees who should win on sunday:
picture: the departed
directing: clint
actor: leo - blood diamond
supporting actor: djimon hounsou - blood diamond
actress: helen mirren - the queen
supporting actress: abigail breslin - little miss sunshine
film editing: the departed
sound editing: letters from iwo jima
animated feature: monster house
foreign language: pan's labyrinth
sound mixing: pirates of the caribbean: dead man's chest
visual effects: pirates of the caribbean: dead man's chest
adapted screenplay: borat
art direction: pirates of the caribbean: dead man's chest
makeup: apocalypto
original score: pan's labyrinth
original screenplay: the queen
original song: "i need to wake up" - an inconvenient truth
cinematography: pan's labyrinth
costume design: the queen
see ya in a week. hopefully with a tan.
Saturday, February 17, 2007
the news all around
congrats to tabitha on getting married tomorrow! i'm really happy for her and it sucks i couldn't go out there for it. school is just a beast right now.
i'll give a little rundown of what is currently occupying 80 percent of my time these days. first and foremost is the spring challenge which is next saturday. my partner is jamie and we have to spit out a 5-7 page paper, prepare a 15 minute presentation with powerpoint of course, and present to a number of consulting firm guys/gals. the topic is if we should go to reverse auctions to provide service to high cost subscribers (i.e. rural folk). currently high cost subscribers are subsidized by the universal service fund (go check out your phone bill). this money is given out to carriers based on their cost to provide rural service. but the amount of money required to continue the program is skyrocketing out of control because of competitive eligible telecom carriers, such as wireless providers, coming into rural areas and taking all of the USF money. the reverse auction proposal is simply to replace the existing program with a system that will choose a single carrier for a given area based on whoever can provide service for the lowest cost. jamie and i are representing the rural incumbent local exchange carriers and must (in a nutshell) say whether reverse auctions are a good idea or not. anyway, we have a freaking week to accomplish all of this. currently we are in the research stage and have to sift through probably a couple hundred pages of FCC documents, background info, etc. so that is next saturday.
the very next day kim and i leave for cabo. while in cabo i will probably be working on a data comm take-home midterm. before that though we have our first lab in telecom systems this coming week. it will be really good i'm sure, but there is a lab write up and lots of busy work that will go with it. typical lab i guess. then i have usual homework due each week and reading that i never seem to be caught up with. grad school is difficult.
my days are really packed. i'd say a rough estimate might be about 15 hours a week spent on each class. then i have guitar here and there, movies, taking the bus to school and back each day which takes anywhere from 45 to 1+ hour to get there. and boulder is like a 15 minute car ride from our place. what else. my mom is in town for a week watching my little bro while his dads are out doing whatever it is that two dads do. i actually don't even want to know. i'm out of my sweet and spicy bbq sauce that i get from this restaurant called goodwood in orem, ut. so that irritates me. i'm even out of jellybeans/theater tix. no time for wfmu, no time to clean the house, no time to run errands. and i really have no time to write people back. somehow i always have about 10 emails that i have to reply to. friends in ut, ca, wa, va, and here all have to wait at least a month before ever getting a response from me. i wish it wasn't this way though. i feel like the only person who has this problem. and we are having a baby.
the baby is due in august. we don't know the gender but have names picked out. katelyn marie and jack allen. i think. subject to change of course. we are totally thrilled. thrilled for tom too. they are having little madison in about a week and a half. it's all very exciting times for us all. scary, but exciting. so that is that.
a couple more things. are you still mourning the loss of anna nicole? it is hard to believe how much attention she is still getting. and finally, someday i think genealogy will be somewhat good enough to be able to search an online database and see how i am related to, say, the president, or dr. seuss. or anyone. you get the point. anyway, someday.
Smokin' Aces (2007): tons of guys are out to kill buddy aces for $1m in bounty before he testifies against la costa nostra. the first three scenes are ten minutes of semi-big actors standing around giving tons and tons of back story. and introducing lots of crazy characters. they did well at giving the viewers friendly reminders of all the back-story. otherwise the audience would have forgotten what anyone was doing. and introducing each character with a title such as "hitman" or "ex-cop" really helped to sort everyone out. ben affleck plays a potential assassin and has the scene of his career playing a dead guy. there is some good dialogue here and there. ryan reynolds and ray liotta were for sure the stars of this show. both had really solid performances. mtv movie award worthy. the second half of the movie was good because it was always a mystery about who would kill aces or if he would even die. the end is a blood bath so be ready for it. it is for sure worth seeing and out of all the post-pulp fiction crime movies like this, this one is surprisingly better than most. might be worth buying sometime down the road.
good, B
Pan's Labyrinth (2006): during a spanish civil war a little girl and her mother, con niño, go to the general's house for the summer. there's a big labyrinth that she hangs around in. it's basically a new take on alice in wonderland. a rated r alice in wonderland that is. and actually, it's not too rated r, but just very dark i'd say. this girl is a really good, good actress. and the character she plays is some kind of brave. you never know if the kid is really experiences all of this craziness or if she is just delusional. the frog sequence is so nasty. so nasty i say. but has really good special effects for once. and there is definitely more than one really gross moment in the movie. she goes through some really crazy stuff. this movie gets intense and scary. tom probably wouldn't like the scary parts. i'm not sure who plays the ruthless general in charge of everyone, but he is really amazing at playing a devil of a person. it would be hard to watch over and over again. but once is for sure recommended to all. possibly buy it.
memorable, B+
Letters from Iwo Jima (2006): ken watanabe is the army general i think and has an amazing on screen presence as usual. the story starts off like there are a few dozen guys who have to get ready for the entire u.s. military to attack and kill them on their crappy island. but i thought iwo jima was a pretty significant battle. the story is really about how these guys spend these days which they know will be their last. they only seemed to focus briefly on why the island was so important to defend. but i guess it got to a point where the reasons why didn't matter and what did matter was just to try and live for at least another ten minutes. the sound was really incredible i thought. it's loud, crisp, and lots of detail went into adding and mixing up the sounds. it should win in the sound editing category. i think eastwood is really going to come away a big winner at the oscars. this guy never quits. there was a scene when the battleships are just ripping the island to shreds while this one japanese soldier struggles for five minutes to pick up the can of crap he dropped (he was on doodie duty). there are many moments like this scattered throughout the film and it really helps to make the movie bearable. from start to finish it is pretty violent, even more so than saving ryan's privates i thought. this year was certainly an extra bloody year for movies. half the movie i would hear the americans bombing but i wasn't sure who they were shooting at. i only saw maybe thirty japanese soldiers from start to finish. they should have established at the beginning that there were many more japanese on the island. the end was really touching when they all react reading this u.s. soldier's letter from his mom. the movie is long and feels long. more than enough times i would get a few of the characters completely mixed up. it's a really good wwii movie, but there is just so much death. not just in the scenes with guys blowing themselves up, but it was like the theme of the movie. see it.
memorable, B+
Quinceañera (2006): magdalena has enough pressure trying to plan a big quinceañera and be like her rich friends, but then she decides to get preggers. i guess it wasn't really her decision. and her gangster cousin is gay. i liked how the people would go back and forth between english and spanish, depending on the character. this is probably the first mexican-american movie i've seen. some of the acting was fake but there was a lot of really good dialogue scattered here and there. it felt pointless for a good part of the movie. like five minutes of gay party shots(?). other times it could get pretty boring. never really builds up to anything. don't see.
disappointing, C-
The Queen (2006): the queen of england must face her country after the death of princess diana. i liked the glaring opening stare from the queen. the cuts between all the characters during the events of princess diana's death were very well done. the actors who play these super-power people in britain all do so good. but it's hard to know if this is how all the people really behave. i mean, who knows if the queen really felt so put off by diana; dead or alive. who knows if they just let the queen of england try and drive her land rover by herself through some river. i liked the allegory between diana and the stag that the royal family was trying to hunt the whole time on their property. i enjoyed the relationship between the queen and tony blair. most of the royals' acting was superb and deserved some supporting actor nominations. some of scenes are eerie, like how diana always seemed to be haunting the queen. very realistic. and sad too. the movie is not as dry as you would think. it is very witty which makes it easier to watch despite the bland subject matter. of course it is not the most exciting movie ever, but it is well done enough to keep you interested. awesome cast, perfect locations, very effective soundtrack, worth seeing.
memorable, B+
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951): the opening shots are all these scenes of the universe (klaatu flying to earth i presume) and the effects are really believable. especially for the time. and wow. so much of washington dc was used in this movie. i can't imagine someone today being able to pull that off. they jump immediately into the action and i felt as if i couldn't look away. michael rennie who plays the space man does really good. and the secretary of state who first talks with klaatu does awesome. not including that guy, but some of how the government responds to the alien is pretty unbelievable. then again it was the 50s. you want to believe that this was just how things were back then with all the paranoia. or is it just a bad script? you could take this movie and say that it is a take on society, or government, or early mccarthyism, or that wendy's shouldn't have gotten rid of their jalapeño cheddar melt. you could interpret so much from this movie, that it would be interesting to see what the filmaker's real intent was. it could have just been to make a sci-fi movie. who knows. most of the time that klaatu is on earth, he is talking about how he wants to warn earthlings of something really important. this ends up being a mcguffin because the story ends up being more about his treatment by us earthlings. his message basically ends up being, "don't be putting missles or any such things in space. otherwise we aliens will blow up your planet." the problem is that everyone is too afraid of him to listen. it is a pretty good story and worthy of a remake. see it. on a lame side note, it won a golden globe for "best motion picture promoting international understanding." they gave awards out for everything back then.
flaw but worth seeing, C+
coming soon: top ten movies of 2006. just in time for the oscars which i will be missing to be in mexico. i will hopefully have it recorded and i'll watch when i get home. later.
i'll give a little rundown of what is currently occupying 80 percent of my time these days. first and foremost is the spring challenge which is next saturday. my partner is jamie and we have to spit out a 5-7 page paper, prepare a 15 minute presentation with powerpoint of course, and present to a number of consulting firm guys/gals. the topic is if we should go to reverse auctions to provide service to high cost subscribers (i.e. rural folk). currently high cost subscribers are subsidized by the universal service fund (go check out your phone bill). this money is given out to carriers based on their cost to provide rural service. but the amount of money required to continue the program is skyrocketing out of control because of competitive eligible telecom carriers, such as wireless providers, coming into rural areas and taking all of the USF money. the reverse auction proposal is simply to replace the existing program with a system that will choose a single carrier for a given area based on whoever can provide service for the lowest cost. jamie and i are representing the rural incumbent local exchange carriers and must (in a nutshell) say whether reverse auctions are a good idea or not. anyway, we have a freaking week to accomplish all of this. currently we are in the research stage and have to sift through probably a couple hundred pages of FCC documents, background info, etc. so that is next saturday.
the very next day kim and i leave for cabo. while in cabo i will probably be working on a data comm take-home midterm. before that though we have our first lab in telecom systems this coming week. it will be really good i'm sure, but there is a lab write up and lots of busy work that will go with it. typical lab i guess. then i have usual homework due each week and reading that i never seem to be caught up with. grad school is difficult.
my days are really packed. i'd say a rough estimate might be about 15 hours a week spent on each class. then i have guitar here and there, movies, taking the bus to school and back each day which takes anywhere from 45 to 1+ hour to get there. and boulder is like a 15 minute car ride from our place. what else. my mom is in town for a week watching my little bro while his dads are out doing whatever it is that two dads do. i actually don't even want to know. i'm out of my sweet and spicy bbq sauce that i get from this restaurant called goodwood in orem, ut. so that irritates me. i'm even out of jellybeans/theater tix. no time for wfmu, no time to clean the house, no time to run errands. and i really have no time to write people back. somehow i always have about 10 emails that i have to reply to. friends in ut, ca, wa, va, and here all have to wait at least a month before ever getting a response from me. i wish it wasn't this way though. i feel like the only person who has this problem. and we are having a baby.
the baby is due in august. we don't know the gender but have names picked out. katelyn marie and jack allen. i think. subject to change of course. we are totally thrilled. thrilled for tom too. they are having little madison in about a week and a half. it's all very exciting times for us all. scary, but exciting. so that is that.
a couple more things. are you still mourning the loss of anna nicole? it is hard to believe how much attention she is still getting. and finally, someday i think genealogy will be somewhat good enough to be able to search an online database and see how i am related to, say, the president, or dr. seuss. or anyone. you get the point. anyway, someday.
Smokin' Aces (2007): tons of guys are out to kill buddy aces for $1m in bounty before he testifies against la costa nostra. the first three scenes are ten minutes of semi-big actors standing around giving tons and tons of back story. and introducing lots of crazy characters. they did well at giving the viewers friendly reminders of all the back-story. otherwise the audience would have forgotten what anyone was doing. and introducing each character with a title such as "hitman" or "ex-cop" really helped to sort everyone out. ben affleck plays a potential assassin and has the scene of his career playing a dead guy. there is some good dialogue here and there. ryan reynolds and ray liotta were for sure the stars of this show. both had really solid performances. mtv movie award worthy. the second half of the movie was good because it was always a mystery about who would kill aces or if he would even die. the end is a blood bath so be ready for it. it is for sure worth seeing and out of all the post-pulp fiction crime movies like this, this one is surprisingly better than most. might be worth buying sometime down the road.
good, B
Pan's Labyrinth (2006): during a spanish civil war a little girl and her mother, con niño, go to the general's house for the summer. there's a big labyrinth that she hangs around in. it's basically a new take on alice in wonderland. a rated r alice in wonderland that is. and actually, it's not too rated r, but just very dark i'd say. this girl is a really good, good actress. and the character she plays is some kind of brave. you never know if the kid is really experiences all of this craziness or if she is just delusional. the frog sequence is so nasty. so nasty i say. but has really good special effects for once. and there is definitely more than one really gross moment in the movie. she goes through some really crazy stuff. this movie gets intense and scary. tom probably wouldn't like the scary parts. i'm not sure who plays the ruthless general in charge of everyone, but he is really amazing at playing a devil of a person. it would be hard to watch over and over again. but once is for sure recommended to all. possibly buy it.
memorable, B+
Letters from Iwo Jima (2006): ken watanabe is the army general i think and has an amazing on screen presence as usual. the story starts off like there are a few dozen guys who have to get ready for the entire u.s. military to attack and kill them on their crappy island. but i thought iwo jima was a pretty significant battle. the story is really about how these guys spend these days which they know will be their last. they only seemed to focus briefly on why the island was so important to defend. but i guess it got to a point where the reasons why didn't matter and what did matter was just to try and live for at least another ten minutes. the sound was really incredible i thought. it's loud, crisp, and lots of detail went into adding and mixing up the sounds. it should win in the sound editing category. i think eastwood is really going to come away a big winner at the oscars. this guy never quits. there was a scene when the battleships are just ripping the island to shreds while this one japanese soldier struggles for five minutes to pick up the can of crap he dropped (he was on doodie duty). there are many moments like this scattered throughout the film and it really helps to make the movie bearable. from start to finish it is pretty violent, even more so than saving ryan's privates i thought. this year was certainly an extra bloody year for movies. half the movie i would hear the americans bombing but i wasn't sure who they were shooting at. i only saw maybe thirty japanese soldiers from start to finish. they should have established at the beginning that there were many more japanese on the island. the end was really touching when they all react reading this u.s. soldier's letter from his mom. the movie is long and feels long. more than enough times i would get a few of the characters completely mixed up. it's a really good wwii movie, but there is just so much death. not just in the scenes with guys blowing themselves up, but it was like the theme of the movie. see it.
memorable, B+
Quinceañera (2006): magdalena has enough pressure trying to plan a big quinceañera and be like her rich friends, but then she decides to get preggers. i guess it wasn't really her decision. and her gangster cousin is gay. i liked how the people would go back and forth between english and spanish, depending on the character. this is probably the first mexican-american movie i've seen. some of the acting was fake but there was a lot of really good dialogue scattered here and there. it felt pointless for a good part of the movie. like five minutes of gay party shots(?). other times it could get pretty boring. never really builds up to anything. don't see.
disappointing, C-
The Queen (2006): the queen of england must face her country after the death of princess diana. i liked the glaring opening stare from the queen. the cuts between all the characters during the events of princess diana's death were very well done. the actors who play these super-power people in britain all do so good. but it's hard to know if this is how all the people really behave. i mean, who knows if the queen really felt so put off by diana; dead or alive. who knows if they just let the queen of england try and drive her land rover by herself through some river. i liked the allegory between diana and the stag that the royal family was trying to hunt the whole time on their property. i enjoyed the relationship between the queen and tony blair. most of the royals' acting was superb and deserved some supporting actor nominations. some of scenes are eerie, like how diana always seemed to be haunting the queen. very realistic. and sad too. the movie is not as dry as you would think. it is very witty which makes it easier to watch despite the bland subject matter. of course it is not the most exciting movie ever, but it is well done enough to keep you interested. awesome cast, perfect locations, very effective soundtrack, worth seeing.
memorable, B+
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951): the opening shots are all these scenes of the universe (klaatu flying to earth i presume) and the effects are really believable. especially for the time. and wow. so much of washington dc was used in this movie. i can't imagine someone today being able to pull that off. they jump immediately into the action and i felt as if i couldn't look away. michael rennie who plays the space man does really good. and the secretary of state who first talks with klaatu does awesome. not including that guy, but some of how the government responds to the alien is pretty unbelievable. then again it was the 50s. you want to believe that this was just how things were back then with all the paranoia. or is it just a bad script? you could take this movie and say that it is a take on society, or government, or early mccarthyism, or that wendy's shouldn't have gotten rid of their jalapeño cheddar melt. you could interpret so much from this movie, that it would be interesting to see what the filmaker's real intent was. it could have just been to make a sci-fi movie. who knows. most of the time that klaatu is on earth, he is talking about how he wants to warn earthlings of something really important. this ends up being a mcguffin because the story ends up being more about his treatment by us earthlings. his message basically ends up being, "don't be putting missles or any such things in space. otherwise we aliens will blow up your planet." the problem is that everyone is too afraid of him to listen. it is a pretty good story and worthy of a remake. see it. on a lame side note, it won a golden globe for "best motion picture promoting international understanding." they gave awards out for everything back then.
flaw but worth seeing, C+
coming soon: top ten movies of 2006. just in time for the oscars which i will be missing to be in mexico. i will hopefully have it recorded and i'll watch when i get home. later.
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Monday, February 05, 2007
Thursday, February 01, 2007
the cold
the classes i am taking now are really amazing. this stuff is so fascinating, so in that regard things are going good. but it's not easy. one professor is going at light speed and his lectures will cover subjects in 5 minutes of stuff that takes me an hour to read about in the book. as i read through it, i try to imagine all of this actually taking place. like right now i'm reading about quadrature amplitude modulation. well it helps to see in my head "real" waves with different frequencies and phase shifts, all going down the same transmission medium. i guess the point is, 3d images or a video on all of this stuff happening would be a huge help. to be able to see all of it happening in some kind of slo-mo computer graphics would be nice. no one has done this that i know of though, so instead it's all very hard.
the snow never ends here. there is still remnants from that storm before christmas. everyday is just too cold for the snow to completely melt away. and as soon as there is some end in sight we get more snow. i just wish the cold would go away more than anything. this saturday might be a snow day. we'll see.
i read all this talk of bollywood this and bollywood that, but we have yet to see any bollywood movie actually break into the u.s. market. i just can't see these movies being all that great. mexico is doing a good job on the other hand. anyway, here is a lifetime worth of movies for ya. if i end up failing this semester, you'll know why.
Thank You For Smoking (2006): the wry life of a big tobacco lobbyist. there is some really solid acting by aaron eckhart who stars in the movie. him and his son worked nice together too. the writers did amazing at stretching the reality of smoking just enough to be over the edge, but somehow always keeping it somehwhat in tune with the reality of ciggs on society. this movie should out like ten years ago when this was more of an issue. today the culture of smoking seems to be fading, as shown in the movie. regardless, it's really entertaining and i don't see any reason why you wouldn't want to see it. so go rent it. and make sure to light up a fatty before viewing.
good, B
An Inconvenient Truth (2006): al gore talks global warming. gore is either very knowledgeable about the subject or has some really good scientists and researchers on his staff. both are probably somewhat true. there is a lot of scientific talk. lots of graphs and powerpoint slides. lots of evidence. you get a two for one deal when you see it because the movie is practically a semi-bio of our 45th vice president. the movie gets a little old and is mostly dull. but what do you expect? al gore + documentary + global warming ≠ excitement. this isn't a michael moore documentary so the viewer won't be evoking much emotion during the movie. unless sleepy counts. however, the small minority of scientists out there who don't believe in global warming and the citizens of this country who shrug off global warming's affect on us and future generations, should be forced to sit through this. so those people should see it and all else go write your senator.
fair, B-
The Aristocrats (2005): a family walks into a talent agent's office... and one hundred famous comedians finish the rest. the punch line to the joke really isn't that funny. it's totally about the delivery. most of the movie is a bunch of guys (and a few ladies) sitting around and saying some of the dirtiest stuff ever captured on film. but it is funny, which is the point. sometimes it got old and my attention would go elsewhere during a ramdom shit joke. it was interesting learning about the joke since i had no prior knowledge of it before the movie. there are some very funny comedians and just as many mediocre ones. it's hard to say who was the funniest, but bob saget's version of the joke is by far the most elaborate. in order to enjoy this film you'd have to be the type that likes comedy and can sit through very bad potty mouths. it's short and you'll get a few laughs from it. worth seeing.
fair, B-
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992): there is a killer in twin peaks. then a year later we follow the events that to a new murder, that of laura palmer, a twin peaks prom queen with so so much evil in her life. i'm in for a doozy tonight. chris isaak as an fbi guy. there's some pretty good stuff coming from him. he has a great on-screen presence. while i was watching it i felt like i should have been taking notes of all the clues and what-not. keifer sutherland has a great part as the morgue guy with chris. he is a lot like arthur (aka dwight from the office) in six feet under. so at approximately 30 minutes into the movie, david lynch's wackiness takes over and the strange/confusing parts begin. there are some insanely powerful scenes that take place. there is a lot of cryptic dialogue that i'm sure few would be able to follow. the movie was really interesting during the first plot of the movie, but then not so much during the second half. all my marbles went into the chris isaak story, that by the time laura's story appears, i was like, "who the hell is this chick and why do i care?" ray wise plays laura's father and does an amazing job at playing a really terrible person. i can see him being on AFI's top villains list. i'm such a loser. let me check to see if he is...okay so he's not. but should be. i didn't understand why laura was laughing at the end. and i definitely didn't get david bowie's ghost-like appearance halfway in the movie. please explain if you know. the movie had some good moments, but there is too much that i just didn't understand. i guess everyone should know that going into a david lynch movie. maybe worth seeing.
flawed but worth seeing, C+
Brazil (1985): some middle-class bureaucrat guy in the future is looking for some chick in his dreams while the oppressive government tries to swell an uprising. i don't know anything about this movie except that the director also did 12 monkeys, monty python, and fear and loathing. yep, that's all one guy. as for this movie, i'm just testing out blockbuster's recommendations. the filmmakers decided to portray this futuristic society in a comedic way. i would have preferred it more dramatic. but that's just me. the dream sequences were a little much. as far as film noir goes, this is probably one fo the most enjoyable i've seen. it is a very imaginative reality that they have created. i found a ton of star wars references. there was a scene that referred to when luke is training with yoda on degoba and slashes vader's helmet to reveal himself. and another when they are all getting smashed in the trash compactor. robert deniro played an awesome part as a leader of this underground movement against the government. he was really cool. i question the title of the movie. the only thing i can see how brazil relates to the movie at all is that it is the name of a song they play once or twice in the movie. (apparently he hears it in his dreams) it is pretty kubrick-like, so be aware of that before attempting to watch. this movie will someday be an amazing remake. overall it was alright and probably worth seeing.
fair, B-
Caddyshack (1980): there are so many subplots taking place, but the story is really about one caddy's struggle to be more than just a caddy. there is really bad 80s music to start off. who is that? kenny loggins? yep. terrible. no wonder my older brother likes this movie so much. and now journey is playing. the conversation that takes place between chevey and the caddy is really funny stuff. rodney dangerfield plays a mega rich guy just out for a game and his jokes are so funny. it's all a bunch of one-liners, but funny nonetheless. same with bill murray who plays the groundskeeper obsessed with killing the dumb gopher. the gopher stuff is stupid but murray's acting is genius. (the Varmint Cong) i loved how dangerfield would throw his money at people whenever he wanted them to do something for him. there is a big pool scene where the caddies wreck havoc. at first it really sucks (wreaking havoc), but does get good (hot chick), only to get bad again (synchronized swimmers), and finally goes into immortal film status to end the scene (doodie!). the ending is not the greatest, but what can you do? worth seeing and worth having someone else own it for you to borrow.
good, B
The Third Man (1949): holly (joseph cotten) travels to post-wwii vienna to work with his old friend harry (orsen wells). upon his arrival however, he discovers that harry has been killed in a car accident. and since no one cares or they are part of the conspiracy themselves, it is left up to holly to uncover the mystery of harry's death. and it all has something to do with a third man. this should have been seen way back when i was going through and watching all those classics. but this movie was no where to be found at the stores. blockbuster online did. there are a ton of characters all introduced in the first five minutes. really good use of humor throughout the whole movie. the camera work is also very well done. there were lots of cool perspective shots and use of framing for the subject on screen. wells does great playing a pretty rotten guy with a sense of humor. reminds me a lot of jack nicholson in the departed. i don't think i made all the connections with the third man. i can make some guesses about who the third man was, if there was one, but it's still a little hazy. but i will probably see it again someday and try another attempt at figuring it all out. the music really adds to every scene. most characters have a really good amount of depth to them. in the end the movie turned out being very well done and entertaining. hard to come by these days.
memorable, B+
the snow never ends here. there is still remnants from that storm before christmas. everyday is just too cold for the snow to completely melt away. and as soon as there is some end in sight we get more snow. i just wish the cold would go away more than anything. this saturday might be a snow day. we'll see.
i read all this talk of bollywood this and bollywood that, but we have yet to see any bollywood movie actually break into the u.s. market. i just can't see these movies being all that great. mexico is doing a good job on the other hand. anyway, here is a lifetime worth of movies for ya. if i end up failing this semester, you'll know why.
Thank You For Smoking (2006): the wry life of a big tobacco lobbyist. there is some really solid acting by aaron eckhart who stars in the movie. him and his son worked nice together too. the writers did amazing at stretching the reality of smoking just enough to be over the edge, but somehow always keeping it somehwhat in tune with the reality of ciggs on society. this movie should out like ten years ago when this was more of an issue. today the culture of smoking seems to be fading, as shown in the movie. regardless, it's really entertaining and i don't see any reason why you wouldn't want to see it. so go rent it. and make sure to light up a fatty before viewing.
good, B
An Inconvenient Truth (2006): al gore talks global warming. gore is either very knowledgeable about the subject or has some really good scientists and researchers on his staff. both are probably somewhat true. there is a lot of scientific talk. lots of graphs and powerpoint slides. lots of evidence. you get a two for one deal when you see it because the movie is practically a semi-bio of our 45th vice president. the movie gets a little old and is mostly dull. but what do you expect? al gore + documentary + global warming ≠ excitement. this isn't a michael moore documentary so the viewer won't be evoking much emotion during the movie. unless sleepy counts. however, the small minority of scientists out there who don't believe in global warming and the citizens of this country who shrug off global warming's affect on us and future generations, should be forced to sit through this. so those people should see it and all else go write your senator.
fair, B-
The Aristocrats (2005): a family walks into a talent agent's office... and one hundred famous comedians finish the rest. the punch line to the joke really isn't that funny. it's totally about the delivery. most of the movie is a bunch of guys (and a few ladies) sitting around and saying some of the dirtiest stuff ever captured on film. but it is funny, which is the point. sometimes it got old and my attention would go elsewhere during a ramdom shit joke. it was interesting learning about the joke since i had no prior knowledge of it before the movie. there are some very funny comedians and just as many mediocre ones. it's hard to say who was the funniest, but bob saget's version of the joke is by far the most elaborate. in order to enjoy this film you'd have to be the type that likes comedy and can sit through very bad potty mouths. it's short and you'll get a few laughs from it. worth seeing.
fair, B-
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992): there is a killer in twin peaks. then a year later we follow the events that to a new murder, that of laura palmer, a twin peaks prom queen with so so much evil in her life. i'm in for a doozy tonight. chris isaak as an fbi guy. there's some pretty good stuff coming from him. he has a great on-screen presence. while i was watching it i felt like i should have been taking notes of all the clues and what-not. keifer sutherland has a great part as the morgue guy with chris. he is a lot like arthur (aka dwight from the office) in six feet under. so at approximately 30 minutes into the movie, david lynch's wackiness takes over and the strange/confusing parts begin. there are some insanely powerful scenes that take place. there is a lot of cryptic dialogue that i'm sure few would be able to follow. the movie was really interesting during the first plot of the movie, but then not so much during the second half. all my marbles went into the chris isaak story, that by the time laura's story appears, i was like, "who the hell is this chick and why do i care?" ray wise plays laura's father and does an amazing job at playing a really terrible person. i can see him being on AFI's top villains list. i'm such a loser. let me check to see if he is...okay so he's not. but should be. i didn't understand why laura was laughing at the end. and i definitely didn't get david bowie's ghost-like appearance halfway in the movie. please explain if you know. the movie had some good moments, but there is too much that i just didn't understand. i guess everyone should know that going into a david lynch movie. maybe worth seeing.
flawed but worth seeing, C+
Brazil (1985): some middle-class bureaucrat guy in the future is looking for some chick in his dreams while the oppressive government tries to swell an uprising. i don't know anything about this movie except that the director also did 12 monkeys, monty python, and fear and loathing. yep, that's all one guy. as for this movie, i'm just testing out blockbuster's recommendations. the filmmakers decided to portray this futuristic society in a comedic way. i would have preferred it more dramatic. but that's just me. the dream sequences were a little much. as far as film noir goes, this is probably one fo the most enjoyable i've seen. it is a very imaginative reality that they have created. i found a ton of star wars references. there was a scene that referred to when luke is training with yoda on degoba and slashes vader's helmet to reveal himself. and another when they are all getting smashed in the trash compactor. robert deniro played an awesome part as a leader of this underground movement against the government. he was really cool. i question the title of the movie. the only thing i can see how brazil relates to the movie at all is that it is the name of a song they play once or twice in the movie. (apparently he hears it in his dreams) it is pretty kubrick-like, so be aware of that before attempting to watch. this movie will someday be an amazing remake. overall it was alright and probably worth seeing.
fair, B-
Caddyshack (1980): there are so many subplots taking place, but the story is really about one caddy's struggle to be more than just a caddy. there is really bad 80s music to start off. who is that? kenny loggins? yep. terrible. no wonder my older brother likes this movie so much. and now journey is playing. the conversation that takes place between chevey and the caddy is really funny stuff. rodney dangerfield plays a mega rich guy just out for a game and his jokes are so funny. it's all a bunch of one-liners, but funny nonetheless. same with bill murray who plays the groundskeeper obsessed with killing the dumb gopher. the gopher stuff is stupid but murray's acting is genius. (the Varmint Cong) i loved how dangerfield would throw his money at people whenever he wanted them to do something for him. there is a big pool scene where the caddies wreck havoc. at first it really sucks (wreaking havoc), but does get good (hot chick), only to get bad again (synchronized swimmers), and finally goes into immortal film status to end the scene (doodie!). the ending is not the greatest, but what can you do? worth seeing and worth having someone else own it for you to borrow.
good, B
The Third Man (1949): holly (joseph cotten) travels to post-wwii vienna to work with his old friend harry (orsen wells). upon his arrival however, he discovers that harry has been killed in a car accident. and since no one cares or they are part of the conspiracy themselves, it is left up to holly to uncover the mystery of harry's death. and it all has something to do with a third man. this should have been seen way back when i was going through and watching all those classics. but this movie was no where to be found at the stores. blockbuster online did. there are a ton of characters all introduced in the first five minutes. really good use of humor throughout the whole movie. the camera work is also very well done. there were lots of cool perspective shots and use of framing for the subject on screen. wells does great playing a pretty rotten guy with a sense of humor. reminds me a lot of jack nicholson in the departed. i don't think i made all the connections with the third man. i can make some guesses about who the third man was, if there was one, but it's still a little hazy. but i will probably see it again someday and try another attempt at figuring it all out. the music really adds to every scene. most characters have a really good amount of depth to them. in the end the movie turned out being very well done and entertaining. hard to come by these days.
memorable, B+
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)