Tuesday, May 22, 2007
a wrench in the works
Very busy, very bad week for me, so I'm behind in a big way. I'll get caught up with the viewing/posting of my Summer of 1000 Movies soon. Not that anyone reads this anyway.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Week 2 May 6 - May 12
I started week two with one of my favorite crappy-good movies, Bubba Ho-Tep. My friend Sean had never seen it, so I forced it upon him. He agrees with me. It's not a great film, but it's a great idea and it's a lot of fun.
The premise: 70's Fat Elvis grows tired of the kitsch his life has become and hires an Elvis impersonator to take his place for awhile. Problems ensue (their written agreement gets destroyed during a freak BBQ accident, the impersonator dies, Elvis falls off a stage and breaks his hip) and Elvis ends up in an East Texas rest home where a gentleman who thinks he is John F. Kennedy is also a tenant.
As luck would have it, a reincarnated mummy has taken up residence in the gardeners shed. Also as luck would have it, Bruce Campbell (one of my favorite actors) is playing Elvis and Ossie Davis (R.I.P.) plays JFK. Campbell is inspired casting, Davis lends it some credibility, and lifelong B movie director Don Coscarelli (the Phantasm movies) helms a short story by Joe R. Lansdale.
The Captain gives this one a stupid-fun B.
I went to the theater the other night willing to see whatever started soon, and I got to see Next with Nicolas Cage and Jessica Biel. Cage apparently got his hairdo at Tom Hanks' Da Vinci Code yard sale. It was creepily reminiscent of Hanks' weird mullet thing from that movie.
Um, did I mention that Jessica Biel is unbelievably smokin' hot? *Sigh*. Probably the best moment of this movie was her in a towel post shower. Much better to look at than Cage's hair. Wig. Whatever it was.
This was a popcorn flick in the best way. It didn't suck, it wasn't great, it didn't require a lot of thought, there was some good action, some decent laughs, and when it was over I was moderately satisfied. It didn't hurt that I had a gift card left over from Christmas so I only had to pay fifty cents to go. I'll give it a B-.
Another movie I should have seen long ago but that I only just watched is Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest. I mean, me being a nautical type and all, you'd think that I would have camped out to see this one. It's another case of me avoiding the hype, and like Eternal Sunshine, I'm sad that I'd waited. I really liked this movie. The FX were amazing. It was a smidge darker than the first movie, but the sense of the absurd that I enjoyed so much the first time around was still there. I was cracking up when Captain Sparrow was running around on the deck of his ship, mocking Davy Jones with cries of "I got a jar of dirt!" and then he fell down the stairs.
The set pieces were well done, as was the continued character development. In this movie, as opposed to the first, the characters have differing goals, and the tension derived from this was excellent. The cast was first rate. I enjoyed seeing Stelan Skarsgard with barnacles on his face, and Bill Nighy was almost unrecognizable as Davy Jones.
And what a cliffhanger. Jack accepts his fate and enters the gullet of the kraken, and we see the improbable return of Captain Barbosa. I have to admit that I'm pretty geeked to see the third film in a couple of weeks. I'll give this film an A-. Well done, pirates.
A quick side note: If any of you have kept up with this blog, you'll probably have noticed that I'm a bit behind schedule in the number of movies I've watched. I'm working on it. I'll catch up soon. I promise.
The premise: 70's Fat Elvis grows tired of the kitsch his life has become and hires an Elvis impersonator to take his place for awhile. Problems ensue (their written agreement gets destroyed during a freak BBQ accident, the impersonator dies, Elvis falls off a stage and breaks his hip) and Elvis ends up in an East Texas rest home where a gentleman who thinks he is John F. Kennedy is also a tenant.
As luck would have it, a reincarnated mummy has taken up residence in the gardeners shed. Also as luck would have it, Bruce Campbell (one of my favorite actors) is playing Elvis and Ossie Davis (R.I.P.) plays JFK. Campbell is inspired casting, Davis lends it some credibility, and lifelong B movie director Don Coscarelli (the Phantasm movies) helms a short story by Joe R. Lansdale.
The Captain gives this one a stupid-fun B.
I went to the theater the other night willing to see whatever started soon, and I got to see Next with Nicolas Cage and Jessica Biel. Cage apparently got his hairdo at Tom Hanks' Da Vinci Code yard sale. It was creepily reminiscent of Hanks' weird mullet thing from that movie.
Um, did I mention that Jessica Biel is unbelievably smokin' hot? *Sigh*. Probably the best moment of this movie was her in a towel post shower. Much better to look at than Cage's hair. Wig. Whatever it was.
This was a popcorn flick in the best way. It didn't suck, it wasn't great, it didn't require a lot of thought, there was some good action, some decent laughs, and when it was over I was moderately satisfied. It didn't hurt that I had a gift card left over from Christmas so I only had to pay fifty cents to go. I'll give it a B-.
Another movie I should have seen long ago but that I only just watched is Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest. I mean, me being a nautical type and all, you'd think that I would have camped out to see this one. It's another case of me avoiding the hype, and like Eternal Sunshine, I'm sad that I'd waited. I really liked this movie. The FX were amazing. It was a smidge darker than the first movie, but the sense of the absurd that I enjoyed so much the first time around was still there. I was cracking up when Captain Sparrow was running around on the deck of his ship, mocking Davy Jones with cries of "I got a jar of dirt!" and then he fell down the stairs.
The set pieces were well done, as was the continued character development. In this movie, as opposed to the first, the characters have differing goals, and the tension derived from this was excellent. The cast was first rate. I enjoyed seeing Stelan Skarsgard with barnacles on his face, and Bill Nighy was almost unrecognizable as Davy Jones.
And what a cliffhanger. Jack accepts his fate and enters the gullet of the kraken, and we see the improbable return of Captain Barbosa. I have to admit that I'm pretty geeked to see the third film in a couple of weeks. I'll give this film an A-. Well done, pirates.
A quick side note: If any of you have kept up with this blog, you'll probably have noticed that I'm a bit behind schedule in the number of movies I've watched. I'm working on it. I'll catch up soon. I promise.
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Week One April 29-May 5
Movie Uno. Battle Royale. A Japanese film that is kind of steeped in a Lord of the Flies mythology, but not nearly as good as the book. Sadly this movie is quite the inauspicious debut for my summer viewing.
The premise is good, but the execution is poor. The idea goes like this: Every year one school class is selected by a lottery to be sent to a remote island. The class selected this year is a group of 44 ninth graders. They are shown a short video that tells them that they have to kill their classmates. In three days time if there is more than one student alive they will all be killed. If one student lives, they will be freed from their island imprisonment. From here it falls apart with bad acting, clumsy editing, and startlingly bad subtitles. Not quite in the league of "All your base are belong to us" but pretty bad regardless. The Captain gives it a generous C-.
Movie Number Two. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I have an irrational reaction when seemingly everyone I know loves the same thing: I avoid it. I think it falls into what Public Enemy calls "Don't belive the hype!" I usually wait for a while, let my expectations lower a bit, then watch it for myself. This explains why I, a self proclaimed movie lover, hadn't seen this much lauded movie before now.
Usually I don't mind putting off viewing a particular movie, but in this case I've been beating myself up for not getting to it sooner. It was a great movie. I should have known it would be well worth fighting through the hype machine and exaggerated expectaions to see it. I've always been a fan of screenwriter Charlie Kaufman, and this film has an excellent cast.
Kaufman tells the tale all backwards-like, similar to another favorite of mine, Chris Nolan's Memento, and messes with our minds the entire way. I loved it.
I feel that I could foam at the mouth about this movie for hours, but if you've seen it you know what I'm talking about, and if you haven't, go find out what I'm talking about. I give this film an A-.
The premise is good, but the execution is poor. The idea goes like this: Every year one school class is selected by a lottery to be sent to a remote island. The class selected this year is a group of 44 ninth graders. They are shown a short video that tells them that they have to kill their classmates. In three days time if there is more than one student alive they will all be killed. If one student lives, they will be freed from their island imprisonment. From here it falls apart with bad acting, clumsy editing, and startlingly bad subtitles. Not quite in the league of "All your base are belong to us" but pretty bad regardless. The Captain gives it a generous C-.
Movie Number Two. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I have an irrational reaction when seemingly everyone I know loves the same thing: I avoid it. I think it falls into what Public Enemy calls "Don't belive the hype!" I usually wait for a while, let my expectations lower a bit, then watch it for myself. This explains why I, a self proclaimed movie lover, hadn't seen this much lauded movie before now.
Usually I don't mind putting off viewing a particular movie, but in this case I've been beating myself up for not getting to it sooner. It was a great movie. I should have known it would be well worth fighting through the hype machine and exaggerated expectaions to see it. I've always been a fan of screenwriter Charlie Kaufman, and this film has an excellent cast.
Kaufman tells the tale all backwards-like, similar to another favorite of mine, Chris Nolan's Memento, and messes with our minds the entire way. I loved it.
I feel that I could foam at the mouth about this movie for hours, but if you've seen it you know what I'm talking about, and if you haven't, go find out what I'm talking about. I give this film an A-.
Summer of 1000 Movies!
Um, 100 movies, actually.
I really love watching movies. This last year, however, I haven't watched very many. I got a second job and thus lost a lot of my leisure time. Last Saturday, April 28th, was my last day at that job so I have made a commitment to watch 100 movies by August 31.
That's 100 movies in 125 days.
I will become a Netflix VIP. I will watch old, new, already watched, obscure, mainstream, foreign ...whatever I can get my grubby little hands on.
If I watch a complete season of something from the telly (ie. Buffy Season 6, Firefly Season Only) then I'll count each disc as one movie. I think that's the most fair and equitable thing I've come up with thus far concerning the TV stuff.
After I watch these movies I will blog about them and I hope that y'all will join in with your comments.
I really love watching movies. This last year, however, I haven't watched very many. I got a second job and thus lost a lot of my leisure time. Last Saturday, April 28th, was my last day at that job so I have made a commitment to watch 100 movies by August 31.
That's 100 movies in 125 days.
I will become a Netflix VIP. I will watch old, new, already watched, obscure, mainstream, foreign ...whatever I can get my grubby little hands on.
If I watch a complete season of something from the telly (ie. Buffy Season 6, Firefly Season Only) then I'll count each disc as one movie. I think that's the most fair and equitable thing I've come up with thus far concerning the TV stuff.
After I watch these movies I will blog about them and I hope that y'all will join in with your comments.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Perhaps the worst cover song ...ever.
Just sitting around in my drawers doing laundry. I'm flitting through itunes and emusic and I find maybe the worst thing I've ever seen: the Cardigans cover of "Iron Man". Ozzy is spinning in his grave and he's not even dead yet. This is even worse than Joan Jett's cover of "Dirty Deeds" or Cher's "Love Hurts". Gah. Why do people think they need to cover the classics? Did they all sit around and think "Yeah, Johnny Cash can do it, so I guess so can I!" No you can't! He's Johnny freakin' Cash and you're the chick from the Cardigans! Go turn out another cheesy pop-lite abomonation that'll make me yearn for the glory days of Ace of Base you pale ninny. Please let me know any other horrific covers that I may have missed because I obviously haven't suffered enough.
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