1/2/10 - Sherlock Holmes - ★★★★ - A fun and entertaining movie. I will admit though I struggled at times with keeping up with the story and dialogue - it was VERY fast, and then with the English accents I missed some of the words as well. I wanted them to slow things down a little so I could take in more of what was happening. I'd be willing to bet the high speed action of it all was the fingerprint of director Guy Ritchie. I was not familiar with the story-line, so that was nice for me as well. I had read the "Hounds of Baskerville".
All in all, a fun ride.
1/9/10 - Avatar - ★★★★ - Yes, I'm a bit surprised myself that I'm giving it a 4 ★ rating. I think I had something going in my favor though upon going into this event... I knew that the storyline stunk. From all the things I saw on the web, I knew that was one of the biggest complaints over the movie. And I'd have to agree. But... I think the graphics of it all more than made up for it, and I just enjoyed being transported to another world. Yes, my friend and I saw it in 3d as well. I think in hindsight I'm kinda glad I did, but I think in the future I might just choose to forego the 3d effect. I find it too distracting actually. But there as my friend pointed out, of all the movies to see in 3d, this was the one.
1/17/10 - The Book of Eli - ★★★★★ - a rare 5★ rating. Denzel does not disappoint. I was also impressed (again) with Mila Kunis, I think she may have some real talent as an actress, perhaps just needs a bit more polish until we see her in a really great role. And of course Gary Oldman plays yet another great bad guy. The filming and cinematography on this movie was really well done as well. As was the soundtrack. The storyline was unusual, and entertaining and thought provoking. The whole package for me, to make for a really good movie.
1/23/10 - Legion - ★ - Yep, the critics were right on this one. A confusing story-line. Supposedly about the apocalypse, but I suspect the writer had never read the Bible. I would love to understand how semi-big name actors get rolls like this. Is there some sort of contract agreement? I don't get it.
2/13/10 - The Wolfman - ★★★ - So, I realize this was basically a bad movie... but I actually kinda enjoyed it. I think about half-way through the movie I realized I was watching a modernized B-Movie, and then once I accepted that, it was enjoyable. Were there holes in the plot? you bet. Was the acting forced and kinda lame at times? Yep (though some of the acting was pretty good). Was the editing poorly done? Absolutely (my biggest complaint). Was the "background" music IN-YOUR-FACE? YES! But there were some aspects (mostly visual) that just made it a good b-movie horror flick.
2/20/10 - Shutter Island - ★★★★ - almost a 5 start movie for me. I only took off one star, because I did get lost in the story once or twice, trying to figure out who all the characters were. But all in all, I really enjoyed this movie. The one scene with the water glass I will have to watch again on dvd to figure out what that was all about.
What a movie should be... good story, good acting, and nice cinematography.
3/6/10 - Cop Out - ★★★ - I'm being generous with that last ★, but I'm giving it because a few times in the movie I did giggle, and perhaps a laugh or two. Any movie that can do that gets points in my book. That said... the plot was mediocre, the acting was bleh, and Tracy Morgan, while funny at times spent most all his time on screen yelling. Even "Stiffler" (Sean William Scott) was funny but his character was so jumbled I spent all my time trying to figure him out. The other curious thing in this movie was the odd 80's soundtrack or background music. It was like they took the music right from "Beverly Hill's Cop". Good for a few laughs but a pass unless there's nothing else to rent.
3/13/10 - Alice in Wonderland - ★★★ - This movie was just middle of the road for me. While the visuals were fantastic, the story was just kinda all over the place. And... perhaps this is a big factor... we saw it in "2D" instead of "3D", and it was blatantly obvious that there were quite a few scenes that were specifically designed to be viewed in 3D (For example the falling down the rabbit hole). That just kinda turned me off a little. Rather than depend on all the things that are important to the making of a good movie, it's a sort of cheap tactic to depend on the delivery or graphics. The sign of a good graphics based movie is when it's seamlessly woven into the movie. Depp was Depp. Burton was Burton. But I really have to tip my hat to Mia Wasikowska, she did a good job. But overall the movie just was missing something to draw me in.
3/20/10 - Green Zone - ★★★★ - a strong and powerful movie about a difficult subject matter (war). Matt Damon was fantastic, along with a really well done plot. It was a deep storyline without being over complicated. The only reason I didn't give it the full 5 ★'s is due to the filming style - the dreaded shaky camera effect. I understand the reason for it, and it did give a feeling of being in the middle of it all and the chaos involved, but at times it was difficult to watch. The political message did not shy away from having a strong opinion, and while I appreciate it, I suspect people on the other side of the aisle would come away from the movie thinking it was just more "Hollywood propaganda". Which is a real shame if people feel that way, because the underlining message (There were no WMD's) is a real and powerful message. A multi-national war is being fought, in part, due to faulty or perhaps intentionally misleading facts - and no one seems to care.
3/27/10 - Repo Men - ★★ - I won't spend a lot of time on this one. While my brain tells me it was a bad movie - it was... I kinda enjoyed it. There were parts that reminded me of Blade Runner. If it were not for the acting of Jude and Forest, I think this might have gone straight to dvd. But I'm trying not to be too too harsh, since after-all it is a sci-fi film.
4/3/10 - How To Train Your Dragon - ★★★★★ - A rare 5★ for me. I almost took a point off because the storyline was a tad thin and predictable, but I reminded myself that it was a kid's movie. But, for me the animation was fantastic. The details and textures were amazing. I did see if in 3D, but that doesn't really impress me, the animation and 3D models did. The only other negative comment for me was the lead characters voice reminded me so much of Christian Slater, and his voice annoys me. (Jay Baruchel was the voice incase you were interested). I just enjoyed the visuals and yes the storyline too - even though it was for kids.
4/10/10 - Date Night - ★★★ - I'm a few days late in writing this so details are fuzzy. But I just remember laughing a couple times, smiling a few more times, that is an automatic ★★★. Will it win awards? No. But was I entertained for an evening? yep. I do remember some moments were awkward though, and some lines were obviously dubbed in, which really bothered me.
4/17/10 - Kick Ass - ★★ - While there were parts of this movie that I did like, there were parts that I found a bit too disturbing to actually say that I liked the movie overall. I felt like the film kept tearing me from a 'nerdy comic book teen comedy' to a 'Kill Bill" Quentin Tarantino movie. Perhaps if I knew ahead of time that this was going to be a darker movie, I would have been more prepared, but I was uncomfortable. IF the film-makers did this intentionally then it was brilliant of them, and a good social commentary about "violence in films". But I think I may be reading too much into it, and it was just a disjointed movie that had goofy moments mixed with dark violent ones.
The BEST PART of the movie though for me... one of the background songs was a punk rock version of the "Banana Splits" (performed by "The Dickies").
4/24/10 - Exit through the gift shop - ★★★★★ - So glad I got to see this movie in the theater. disclaimer: I'm a big fan of street art. So guess what this documentary is about... yep- Street Art. But it was more than just a movie about the underground art movement. It was also a character study of not only a handful of street artists (Shepard Fairy, Banksy) but more about a person that I had not heard of before (Not surprising, I don't claim to be an expert and know ALL the street artists out there). He goes by "MBW or Mister Brain Wash" aka: Thierry Guetta. What I also enjoyed about this movie, was the way it made you think about art. The age old question "What is art". Which then also begs the follow-up question... "Who is an artist?". And lastly, I enjoyed the comedy scattered through-out the movie. It was mostly subtle or tongue in cheek sort, and I found it interesting that the small theater that we saw it in... it was like the audience was not sure if they should laugh or not. (I did).
I highly recommend this movie if you like art, and want to be confronted with food for thought.
PS> I'm still struggling with this... is Thierry an idiot or a genius? :)
PS2> While there was not a lot of camera time dedicated to Thierry's "Art", there were some paintings that I did enjoy and like. I don't doubt that there is talent there, I only question if it's developed or not.
Sorry one more PS> It was really cool to also see original "Street" art outside of the theater done by Ellis G. (he does chalk outlines of shadows on city streets).
5/1/10 - The Losers - ★★ - While there were moments in this movie that were cool, for the most part it was just another cheap action movie. I tried not to be too hard on it - after-all it is a comic book movie, but still. Perhaps a rental when nothing else strikes you, but just don't expect a whole lot.
5/8/10 - Iron Man 2 - ★★★★★ - I just really enjoyed this movie. Sure it's a comic book action film, but I still enjoyed it a lot. My only complaint... (as with the first movie)... these high-tech half-robots with massive weapon systems, and it always comes down to a fist fight. Minor point for a comic book movie. Also, I wasn't sure that Scarlet Johannsen would be able to pull off a "tough girl" action hero role... uh, she did with no problem. I hope she gets her own film out of this. Lastly... DAFT PUNK!!!
5/14/10 - Män som hatar kvinnor - ★★★ - Also known as "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". A film made in Denmark, with English subtitles, that's about 2:30 hours long... whew, this was a difficult movie to get through. And in spite of it being a REALLY long and drawn out movie, I actually liked it when all was said and done. I certainly wouldn't recommend this to just anyone, but if you want something off the beaten trail, and are willing to work through a complicated plot with a ton of foreign names to follow, then by all means, this is the film for you. I should warn though (minor spoiler alert...) There were a couple scenes that dealt with rape, and the filming of it held nothing back. It was very brutal and difficult to watch. If you're sensitive to this, then by all means skip this film.
5/21/10 - Harry Brown - ★★★★ - Perhaps I'm being a bit generous with the last ★. All in all, I liked this movie, but I did feel like it lacked something. I kept waiting for something more to happen, but it didn't. I do have one complaint in that it was a very slow moving film. While I was able to take that extra time and appreciate some of the cinematography (for example the shot of Michael Cain putting his shoes on, while filmed from under the bed, was nice). A word of caution too... the movie was rather harsh at exposing the underside or dark-side of humanity. The language was horrible, the drug use and abuse of that one woman was difficult to watch, This may not sit well with other viewers. While I understood it from the story point of view, it did bother me. I tip my hat though to Michael as always a great performance.
6/5/10 - Robin hood - ★★★ - I'm writing this review a week late so I'll keep it short. I'm a BIG fan of knight movies, but this film just never seemed to take off. MY biggest complaint was that it was 2 hours and 20 minutes, which is entirely too long. It did have some good moments, but overall, It just left me with a "meh" moment.
7/3/10- Knight and Day - ★★★ - A spoof style movie with Cameron Diaz and Tom Cruise. Making fun at times of 007 and all other spy genre action movies. While not to be taken seriously, I was entertained and laughed at a few of the lines. It started to get a bit tedious towards the end, but all in all entertained. (side note: Some of the camera shots of Cameron were rather unflattering as it showed that she may have a bit of age showing, and perhaps a bit too much make-up to cover up those marks of age.)
7/17/10 - Inception - ★★★★ - I'm a week late in writing this mini-review so details will be few... Upon leaving the theater, I told my friend, I did not like this movie so much. I though it was too jumbled. At one point, I likened it to watching television with someone who has the remote, and keeps changing the channels on you every three seconds. At one point, it felt like it was literally three different movies going on all at the same time. The "suspense" was driven to such a frenzy (helped along by the intense soundtrack) that it was a bit too much for me. But then... my friend and I started talking about the film (which by the way, he liked). We started to get into some of the deeper philosophical points and even some of the psychological points (which that I enjoyed), and I started to realize... hey, this was a pretty good movie. So, with bit of hesitation, I changed what was more of a ★★ movie for me, into a ★★★★. Just be prepared for 1) confusion and 2) intense action and suspense. If you're prepared, perhaps you'll enjoy the ride a little more.
7/31/10 - Dinner with schmucks - ★★★ - Well, during this movie, I stopped for a minute or so and was trying to think, what was the stupidest movie I've ever seen. And I couldn't really come up with a list, perhaps I blocked those movies out, or just deleted them from my memory banks. But... this movie I'm sure would rank well up in the top 5 or top 10. The only reason I'm giving it 3★'s is because I will admit that some parts did make me laugh. (I enjoyed the 'play dead' scenes).
8/7/10 - The other guys - ★★★★ - A good comedy pair of Will and Mark. Some parts I thought were really funny, other parts kinda brought the movie down to crawl, but all in all, I was entertained and laughed. If you see it in the theater or rent it, make sure to watch until the end of the credits for a small bonus scene.
8/14/10 - Get Low - ★★★★★ - A solid five star movie for me. (there was one complaint in that it was a slow paced movie and at times a bit too slow, and a couple bad edits, but all of the rest made up for those shortcomings). I'll just say this... Fantastic story and fantastic acting all around. Duvall was amazing as always. Lucas Black has got real talent, I HOPE to see him if good roles like this one more often. Sissy Spacek, again good. Bill Murry, yep... awesome. I wanted to add one other thing here... there was some fantastic lines in this movie that was really deep in some philosophical wisdom. A sign of some great writers behind the story (Chris Provenzano & Scott Seeke). And David Boyd should be commended for some really nice cinematography as well.
8/21/10 - Scott Pilgrim vs. The World - ★★★ - This one is a strange one. While there were things I liked in this movie, there were parts I didn't. The music was great! (very raw punk). The effects were well done too. I really give it credit because it was a creative film as well. But... perhaps where I can't compliment this movie is on the storyline. It just felt stale compared to everything else I was watching. Story is important to me, so I guess that's why I'm being critical.
8/28/10 - Animal Kingdom - ★★★★ - A foreign film from Australia that caught my eye from the trailer. I also was curious to see this because it won some award(s) at Sundance. A very dark movie (not literally), but it showed how some families can just really be messed up, and it doesn't take that much in life for things to turn sour. I did actually have some trouble with the thick Aussie accents, but not enough to detract from the movie overall.
9/4/10 - The American - ★★★ - I'm usually generous when giving an extra ★, but this time, I'm going to stick with my 3★'s. First, it was a good movie. The story was interesting, not overly complicated, but kept you guessing throughout. But, it was a very slow paced film. In my opinion it was too slow. On the plus side, the scenery of the Italian countryside was really nice! The little town that he visited "castel del monte" (assuming it was actually shot there) looked like an amazing place to visit. Perhaps a note of warning too... there was a lot of nudity in this movie.
9/18/10 - The Town - ★★★★ - Very impressed with Ben Affleck's film here. The acting was good all the way around, the story was interesting, and it moved at a good pace.
9/25/10 - Catfish - ★★★ - This is a difficult one for me to judge... I feel like the trailer of the film tricked me. With quotes like "The Hitchcock movie that Hitchcock never made" - I don't think it had anything to do with a Hitchcock movie. They portrayed it like it might be some sort of horror movie or at the very least a murder mystery - It was not. I don't want to say too much, because yes... it was a mystery in a sense, and I think had I not been waiting for some sort of gruesome twist, I would have enjoyed the film a lot more. I will say, I thought the storyline was interesting, the way they used things like "google maps" and "google earth" in the movie (more than a few times), was creative. But I can't help but to wonder how much of this was actually a "documentary" and how much was staged... the fact that JJ Abrams was attached to this movie leaves me suspicious - which I guess is what still makes for a mystery.
(side note: The theater that we usually go to, installed a new "digital projector" and this was the first movie we saw on it... I liked it. The colors were bright, and the lines seemed crisper, I look forward to seeing other digital movies this way and I'm curious to see how it compares with other movies).
10/2/10 - Let me in - ★★★★ - using the "relative" rating for a horror movie here. I had seen the original Swedish version of this movie on dvd (thanks netflix) called "Let the right one in". While the movie did make several changes (mostly to time period, and settings, such as Video arcades), it did stick to the original movie closely. As far as overall feel, I think the Swedish version was a bit creepier, whereas the American version depended a bit more on over-the-top visual effects. But all in all, I enjoyed this movie, perhaps even more than the Swedish version - maybe because I was not reading subtitles the whole time.
10/9/10 - The Social Network - ★★★ - Maybe I went in to this movie believing the hype, but for some reason I was disappointed. I had heard how great this movie was (Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 97%), and a lot of my twitter folks were talking about it as well. While I wouldn't say it was a bad movie, I just expected a little more. Instead it was basically a good story (though I'm not sure what truth was stretched to make for a good movie) - but that's about it. The dialogue was VERY fast, which left little time for something called "acting". Zuckerberg's character, (played by Jesse Eisenberg) was a rather monotone character. I think my biggest surprise was watching Justin Timberlake, who did a pretty good job (although was it really much of a stretch for him to play a rock-star like character?). One other comment... I became very aware at how the women were portrayed in this film... and it wasn't very flattering. Most of them were portrayed as slutty party girls, and hardly any of the women had any significant speaking roles. There was a couple exceptions (the lawyer who took a certain amount of pity on Zuckerberg, and one bit with Zuckerberg's girlfriend, but even that she was "just the angry girlfriend").
10/16/10 - It's kind of a funny story - ★★★★★ - (another review that I'm behind writing on (3 weeks!) so I'll keep it short...)
We took a gamble on this one. I wasn't quite sure what to expect. The trailer made it look like it might be a teen romance movie (which in a way it was), but it was also much more than that. It was well written and well acted. (note: I am a fan of Zach Galinifakis, so that helped). Really enjoyed this one, and could be the highlight of 2010 movies for me.
10/23/10 - Hereafter - ★★ - Sorry, this one just didn't cut it for me. A confusing message (it tried very hard to stay away from any sort of religious message to a fault). Lots and lots of "Hollywood coincidences" that became unbelievable. Acting was ok by Matt Damon though, but still a bit flat. Strange cast (Jay Mohr as Damon's brother?) I usually like Clint Eastwood films, but this one... not so much. (note: it wasn't played up, but Steven Speilberg also had his hand in this movie... that did not surprise me... I think Steven is suffering from the M. Night syndrome).
11/6/10 - Due Date - ★★★ - Just couldn't quite bring myself to give it a 2 ★★ rating, but it was close. While I like all the actors involved, this movie was borderline tedious. Sure, there were some funny moments, and overall I was entertained, but in general the laughs were few. I should note… there was one woman in the audience who laughed (loudly) throughout the entire movie, so I know some people really thought it was funny. As my friend pointed out… Zach Galinafakis is starting to play the same role over and over again.
11/20/10 - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows (Part 1) - ★★★★ - Overall I enjoyed this film. I was surprised how much of the story I have forgotten so there were quite a few parts to the movie that left me confused as to what was happening. I should have either rented the previous movie(s), or re-read the book. I can't fault the movie for that point though. I had trouble at times with the dialogue. I'm not sure if it was that I wasn't hearing the words very well or that the English accents were a bit thick. (Yes, I'm aware that those two complaints make me sound like an old man!). I VERY much enjoyed the cinematography. I like a lot of the atmosphere shots, and a lot of the blue or cool tints. This is a strange point, I'll admit: While the movie had a lot of magic and effects in it, I felt like the experience seemed a bit less magical. Perhaps because there seemed to be less fantastical creature or plants, or even characters at this stage.
But again, all in all, I enjoyed the story, the acting, the effects, and I'll definitely be back for the final installment.
12/11/10 - Black Swan - ★★★ - To be honest, I'm still not 100% sure I'd give this movie the 3★ rating or not. Yes, the acting was very well done. Natalie may even get an oscar for this one. But the story left me feeling a little lost and somehow cheated. I'm not sure how, but i was both confused during the telling of the story, and yet I also felt the storyline was a bit predictable. While I knew the movie dealt with the ballet as a topic, I was not aware that the entire movie was about the ballet. I don't know, maybe that 3★ rating is right down the middle for me and is accurate as to how I feel about it.
12/19/10 - Tron - Legacy - ★★ - I really tried to like this movie. First the positives… The visuals (aka effects) were VERY well done. The sounds also was very well done (lots of attention to detail and subtle uses of effects to make it seem other-worldly). I also enjoyed the soundtrack by Daft Punk (note: I bought the soundtrack, and taken outside of the movie, I did not enjoy the soundtrack as much). Now the negative… the acting was sub-par. I liked Jeff Bridges parts, but even those were a bit one dimensional. Garrett Hedlund, who played the main character, was just borderline too. But most of all, I didn't like the storyline. Maybe if i recently re-watched the original Tron, some of it would have been clearer (netflix does not have the original Tron -why?!). Lastly, the graphics/effects of the digital "Jeff Bridges" (character name Clu) Was nice, but still looked totally fake. It really diminished the movie for me.
12/24/10 - Tangled - ★★★★ - A last minute decision to go see Disney's Tangled in the theater… and I'm glad I went. Of course I rationalized this to myself that I really wanted to go to view the 3d animation, but I'll be honest… I had a good time watching the movie. I won't critique the story, after all it is a kids movie. I absolutely loved the animation though. They made some real progress with computer graphics, and this movie showcased that. Of note: The character design, the hands, needless to say - the hair was amazing, the water, and perhaps most enjoyable - the vibrant colors and lighting. A good movie to end the year on.
Total = 38
Saturday, January 01, 2011
Media of 2010 - Books
Wow, almost a full year since I last blogged here. And to think I posted something almost daily before. Anyway - lets get right to it:
BOOKS OF 2010
Makers - by Cory Doctorow - ★★★ - It's odd, but I just had a really difficult time getting into this book. I'm a fan of Cory's. I REALLY enjoyed his last book called "Little Brother". I also liked (though it was a struggle at times) his book previous to that called "Someone comes to town, Someone leaves town". The subject matter of "Makers" was right up my alley too... I'm a big fan of Make magazine, and I've dabbled in the "maker culture", of which I know a lot about the subjects in the book (eg: 3d printers that can be set up in a person's living room). But I felt like the story was just a bit too forced. Like he created an outline first of a few key technologies, and then tried to cram a story in-between. I did finish the book, so that explains the 3 ★'s, as any book that can hold my attention that long means something. I just wish I liked it better.
1/24/10 - Altar of Eden - by James Rollins - ★★★★ - Another Rollins book that I enjoyed. While this one took a slightly different turn than his previous books, I still enjoyed the storyline. A few 'hollywood' moments and odd coincidences, but this is the type of book that were it a movie, it would be an action adventure movie where coincidences are often overlooked. As always, I appreciate Rollins' blend of science into his stories.
3/15/10 - Three Cups of Tea - by Greg Mortenson - ★★★★ - this was a difficult book for me to rate, but I chose to go with 4★'s. It is/was an amazing story about Greg's life and the events and things he's accomplished in his life (and those around him). While I appreciate the well told story, and applaud his efforts of building schools in and around Pakistan, I struggled with the book. I was so glad to have finally been done it. It took me a very long time to plow my way through it. I suspect, the main reason is because of all the tons of names involved and places involved and that there were many foreign language names/places/descriptions. I'm glad I did make the extra effort, and finished the book, it was a struggle for me. That said, though, I would highly recommend this book. It is inspiring how one man can make a difference in the world to bring about good.
3/23/10 - Shutter Island - by Dennis Lehane - ★★★ - Perhaps I should not rate this book... the reason being I only read about 70% of it - But - I did see the movie so I know how it ends :) The main reason I decided to try and give the book a shot was because I enjoyed the movie. I enjoyed it because of the story. I also had a couple questions regarding the characters that I thought that if I took my time with the book, those questions would be answered. Sadly - not so much. I even went back and re-read some pages, but I still didn't get it. Finally, I decided to just stop, and move onto a book that I enjoyed more. And what surprised me, was how much the movie stayed true to the book. There were lines of dialogue that were word for word, and I could hear Dicaprio saying it in his Boston Accent. But when I couldn't get my answers, I just decided to move on. So take my rating for the book for what it's worth.
4/18/10 - The Pawn (The Patrick Bowers Files, Book 1) - by Steven James. - ★★★★ -
This was a free book I picked up on Amazon for the Kindle. (It's not longer free at this moment -sorry).
I enjoyed it. It was a fast read and moved along nicely, like an an action movie. Some interesting plot stories going on as well. I'm not ready to go out and purchase the next book in the series, but perhaps I will come back to the series in the future.
7/10 - The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood - by Howard Pyle - ★★★★★ - (I've since learned that Mr. Howard Pyle is perhaps more well known for being a talented illustrator/artist). I really enjoyed this book, much to my surprise. It was a "freebie" on my Amazon Kindle, and having seen the movie just a week or two before getting this book, I was curious to find out more about this character called Robin Hood. Semi-spoiler alert>>> the book and the movie are NOTHING alike! The book was enjoyable and I liked the somewhat simple stories. It was like reading an "action movie" at times. Now... one thing to mention... at the beginning, I almost gave up on this book. I learned that it contained a lot of "old English" like "thee, thou, mayest, pray they, marry, etc..." - but it was mostly just the dialogue between the characters. I was able to get used to it, and then was able to enjoy it. All in all, a fun book, that takes just a little bit of work to get through.
7/24/10 - The Psychology of Dreams and On the Significance of Number-Dreams - by Carl Jung - ★ - I won't sugar coat this... it was a horrible book, and Carl Jung is probably a quack in my opinion. Ok, to be fair... I've never read anything else by him (though I plan to try once more), so maybe it's unfair to form such an opinion of this man from one small reading. While the first part of the book, had a few interesting points, it was not enough for me to 'enjoy' the read. (also it was written like a college paper, and almost had a lawyer-ish sounding to it). The second part of the book, regarding numbers in dreams, simply stretched all credibility for me. He twisted numbers, and math around into complete hogwash, in order to try and make a connection between points of significance. It reminded me a lot of "numerology". I don't doubt that mr. Jung has insights on dreams (he says he studied between 1500 and 2000 a year!), but I think he might be grasping at straws just a bit much for my liking.
11/25/10 - The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger - ★★★★ - I wasn't sure what to expect with this book… Of course I've heard this book mentioned a lot, but I can't say that I've ever heard what the story was about. So, I was curious why this book is a "classic". Oh, the other obvious thing… I had heard this book was banned (specifically where it was banned from, I'm not sure.) I went to purchase this book, but was shocked at the price. I ended up borrowing it from a friend. It started off not so good. I felt like I was just reading a college kid's modern-day blog. But I stuck with it, and today upon finishing it, I'm glad I did. I'm still not sure why this book is a "classic", but after all was said and done, I enjoyed the story. Well, "Enjoy" may not be the right word… I found the story interesting, and a bit depressing. I can understand why it was banned, but under today's moral ethics, it was fairly tame.
12/25/10 - Draculas - ★★★ - I learned about this book because it was a sort of experiment in ebooks. It was a collaboration between 4 authors, and posted directly to amazon by the authors. The coast was (I think) around 3-4 dollars, with most of that going directly to the authors and a lesser percentage to amazon.com. I liked the whole idea of the project and the price was right. And… it was right around Halloween and i was looking for a nice scary book. I just finished it last night, and while I do have some complaints, overall I was entertained. Especially when you factor in the price. Now here's my biggest complaint… The title was very misleading… the authors took great liberty as to what makes a creature a vampire. If you ask me, this should have simply been a zombie book, but I suspect they called them "draculas" as a marketing decision since vampire movies are popular now. A simple point that I was able to overlook, but for any vampire purest, this will be an important point. The book was rather gory and detailed in it's gore descriptions. Not for the faint at heart. It reminded me a bit like a B-movie. As I said, just don't expect a lot from this book, and if you view it through the lens of a B-horror movie, you should also be entertained.
total = 9
(I know... not all that impressive of a number for the year. In my defense, I spent quite a bit of time this year searching for a good book to read. I even tried to re-read one of my favorites from 15+ years ago (The Illuminatus Trilogy) - but even that book, I had a hard time getting back into it. And... This year I also attempted to learn a new software program, so many a night I spent reading the manuals.)
BOOKS OF 2010
Makers - by Cory Doctorow - ★★★ - It's odd, but I just had a really difficult time getting into this book. I'm a fan of Cory's. I REALLY enjoyed his last book called "Little Brother". I also liked (though it was a struggle at times) his book previous to that called "Someone comes to town, Someone leaves town". The subject matter of "Makers" was right up my alley too... I'm a big fan of Make magazine, and I've dabbled in the "maker culture", of which I know a lot about the subjects in the book (eg: 3d printers that can be set up in a person's living room). But I felt like the story was just a bit too forced. Like he created an outline first of a few key technologies, and then tried to cram a story in-between. I did finish the book, so that explains the 3 ★'s, as any book that can hold my attention that long means something. I just wish I liked it better.
1/24/10 - Altar of Eden - by James Rollins - ★★★★ - Another Rollins book that I enjoyed. While this one took a slightly different turn than his previous books, I still enjoyed the storyline. A few 'hollywood' moments and odd coincidences, but this is the type of book that were it a movie, it would be an action adventure movie where coincidences are often overlooked. As always, I appreciate Rollins' blend of science into his stories.
3/15/10 - Three Cups of Tea - by Greg Mortenson - ★★★★ - this was a difficult book for me to rate, but I chose to go with 4★'s. It is/was an amazing story about Greg's life and the events and things he's accomplished in his life (and those around him). While I appreciate the well told story, and applaud his efforts of building schools in and around Pakistan, I struggled with the book. I was so glad to have finally been done it. It took me a very long time to plow my way through it. I suspect, the main reason is because of all the tons of names involved and places involved and that there were many foreign language names/places/descriptions. I'm glad I did make the extra effort, and finished the book, it was a struggle for me. That said, though, I would highly recommend this book. It is inspiring how one man can make a difference in the world to bring about good.
3/23/10 - Shutter Island - by Dennis Lehane - ★★★ - Perhaps I should not rate this book... the reason being I only read about 70% of it - But - I did see the movie so I know how it ends :) The main reason I decided to try and give the book a shot was because I enjoyed the movie. I enjoyed it because of the story. I also had a couple questions regarding the characters that I thought that if I took my time with the book, those questions would be answered. Sadly - not so much. I even went back and re-read some pages, but I still didn't get it. Finally, I decided to just stop, and move onto a book that I enjoyed more. And what surprised me, was how much the movie stayed true to the book. There were lines of dialogue that were word for word, and I could hear Dicaprio saying it in his Boston Accent. But when I couldn't get my answers, I just decided to move on. So take my rating for the book for what it's worth.
4/18/10 - The Pawn (The Patrick Bowers Files, Book 1) - by Steven James. - ★★★★ -
This was a free book I picked up on Amazon for the Kindle. (It's not longer free at this moment -sorry).
I enjoyed it. It was a fast read and moved along nicely, like an an action movie. Some interesting plot stories going on as well. I'm not ready to go out and purchase the next book in the series, but perhaps I will come back to the series in the future.
7/10 - The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood - by Howard Pyle - ★★★★★ - (I've since learned that Mr. Howard Pyle is perhaps more well known for being a talented illustrator/artist). I really enjoyed this book, much to my surprise. It was a "freebie" on my Amazon Kindle, and having seen the movie just a week or two before getting this book, I was curious to find out more about this character called Robin Hood. Semi-spoiler alert>>> the book and the movie are NOTHING alike! The book was enjoyable and I liked the somewhat simple stories. It was like reading an "action movie" at times. Now... one thing to mention... at the beginning, I almost gave up on this book. I learned that it contained a lot of "old English" like "thee, thou, mayest, pray they, marry, etc..." - but it was mostly just the dialogue between the characters. I was able to get used to it, and then was able to enjoy it. All in all, a fun book, that takes just a little bit of work to get through.
7/24/10 - The Psychology of Dreams and On the Significance of Number-Dreams - by Carl Jung - ★ - I won't sugar coat this... it was a horrible book, and Carl Jung is probably a quack in my opinion. Ok, to be fair... I've never read anything else by him (though I plan to try once more), so maybe it's unfair to form such an opinion of this man from one small reading. While the first part of the book, had a few interesting points, it was not enough for me to 'enjoy' the read. (also it was written like a college paper, and almost had a lawyer-ish sounding to it). The second part of the book, regarding numbers in dreams, simply stretched all credibility for me. He twisted numbers, and math around into complete hogwash, in order to try and make a connection between points of significance. It reminded me a lot of "numerology". I don't doubt that mr. Jung has insights on dreams (he says he studied between 1500 and 2000 a year!), but I think he might be grasping at straws just a bit much for my liking.
11/25/10 - The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger - ★★★★ - I wasn't sure what to expect with this book… Of course I've heard this book mentioned a lot, but I can't say that I've ever heard what the story was about. So, I was curious why this book is a "classic". Oh, the other obvious thing… I had heard this book was banned (specifically where it was banned from, I'm not sure.) I went to purchase this book, but was shocked at the price. I ended up borrowing it from a friend. It started off not so good. I felt like I was just reading a college kid's modern-day blog. But I stuck with it, and today upon finishing it, I'm glad I did. I'm still not sure why this book is a "classic", but after all was said and done, I enjoyed the story. Well, "Enjoy" may not be the right word… I found the story interesting, and a bit depressing. I can understand why it was banned, but under today's moral ethics, it was fairly tame.
12/25/10 - Draculas - ★★★ - I learned about this book because it was a sort of experiment in ebooks. It was a collaboration between 4 authors, and posted directly to amazon by the authors. The coast was (I think) around 3-4 dollars, with most of that going directly to the authors and a lesser percentage to amazon.com. I liked the whole idea of the project and the price was right. And… it was right around Halloween and i was looking for a nice scary book. I just finished it last night, and while I do have some complaints, overall I was entertained. Especially when you factor in the price. Now here's my biggest complaint… The title was very misleading… the authors took great liberty as to what makes a creature a vampire. If you ask me, this should have simply been a zombie book, but I suspect they called them "draculas" as a marketing decision since vampire movies are popular now. A simple point that I was able to overlook, but for any vampire purest, this will be an important point. The book was rather gory and detailed in it's gore descriptions. Not for the faint at heart. It reminded me a bit like a B-movie. As I said, just don't expect a lot from this book, and if you view it through the lens of a B-horror movie, you should also be entertained.
total = 9
(I know... not all that impressive of a number for the year. In my defense, I spent quite a bit of time this year searching for a good book to read. I even tried to re-read one of my favorites from 15+ years ago (The Illuminatus Trilogy) - but even that book, I had a hard time getting back into it. And... This year I also attempted to learn a new software program, so many a night I spent reading the manuals.)
Sunday, February 07, 2010
Nature of Humanity and parking spots
It's now about 6am on a cold snowy morning. The day after a record setting snowfall in the area.
I write this now, because I can't get back to sleep - for fear of worrying about my truck.
Let me explain...
I live in an apartment complex with a parking lot.
When it snows of any reasonable amount, the parking lot becomes a mess.
The reason being, is that the complex sends a plow around to clear the streets - that sounds good right? Well, what it does is - it plows the snow up and blocks in every person parked in the parking lot. Now here's the thing... when you have to dig out your car (or pick-up truck in my case), there's no place to throw the snow. You have to walk the length of your car for every shovelful and dump the snow in front of (or behind) the vehicle. It's a real pain.
In the years that I've lived here, I've seen people, who are either lazy, or inconsiderate, or just plain both do the following... rather than walk that car length, to dump the snow, they simply throw the snow behind (or in front of) the car next to them! I don't see it happen often, but at least once every major snowstorm.
Now, this brings me to why I'm writing this...
I woke up around 4:45am and couldn't get back to sleep, so I happened to get up, and look out my front window. Wait... let me back up here a minute... I dug out my truck early in the morning yesterday. I have a 4x4 truck - aka 4-wheel-drive. So as a benefit of that, I don't have to spend too much time clearing out the snow behind my truck. I'm able to drive over most of it - within reason. So that's what I did. I cleaned off the sides, the snow actually on my truck, and most of the snow behind my truck.
Ok back to this morning...
I glance out the window, and see that someone has dug out the back of my truck, almost clear down to the pavement! Wow! Was someone that nice to me? helping out a fellow neighbor? As I was sitting here, trying to figure out who that neighbor was... it hit me... The SUV/Van next to me, is completely plowed in - and I realized... They didn't dig ME out to be nice and neighborly, they dug ME out for REVENGE!
I remembered as I was digging out, my neighbor came out too and was digging out his car (I think it was a Prius). I put 2+2 together and saw that the vehicle next to me was a blue/black SUV. That's when I realized... the guy who dug his car out this morning, came back to "his" spot, and someone had taken it. I know, I know... it's not HIS parking spot, but it's like an unwritten rule in apartment complexes that if someone digs out their car, it's "their" spot. Some people put up folding chairs, to "mark their territory" as their spot.
As someone who has been in that exact situation, I've been pissed off too! The nerve of someone taking your spot, after you spent hours digging it out, is beyond frustrating.
So that's when I realized what happened. He's a younger guy, I think there might be a couple of roomates there, and while I didn't see this happen, I can garauntee you they probably were angry, and decide to teach the guy a lesson, and RE-shovel him back in.
So now, I put 2+2+2 together and think - wait a minute... IF the guy comes out later today and sees MY spot empty, and his spot full - he's going to think that I was the inconsiderate person who just moved my snow to behind his vehicle! Would he take some sort of revenge now on my vehicle?! Would he "key it" with a nice long scratch?! Would he smack his snow-shovel into the side and possibly dent it?! Ugh. So these are the thoughts now running through my head, and preventing me from getting back to sleep.
Now, I'll have to try and keep a 24 hour watch on my vehicle to see how the guy reacts, and possibly confront him and try and explain, "It wasn't me!"
The joy's of living in an apartment complex.
Update: All was fine. I decided to go back to bed and not worry about what might happen. In the end, nothing happened, and when I checked out my window around noon, there was a different vehicle parked there, and some heavy equipment had been brought in to actually remove the snow via a backhoe.
Thursday, February 04, 2010
deleting blogger comments
This is more of a note to myself, but perhaps someone else will find it too.
I keep having trouble remembering how to delete spam comments from my blog.
There is "supposed" to be a "trash can" icon next to a comment, that allows the blog owner (me) to remove unwanted comments. But there is a trick to getting to it!
First a special thanks to this original blog post that taught me how to get to the trash can icon.
nutshell...
1) Sign into your account (if not already).
2) view your blog.
3) in the sidebar where the it says "blog archive" and shows the history of your blog posts, click on the MONTH of the post that you wish to delete from.
4) NOW... when you look at the posts for that month, at the bottom of each post is a new link that says "1 comment" (obviously, there may be more than 1 comment). Click that! That will bring up a new page, just with the comments for that post, and THERE will be the missing trash can icon.
talk about hoops. I don't know why blogger makes it so difficult, or if this is a bug.
keywords: delete comments, delete, comments, trashcan, trash-can, trash icon,
I keep having trouble remembering how to delete spam comments from my blog.
There is "supposed" to be a "trash can" icon next to a comment, that allows the blog owner (me) to remove unwanted comments. But there is a trick to getting to it!
First a special thanks to this original blog post that taught me how to get to the trash can icon.
nutshell...
1) Sign into your account (if not already).
2) view your blog.
3) in the sidebar where the it says "blog archive" and shows the history of your blog posts, click on the MONTH of the post that you wish to delete from.
4) NOW... when you look at the posts for that month, at the bottom of each post is a new link that says "1 comment" (obviously, there may be more than 1 comment). Click that! That will bring up a new page, just with the comments for that post, and THERE will be the missing trash can icon.
talk about hoops. I don't know why blogger makes it so difficult, or if this is a bug.
keywords: delete comments, delete, comments, trashcan, trash-can, trash icon,
Friday, January 01, 2010
2009 - Media Consumed - part 3 of 3 - Movies (theater)
I decided at the beginning of 2009, to keep a list of the media that I consumed. I listed movies that I saw in the theater, movies that I rented on dvd, and books. In hindsight, I WISH I thought to include my music purchases (and gifts) to this list as well.
Since the lists also include short "reviews" they've added up to a lengthy post, so I decided to split them into 3 parts: Books, dvd's, and theater.
Comments are welcomed.
>>>
Movies (seen in the theater):
1/1/09: The Day the Earth Stood Still - ∆∆∆ overall good - last few minutes of ending was lame though.
1/16/09: Defiance - ∆∆∆ I think it was a good movie but Jerk behind me kept talking and ruined it for me.
1/31/09: Taken - ∆∆∆∆ really good for an action movie. Other acting = meh.
2/15/09: The International - ∆∆∆∆ pretty good plot, moved along nicely, good action. One scene bothered me towards end -walking around bazaar with handgun in plain view.
2/21/09: The Wrestler - ∆∆ - Almost a 3 star, but I just can't push it that high. Very predictable character study. Good acting though, and subject was just a bit depressing.
2/25/09: Slumdog Millionaire - ∆∆∆∆ - Good story mostly. Hard to watch with no judgment after winning Oscars and word of mouth buzz about how good it was.
3/7/09: The Watchmen - ∆∆∆∆ - Point off for mediocre acting, and choppy dialogue, but I think I may have been watching "Genius film-making" at work here. Great intricate story.
3/28/09: Knowing - ∆∆∆∆ - Admittedly it was very hokey at times. The acting was so-so. But I really liked this story, and some of the creepiness to the film. There were a lot of different ideas stitched together and for the most part, I think it worked well. Yes, the subject matter was right up my alley.
4/11/09: Duplicity - ∆∆∆ - not really great and not really good either. The ending of the movie was a big let down as well.
4/18/09: State of Play - ∆∆∆∆ - I liked this one. A nice conspiracy movie always gets to me. Afleck was pretty good too (surprisingly).
4/25/09: The Soloist - ∆∆∆∆∆ - a really touching story about a man with mental problems (schizophrenia?) who has a gift of playing the Cello, but ends up homeless. A Newspaper man ends up doing a story on him and becomes friends with the man. Great acting by both Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx.
5/2/09: X-Men Origins: Wolverine - ∆∆∆∆ - I'm being generous with the last triangle, but I'm giving extra credit for being a comic book movie. (confession: I for got to write this review until 4 weeks later! So not much details here other than - I liked it. Deadpool was awesome, and Liev Schreiber was really good as "Sabertooth".
5/9/09: Star Trek - ∆∆∆∆∆ - I REALLY enjoyed this movie. It was just a fun ride for me. Sure, if you think about some of the plot idea for more than a second you might say "hey, wait a minute..." but all in all I just enjoyed the show. Two complaints... the shaky camera technique... and for some reason the OVERUSE of white "Lens flares" as a special effect.
5/16/09: Angels and Demons - ∆∆∆ - Not really a great film, and I can understand some of the negative comments, but for me the subject matter made it all worth it. I'm a fan of Dan Brown's and conspiracy movies. I think the largest complaint... trying to fit such a complicated storyline into a 2 hour movie is impossible.
5/23/09: Terminator Salvation - ∆∆ - While I was entertained by the robots and cool motorcycles, that's about all I can say about this movie. The paradox of time travel (to quote my friend) was "rubbed in our faces" and still didn't make any sense at all. The acting was less than par. Lastly... a pregnant woman on a helicopter during a bombing and air strike - huh?!
Just a lame attempt to milk this "brand" for all its worth to perhaps hook a new generation. I'm sure that since it did well at the box office, there will be another one with another lame storyline... and I'll probably go see that too cause it has robots in it.
5/30/09: UP - ∆∆∆∆∆ - Pixar does it again. A moving animated feature about never giving up on your dreams. In addition to never be afraid to change your dreams either. A bit sad in the beginning as it deals with loss of a loved one, but still has plenty of laughs later. Well written.
6/6/09: The Hangover - ∆∆∆∆ - First this movie was rude and crude... second... it made me really laugh at times! Don't get me wrong, this movie is not about a storyline, or plot twists, it's about jokes, man butts, and Mike Tyson. I'm only being generous with the 4 stars because it made me laugh, and now-a-days, I applaud anything that can make me laugh (even if it's rude and crude).
6/16/0/: The Taking of Pelham 123 - ∆∆∆∆ - I'm almost giving this movie a 3 star rating, but I'm being generous for two important reasons... The acting was well done on behalf of Denzel (has he ever made a bad movie?) While John Travolta definitely pulled off the "bad ass" look, I had a hard time believing his character with all the cursing. It was either poorly written, or maybe I just know that John is a good gentle guy in real life, and I couldn't get that out of my head. But - the STORY was well done and that's what kept me engaged for the whole movie. The only other thing that really bothered me was a minor technical problem - all of the inconsistencies with the walkie-talkies and microphones. Apparently Hollywood has a hard time understanding that "push to talk" is how most walkie-talkies work ;)
Two minor things but otherwise a good entertaining movie.
Public Enemies - ∆∆∆ - I have to keep this short, because I saw the movie a couple weeks ago and the details have slipped my mind. Johnny Depp was great (as usual). The movie... not so much. I won't say it was bad, but I think first and foremost, it was 2.5 hours long, and they could have easily cut 30 minutes out of that film. There were a TON of characters in this movie to the point where I had trouble keeping track of who was who. Then... After the movie, I looked up some facts about John Dillinger, and learned that the movie took quite a few "liberties".
The Hurt Locker - ∆∆∆∆∆ - Wow, this was a really good movie. Terrific acting (Big hat tip to Jeremy Renner), great cinematography, strong story-line, the only thing that bothered me was the subject matter... War. I had trouble separating the fact that I was enjoying the movie on an "art" level, while at the same time shocked at the idiocy and horror that man can do to one another in the name of "war". It was also a shock as I was leaving the movie theater, I walked out into a cool summer night, I had my coffee, and a Tastycake as a snack, and yet as I'm watching this movie as "entertainment" there are guys on the other side of the world LIVING this thing on a daily basis. As part of my countrymen are off in a foreign land risking their lives and taking other lives, I'm sitting at home watching it on the big screen - there's something really wrong with that. This world we live in is a messed up place.
Harry Potter - ∆∆∆ - Again, I'm writing this a week later, so some of the details have been forgotten, but I'll try to be brief. I liked the movie overall. But for me it was missing something. It was a tad too long. Pardon the pun... but it seemed like some of the magic was missing in this movie. That said, there were also moments where I was drawn into the movie and was just watching everything as if I were in Hogwarts. I tip my hat to a movie that can do that. Some of the "boy meets girl" story-lines started to grate on my nerves a bit, but I think the fans wanted to see that (I didn't). Lastly... I was particularly impressed with two things in the movie... There seemed to be a great attention to detail in this film. One scene, a girl got up at the end of class, and started to leave, when the teacher stopped her and reminded her to remember her rat's tail. The other item I was impressed with was the camera work of the movie. There were quite a few digital effects, but everything worked smoothly and I actually felt like the camera itself was a character in the movie. Well done.
I hope the next (two) movies will re-capture some of the magic. (I've learned they are breaking the last book up into two movies (marketing!?)).
Funny People - ∆∆∆ - This movie had it's moments, but it also had times where it was struggling. The comedy was not always funny (lots of "blue" comedy). I think the best parts were with Seth Rogan, he did a really good job, and I think he has a future in acting with some additional serious roles.
The ending was really tedious and not pleasant to watch. My best advice... rent it on dvd, so you can fast forward during the slow parts.
Julie and Julia - ∆∆∆∆∆ - I know... I'm being generous with that last "star". I think realistically It might be a 4 star, but I came out of the theater in a good mood so that's why the extra bonus. That said... I enjoyed this movie. I thought Meryl Streep was really spot on with her julia child imitation. (though I'm certainly not a Julia child expert). She conveyed a feeling of a jovial personality that really came across on the big screen. Her costar Amy Adams also did well. The guy who played "Eric" also had a great supporting role (Chris Messina - I don't recall ever seeing him before). So obviously it's a chick flick, but I enjoyed it anyway. Just two good stories told well, which is the main reason I go to the movies. Now... I need to find a cookbook so as I can try some french cooking. Mmmm Butter....
District 9 - ∆∆∆∆∆ - Wow. A really good sci-fi movie! I really enjoyed the storyline, the acting was great by an unknown (to me anyway) actor - who made me love him at times and then hate him, and I was being push a pulled emotionally by his character - well done! The effects - wow. For a sci-fi film this one is up there.
500 days of Summer - ∆ - I came this close to walking out on this one. So sweet and sappy... like a double chocolate cake with extra icing sprinkled with sugar with a bottle of syrup to wash it down. Ugh. At one point, I thought... the only reason they made this movie was to sell the movie soundtrack. To be fair... I went to this movie by myself, and it was a chick flick dating movie, so I guess it makes sense I didn't like the show. Oh well.
9/5/09 - Inglorious Basterds - ∆∆∆∆ - Quintin Tarantino... I give him credit at least for having a certain style to his movies. I'm just not sure I like his style is all. After "kill bill" I thought I'd never watch another Tarantino movie again... but with Inglorious Bastereds I decided to give him another try. Luckily I was surprised that I liked the movie overall. I thought it told a story (or stories) well and I was transported back in time to the 1940's. But two things bothered me abt the movie... 1) The soundtrack! For some reason, I just find Tarantino's music choices annoying! Not to mention how loud they are. 2) But more to the point in the movie... For some reason the ending bothered me. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I just wasn't ready for it I think. But again, overall, I liked the movie. Fine acting all around too.
9/12/09 - 9 - ∆∆∆ - Perhaps under better circumstances I would have enjoyed this movie better... the theater we usually go to is a fantastic theater. This particular night, they had two odd showtimes (9pm - too early - 11:10pm - too late). So we went to the local mall which had a "multiplex". It's a horrible theater in comparison. higher prices, movie didn't start on time, commercials mixed in with movie previews, and at LEAST 15 minutes of commercials and previews, high concession stand prices (I guess that's normal), uncomfortable seats, and small screens in a long viewing room. So... with that mindset it's difficult to put it all aside and enjoy a movie. ALL that said... the animation and graphics were amazing. High marks for that! But the story was convoluted - it didn't really make sense overall. AND to top it all off... the day before I saw this movie, I leanred that it was based on a 10 minute short movie by Shane Ackerson which was his college film project. I made the mistake of watching the short film on youtube the day before... which was the SAME story just condensed into 10 minutes. So that also kinda ruined it for me, since I knew the ending of the movie.
9/26/09 - The Informant - ∆∆ - Just a really tedious and confusing movie to keep up with. I think there was an interesting story in there somewhere, but this movie did not do it any justice. And, the music or soundtrack really annoyed me as well.
10/3/09 - Zombieland - ∆∆∆ - Keeping in mind that this was a "Zombie" movie, it wasn't bad. There were moments where I laughed, so I give it points for that. Will it earn an Oscar? Not at all! But I was amused for my admission fee and what more can one ask from a Zombie movie.
10/10/09 - Couples Resort - ∆∆∆ - I'm being generous with that third ∆. To be fair, the movie did make me laugh several times in the beginning. I'd go as far to say that I liked the movie about half-way through, but then it just kinda went down hill. The jokes were predictable, the scenes were contrived, and Vince Vaughn just couldn't
carry the entire movie with the story line.
10/17/09 - Law Abiding Citizen - ∆∆∆∆ - I really enjoyed this movie. I liked the storyline especially and the acting was great with Jamie Foxx and Gerard Butler held his own also. Granted, the plot had a few "Hollywood coincidences" but sometimes you have to put blinders on for those. For what it's worth, I just looked up on the internet how to spell "Gerard Butler" and noticed it looks like the critics are panning this movie. What do they know!
11/7/09 - Men who stare at goats - ∆∆∆ - Overall I liked this movie but it really left me hanging towards the end. I don't know what, but somehow I expected more. Strangely enough, a lot of the "strange" things that the movie talked about, I had already been aware of: Remote viewing, psy ops, lsd, mk-ultra, etc...
11/21/09 - Pirate Radio - ∆∆∆ - Again, this movie barely got that third ∆. Films like these baffle me in the sense that they can gather a cast of so many talented people, but yet the story or directing or editing just falls flat. The editing on this one is what bothered me the most in that it was choppy. Scenes cut back and forth with no smooth transition at all. As my friend put it nicely, "It was like watching a long music video."
The only reason I gave it that extra ∆ was because the ending pulled me back into the movie. They returned to a story-line rather than just showing us a bunch of 'goofy' characters on a boat.
A good soundtrack too.
11/28/09 - The Road - ∆∆∆∆ - A difficult movie for me to rate. While I appreciate a lot of what went into the making of this movie (good story, great acting, fantastic cinematography, great scenery (relatively speaking))... the story was depressing. I'm not a big fan of depressing movies. But because I'm able to see those other items that make for a good film, I'm hitting it with the 4 ∆'s. And... this may shock some people... I had read the book not too long ago. The movie MAY have been ever so slightly better than the book! I won't go into all the in's and out's as to why, but I'll just say that the movie added a few more "human" elements that made the story easier to understand and not so stark. The book left me with feelings of wanting more explanations.
Difficult now for me to say which one.... to watch the movie before reading the book, or vice versa, personally, I think I liked it better having read the book, and knowing a bit of what I was in store for.
12/5/09 - Brothers - ∆∆∆ - Yet another difficult movie for me to rate. I thought the acting was well done all the way around. The talent of Jake, Toby and Natalie is a great combination (Natalie sometimes falls flat, but I thought she did well on this one). A few scenes (key scenes) could have been done better as far as the story goes, but all in all a good movie... BUT - this is another depressing movie about war and the ravages it takes on all people involved. It really bothers me that we have a packed theater with people eating popcorn, date nights, beer bottles (idiots), and generally going to the movies as a form of entertainment, yet these sorts of stories are happening NOW. our country is at war. There are young men coming home from seeing, hearing and doing horrible things in the name of war, and trying to figure out how to survive again in a civilian world. These movies bother me in that sense. I won't say that I will never go to a war movie ever again, as I do think it is important to remind people and to let people know that stories like these are important and tragic. I am both thankful to our soldiers who put their lives on the line everyday and I am also just as angry at our political leaders who make the decisions to put those troops in harms way.
12/26/09 - Up in the Air - N/A - I'm actually not going to rate this movie, because it wouldn't be fair. Perhaps I share the blame too for not being more informed... but... I thought this movie was a comedy! From the trailer, I assumed it was about a guy (George Clooney) who traveled a lot due to his business and the movie was going to be about that. It had co-actors like Zach Galinfinakis (who is a comedian), and Jason Bateman (who is usually known for his funny roles)... but this may have been the most depressing movie I've seen this year (slightly exaggerating, some of the war movies I saw this year were the most depressing). I suppose this movie falls in the category of a "dark comedy" but I just thought it was dark overall. Other people in the audience were laughing at parts that I was not, so perhaps some thought it more of a comedy. So because I was completely misled, I don't feel it's fair for me to give it a one star - instead, I will give the one star to the trailer itself.
Since the lists also include short "reviews" they've added up to a lengthy post, so I decided to split them into 3 parts: Books, dvd's, and theater.
Comments are welcomed.
>>>
Movies (seen in the theater):
1/1/09: The Day the Earth Stood Still - ∆∆∆ overall good - last few minutes of ending was lame though.
1/16/09: Defiance - ∆∆∆ I think it was a good movie but Jerk behind me kept talking and ruined it for me.
1/31/09: Taken - ∆∆∆∆ really good for an action movie. Other acting = meh.
2/15/09: The International - ∆∆∆∆ pretty good plot, moved along nicely, good action. One scene bothered me towards end -walking around bazaar with handgun in plain view.
2/21/09: The Wrestler - ∆∆ - Almost a 3 star, but I just can't push it that high. Very predictable character study. Good acting though, and subject was just a bit depressing.
2/25/09: Slumdog Millionaire - ∆∆∆∆ - Good story mostly. Hard to watch with no judgment after winning Oscars and word of mouth buzz about how good it was.
3/7/09: The Watchmen - ∆∆∆∆ - Point off for mediocre acting, and choppy dialogue, but I think I may have been watching "Genius film-making" at work here. Great intricate story.
3/28/09: Knowing - ∆∆∆∆ - Admittedly it was very hokey at times. The acting was so-so. But I really liked this story, and some of the creepiness to the film. There were a lot of different ideas stitched together and for the most part, I think it worked well. Yes, the subject matter was right up my alley.
4/11/09: Duplicity - ∆∆∆ - not really great and not really good either. The ending of the movie was a big let down as well.
4/18/09: State of Play - ∆∆∆∆ - I liked this one. A nice conspiracy movie always gets to me. Afleck was pretty good too (surprisingly).
4/25/09: The Soloist - ∆∆∆∆∆ - a really touching story about a man with mental problems (schizophrenia?) who has a gift of playing the Cello, but ends up homeless. A Newspaper man ends up doing a story on him and becomes friends with the man. Great acting by both Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx.
5/2/09: X-Men Origins: Wolverine - ∆∆∆∆ - I'm being generous with the last triangle, but I'm giving extra credit for being a comic book movie. (confession: I for got to write this review until 4 weeks later! So not much details here other than - I liked it. Deadpool was awesome, and Liev Schreiber was really good as "Sabertooth".
5/9/09: Star Trek - ∆∆∆∆∆ - I REALLY enjoyed this movie. It was just a fun ride for me. Sure, if you think about some of the plot idea for more than a second you might say "hey, wait a minute..." but all in all I just enjoyed the show. Two complaints... the shaky camera technique... and for some reason the OVERUSE of white "Lens flares" as a special effect.
5/16/09: Angels and Demons - ∆∆∆ - Not really a great film, and I can understand some of the negative comments, but for me the subject matter made it all worth it. I'm a fan of Dan Brown's and conspiracy movies. I think the largest complaint... trying to fit such a complicated storyline into a 2 hour movie is impossible.
5/23/09: Terminator Salvation - ∆∆ - While I was entertained by the robots and cool motorcycles, that's about all I can say about this movie. The paradox of time travel (to quote my friend) was "rubbed in our faces" and still didn't make any sense at all. The acting was less than par. Lastly... a pregnant woman on a helicopter during a bombing and air strike - huh?!
Just a lame attempt to milk this "brand" for all its worth to perhaps hook a new generation. I'm sure that since it did well at the box office, there will be another one with another lame storyline... and I'll probably go see that too cause it has robots in it.
5/30/09: UP - ∆∆∆∆∆ - Pixar does it again. A moving animated feature about never giving up on your dreams. In addition to never be afraid to change your dreams either. A bit sad in the beginning as it deals with loss of a loved one, but still has plenty of laughs later. Well written.
6/6/09: The Hangover - ∆∆∆∆ - First this movie was rude and crude... second... it made me really laugh at times! Don't get me wrong, this movie is not about a storyline, or plot twists, it's about jokes, man butts, and Mike Tyson. I'm only being generous with the 4 stars because it made me laugh, and now-a-days, I applaud anything that can make me laugh (even if it's rude and crude).
6/16/0/: The Taking of Pelham 123 - ∆∆∆∆ - I'm almost giving this movie a 3 star rating, but I'm being generous for two important reasons... The acting was well done on behalf of Denzel (has he ever made a bad movie?) While John Travolta definitely pulled off the "bad ass" look, I had a hard time believing his character with all the cursing. It was either poorly written, or maybe I just know that John is a good gentle guy in real life, and I couldn't get that out of my head. But - the STORY was well done and that's what kept me engaged for the whole movie. The only other thing that really bothered me was a minor technical problem - all of the inconsistencies with the walkie-talkies and microphones. Apparently Hollywood has a hard time understanding that "push to talk" is how most walkie-talkies work ;)
Two minor things but otherwise a good entertaining movie.
Public Enemies - ∆∆∆ - I have to keep this short, because I saw the movie a couple weeks ago and the details have slipped my mind. Johnny Depp was great (as usual). The movie... not so much. I won't say it was bad, but I think first and foremost, it was 2.5 hours long, and they could have easily cut 30 minutes out of that film. There were a TON of characters in this movie to the point where I had trouble keeping track of who was who. Then... After the movie, I looked up some facts about John Dillinger, and learned that the movie took quite a few "liberties".
The Hurt Locker - ∆∆∆∆∆ - Wow, this was a really good movie. Terrific acting (Big hat tip to Jeremy Renner), great cinematography, strong story-line, the only thing that bothered me was the subject matter... War. I had trouble separating the fact that I was enjoying the movie on an "art" level, while at the same time shocked at the idiocy and horror that man can do to one another in the name of "war". It was also a shock as I was leaving the movie theater, I walked out into a cool summer night, I had my coffee, and a Tastycake as a snack, and yet as I'm watching this movie as "entertainment" there are guys on the other side of the world LIVING this thing on a daily basis. As part of my countrymen are off in a foreign land risking their lives and taking other lives, I'm sitting at home watching it on the big screen - there's something really wrong with that. This world we live in is a messed up place.
Harry Potter - ∆∆∆ - Again, I'm writing this a week later, so some of the details have been forgotten, but I'll try to be brief. I liked the movie overall. But for me it was missing something. It was a tad too long. Pardon the pun... but it seemed like some of the magic was missing in this movie. That said, there were also moments where I was drawn into the movie and was just watching everything as if I were in Hogwarts. I tip my hat to a movie that can do that. Some of the "boy meets girl" story-lines started to grate on my nerves a bit, but I think the fans wanted to see that (I didn't). Lastly... I was particularly impressed with two things in the movie... There seemed to be a great attention to detail in this film. One scene, a girl got up at the end of class, and started to leave, when the teacher stopped her and reminded her to remember her rat's tail. The other item I was impressed with was the camera work of the movie. There were quite a few digital effects, but everything worked smoothly and I actually felt like the camera itself was a character in the movie. Well done.
I hope the next (two) movies will re-capture some of the magic. (I've learned they are breaking the last book up into two movies (marketing!?)).
Funny People - ∆∆∆ - This movie had it's moments, but it also had times where it was struggling. The comedy was not always funny (lots of "blue" comedy). I think the best parts were with Seth Rogan, he did a really good job, and I think he has a future in acting with some additional serious roles.
The ending was really tedious and not pleasant to watch. My best advice... rent it on dvd, so you can fast forward during the slow parts.
Julie and Julia - ∆∆∆∆∆ - I know... I'm being generous with that last "star". I think realistically It might be a 4 star, but I came out of the theater in a good mood so that's why the extra bonus. That said... I enjoyed this movie. I thought Meryl Streep was really spot on with her julia child imitation. (though I'm certainly not a Julia child expert). She conveyed a feeling of a jovial personality that really came across on the big screen. Her costar Amy Adams also did well. The guy who played "Eric" also had a great supporting role (Chris Messina - I don't recall ever seeing him before). So obviously it's a chick flick, but I enjoyed it anyway. Just two good stories told well, which is the main reason I go to the movies. Now... I need to find a cookbook so as I can try some french cooking. Mmmm Butter....
District 9 - ∆∆∆∆∆ - Wow. A really good sci-fi movie! I really enjoyed the storyline, the acting was great by an unknown (to me anyway) actor - who made me love him at times and then hate him, and I was being push a pulled emotionally by his character - well done! The effects - wow. For a sci-fi film this one is up there.
500 days of Summer - ∆ - I came this close to walking out on this one. So sweet and sappy... like a double chocolate cake with extra icing sprinkled with sugar with a bottle of syrup to wash it down. Ugh. At one point, I thought... the only reason they made this movie was to sell the movie soundtrack. To be fair... I went to this movie by myself, and it was a chick flick dating movie, so I guess it makes sense I didn't like the show. Oh well.
9/5/09 - Inglorious Basterds - ∆∆∆∆ - Quintin Tarantino... I give him credit at least for having a certain style to his movies. I'm just not sure I like his style is all. After "kill bill" I thought I'd never watch another Tarantino movie again... but with Inglorious Bastereds I decided to give him another try. Luckily I was surprised that I liked the movie overall. I thought it told a story (or stories) well and I was transported back in time to the 1940's. But two things bothered me abt the movie... 1) The soundtrack! For some reason, I just find Tarantino's music choices annoying! Not to mention how loud they are. 2) But more to the point in the movie... For some reason the ending bothered me. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I just wasn't ready for it I think. But again, overall, I liked the movie. Fine acting all around too.
9/12/09 - 9 - ∆∆∆ - Perhaps under better circumstances I would have enjoyed this movie better... the theater we usually go to is a fantastic theater. This particular night, they had two odd showtimes (9pm - too early - 11:10pm - too late). So we went to the local mall which had a "multiplex". It's a horrible theater in comparison. higher prices, movie didn't start on time, commercials mixed in with movie previews, and at LEAST 15 minutes of commercials and previews, high concession stand prices (I guess that's normal), uncomfortable seats, and small screens in a long viewing room. So... with that mindset it's difficult to put it all aside and enjoy a movie. ALL that said... the animation and graphics were amazing. High marks for that! But the story was convoluted - it didn't really make sense overall. AND to top it all off... the day before I saw this movie, I leanred that it was based on a 10 minute short movie by Shane Ackerson which was his college film project. I made the mistake of watching the short film on youtube the day before... which was the SAME story just condensed into 10 minutes. So that also kinda ruined it for me, since I knew the ending of the movie.
9/26/09 - The Informant - ∆∆ - Just a really tedious and confusing movie to keep up with. I think there was an interesting story in there somewhere, but this movie did not do it any justice. And, the music or soundtrack really annoyed me as well.
10/3/09 - Zombieland - ∆∆∆ - Keeping in mind that this was a "Zombie" movie, it wasn't bad. There were moments where I laughed, so I give it points for that. Will it earn an Oscar? Not at all! But I was amused for my admission fee and what more can one ask from a Zombie movie.
10/10/09 - Couples Resort - ∆∆∆ - I'm being generous with that third ∆. To be fair, the movie did make me laugh several times in the beginning. I'd go as far to say that I liked the movie about half-way through, but then it just kinda went down hill. The jokes were predictable, the scenes were contrived, and Vince Vaughn just couldn't
carry the entire movie with the story line.
10/17/09 - Law Abiding Citizen - ∆∆∆∆ - I really enjoyed this movie. I liked the storyline especially and the acting was great with Jamie Foxx and Gerard Butler held his own also. Granted, the plot had a few "Hollywood coincidences" but sometimes you have to put blinders on for those. For what it's worth, I just looked up on the internet how to spell "Gerard Butler" and noticed it looks like the critics are panning this movie. What do they know!
11/7/09 - Men who stare at goats - ∆∆∆ - Overall I liked this movie but it really left me hanging towards the end. I don't know what, but somehow I expected more. Strangely enough, a lot of the "strange" things that the movie talked about, I had already been aware of: Remote viewing, psy ops, lsd, mk-ultra, etc...
11/21/09 - Pirate Radio - ∆∆∆ - Again, this movie barely got that third ∆. Films like these baffle me in the sense that they can gather a cast of so many talented people, but yet the story or directing or editing just falls flat. The editing on this one is what bothered me the most in that it was choppy. Scenes cut back and forth with no smooth transition at all. As my friend put it nicely, "It was like watching a long music video."
The only reason I gave it that extra ∆ was because the ending pulled me back into the movie. They returned to a story-line rather than just showing us a bunch of 'goofy' characters on a boat.
A good soundtrack too.
11/28/09 - The Road - ∆∆∆∆ - A difficult movie for me to rate. While I appreciate a lot of what went into the making of this movie (good story, great acting, fantastic cinematography, great scenery (relatively speaking))... the story was depressing. I'm not a big fan of depressing movies. But because I'm able to see those other items that make for a good film, I'm hitting it with the 4 ∆'s. And... this may shock some people... I had read the book not too long ago. The movie MAY have been ever so slightly better than the book! I won't go into all the in's and out's as to why, but I'll just say that the movie added a few more "human" elements that made the story easier to understand and not so stark. The book left me with feelings of wanting more explanations.
Difficult now for me to say which one.... to watch the movie before reading the book, or vice versa, personally, I think I liked it better having read the book, and knowing a bit of what I was in store for.
12/5/09 - Brothers - ∆∆∆ - Yet another difficult movie for me to rate. I thought the acting was well done all the way around. The talent of Jake, Toby and Natalie is a great combination (Natalie sometimes falls flat, but I thought she did well on this one). A few scenes (key scenes) could have been done better as far as the story goes, but all in all a good movie... BUT - this is another depressing movie about war and the ravages it takes on all people involved. It really bothers me that we have a packed theater with people eating popcorn, date nights, beer bottles (idiots), and generally going to the movies as a form of entertainment, yet these sorts of stories are happening NOW. our country is at war. There are young men coming home from seeing, hearing and doing horrible things in the name of war, and trying to figure out how to survive again in a civilian world. These movies bother me in that sense. I won't say that I will never go to a war movie ever again, as I do think it is important to remind people and to let people know that stories like these are important and tragic. I am both thankful to our soldiers who put their lives on the line everyday and I am also just as angry at our political leaders who make the decisions to put those troops in harms way.
12/26/09 - Up in the Air - N/A - I'm actually not going to rate this movie, because it wouldn't be fair. Perhaps I share the blame too for not being more informed... but... I thought this movie was a comedy! From the trailer, I assumed it was about a guy (George Clooney) who traveled a lot due to his business and the movie was going to be about that. It had co-actors like Zach Galinfinakis (who is a comedian), and Jason Bateman (who is usually known for his funny roles)... but this may have been the most depressing movie I've seen this year (slightly exaggerating, some of the war movies I saw this year were the most depressing). I suppose this movie falls in the category of a "dark comedy" but I just thought it was dark overall. Other people in the audience were laughing at parts that I was not, so perhaps some thought it more of a comedy. So because I was completely misled, I don't feel it's fair for me to give it a one star - instead, I will give the one star to the trailer itself.
2009 - Media Consumed - part 2 of 3 - dvds
I decided at the beginning of 2009, to keep a list of the media that I consumed. I listed movies that I saw in the theater, movies that I rented on dvd, and books. In hindsight, I WISH I thought to include my music purchases (and gifts) to this list as well.
Since the lists also include short "reviews" they've added up to a lengthy post, so I decided to split them into 3 parts: Books, dvd's, and theater.
Comments are welcomed.
>>>>>>>
DVD:
The Impressionists (disc one). ∆∆∆
Big Rig - ∆∆∆ (documentary on truck drivers)
Sweeny Todd - ∆∆
Be Kind Rewind - ∆
The Kite Runner - ∆∆∆∆ Good movie. Rough story about the evils of some of humanity.
The Impressionists (disk 2) - ∆∆∆ Bit rough and dry in the acting, but interesting stories about the painters.
This American Life (disk 1) - ∆∆∆∆ - some interesting stories.
Invader Zim (vol 1 disk 1) - ∆∆∆ - good, but you can't watch that many shows back to back.
Eagle Eye - ∆∆∆∆ - Some corny scenes, a bit cliché at times, but overall I enjoyed it. And Some really clever/funny lines for Billy-Bob's character.
Le Cercle Rouge - ∆ - a SLOW heist movie. Just couldn't hold my interest. LOTS of continuity mistakes too.
2/28/09 - The Quiet American - ∆∆ - wasn't horrible, but I had trouble with how it was written... in that the characters never seemed believable. Lack of motivation for some of their actions. Could have been a good movie.
3/3/09 - Body of lies - ∆∆∆∆ - Good spook movie. Lots of twists and turns that made it a bit difficult to follow at times, but for the most part I was able to keep up. Leonardo was good. Russell Crowe was so-so, mediocre dialogue for him.
3/10/09 - Max Payne - ∆∆ - Could have been really good, but felt rushed. Poor acting (and I like wahlberg). Connection between spiritual and drug/company never explained or panned out.
3/14/09 - RocknRolla - ∆∆∆∆ - Classic "guy ritchie" british gangster film. Bit complicated at first but pulls together in the end. Well done.
3/20/09 - Let the Right one in - ∆∆∆ - I'm being generous with that third triangle. Only because it was a vampire story like no other I've seen before. This was a Swedish film with English over dubbing, and the overdubbing was horrible.
3/27/09 - Charlie Bartlett - ∆∆∆∆∆ - Really well written teen angst movie. Robert Downey Jr is amazing. Kid who played Charlie also = amazing! Great casting. I do wonder though if teens liked this movie.
4/3/09 - The Conversation - ∆∆ - Almost gave it a 3 rating, but can't. Slow moving. strange dialogue. Jazz. 1970's 'technological' thriller. Good story though. Gene Hackman. Young harrison ford, Cindy williams = odd cast.
4/9/09 - Meet Bill - ∆ - I liked all the actors/actress, it was just a poor story, and poorly acted (directed?). Inconsistent characters. It was a fast-forward movie just to get through it.
4/17/09 - Chaplin: The movie - ∆ - much to my surprise I gave this movie only one star/triangle. I really like Robert Downey. I like Charlie Chaplin. Several other actors and actresses in this movie playing bit parts... but you know what killed the movie for me? The sound. It was horrible. Chaplin/Downey played a very mellow part with soft spoken words, so I had to turn the volume way up to hear him, then the other characters/sound effects were blaring. But perhaps most of all, the entire movie (I actually shut it off about 3/4 in!) appeared to be over-dubbed. The sound didn't quite match up with the video. Not to mention inconsistent volume levels. It actually ruined the movie for me because I was too distracted by the sound.
4/19/09 - Mondrian: From Naturalism to Abstraction - ∆∆∆ - Semi-poor production levels (poor lighting on the paintings for instance), dated music, and lots of odd helicopter footage that must have been filmed while hanging out of the helicopter itself because it was rather bouncy. But put all that aside, and it was a good 1 hour film introducing Mondrian's works.
4/19/09 - Flash of Genius - ∆∆∆∆∆ - I may be a bit too generous with that last star (triangle) but I thought this was a really good movie. The only downside is that it's an underdog story. In all my years of watching movies, I can tell you what usually happens at the end of an underdog movie, so in that sense it was a bit predictable. But none-the-less it was a good story, and Greg Kinnear did another fantastic job at acting on this one. As a wanna-be "maker" this movie should be on every inventor/makers list.
4/24/09 - Special - ∆∆∆∆∆ - a really interesting independent movie. A man thinks he can fly when he takes part in an experimental drug program. One of those indy movies that I feel is a real gem in the rough.
4/26/09 - Doubt - ∆∆∆∆ - really well done job of acting all the way around. Not exactly a happy movie though so I took one star off for that. I won't say anything else as the less you know about the movie the better.
5/1/09 - Run, fat boy, run - ∆ - I liked Simon Pegg in "Shaun of the dead" and I even liked him in "hot fuzz", but sadly, run fat boy run, was just lame. Here's a clue... when the title of the film has "fat boy" in it, then the main character um should be... fat! They basically put a small pillow under his shirt, that had to be some of the lamest prosthetic work I've seen. Then the plot was just so predictable, I ended up watching the second half of the movie in fast forward mode.
5/1/09 - Delicatessen - ∆∆ - Perhaps, had I seen this movie when I was in the right mood I would have liked it more, but I just had a difficult time with this one. It was a french movie (yes subtitled). What is it with the french making weird movies? It had Dominique Pinon in it, which I like (odd looking man, but good actor, though his films that I've seen him in don't exactly push his acting skills (aliens, city of lost children)).
It was a very quirky film. Too quirky for me. Characters were over the top on purpose. I just kinda walked away shaking my head after this one.
5/?/09 - Wild China - ∆∆∆ - A BBC documentary series about remote places in China. Disk one (which I finished last night) had 3 episodes (1 hour each). It can be tedious at times, but usually in each episode there is some really interesting piece of information. Not to mention some of the wildlife is incredibly filmed. I hope to get to disk 2 soon.
5/24/09 - Milk - ∆∆∆∆ - Sean Penn is an amazing actor. This entire story was all new to me, and the ending was a complete shock. It amazes me that people who try to do good in this world are almost always seen as a threat.
6/3/09 - Dark Matter - ∆∆ - I hate it when netflix gets my rating right. They said this would be a 2 star rating, and sure enough. I tried very hard to like this movie but it was just disjointed. Meryl Streep and Aidinn Quinn, yet the acting was mediocre and not believable. The film edits were choppy and confusing. The storyline was forced. I ended up fast-forward watching this movie about 3/4 of the way through.
6/8/09 - The Tale of Despereaux - ∆∆ - I tried really hard to like this film. It just didn't cut it for me.
warning - spoilers:
Technically speaking - some of the computer animation was nicely done. In fact there were sections (book scene) that I preferred over the main animation - especially how they did the fire effect. But a lot of sections that it looked like they cut corners on the the animation.
The storyline - convoluted. The talking vegetable man was totally out of left field, and didn't make any sense to me.
They ended the storyline with such abruptness it felt forced. The girl going back to live on a pig farm was supposed to be her living "happily ever after?!"
I knew I was in trouble in the first few minutes of the film when they said that "soup day" was more exciting than Christmas! What?! No kid (or me) can relate to that!
6/11/09 - The Battle for Seattle - ∆∆∆∆∆ - An AWESOME protest movie. Ok, it wasn't perfect, some of the acting was forced, some of the storyline was a bit too preachy, but there were plenty of moments where the movie soared. Andre Benjamin (yes, from Outkast) was amazing. I still do not care for Michelle Rodriquez - she always plays the "tough chick" and it's old. Martin Henderson was good as was Woody and Charlize (though I had hoped to see more of Charlize). Also, kudos to Stuart Townsend for showing both sides of the story (protestors and police). Lastly: We the people will never be divided.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wto
6/16/09 - In the valley of Elah - ∆∆∆∆∆ - Solid 5 star movie. Powerful acting, and a sad story behind it all. Fantastic acting by Tommy Lee Jones and Charlize Theron. I'll end with just this... I wish peace in this world.
6/22/09 - W. - ∆∆ - I almost gave it a 3 star, but just couldn't do it. The movie was long and tedious. While some of the acting was well done (Brolin was very good, Richard Dreyfus was Amazing) the story just was a retelling of events we already knew. Some of the bias was just over-the-top and silly (for example watching "Bush" eat his sandwich and stuffing his mouth, and talking with his mouth full.) Some of the character actors were just too distracting... Rove and Condi. I had hoped for more details and insight into the man, but instead was just met with a 2+ hour retelling of the last 8 years.
6/23/09 - Frost/Nixon - ∆∆∆∆∆ - Unbelievable acting on this one. I was able to keep up with some of politics involved, but admit to not knowing all the names of the key players. Even so, to be on the edge of my seat waiting to see how the "duel" progressed is saying a lot about a subject as dry as an interview. Tip of the hat to all the fine actors, top notch.
6/26/09 - True Blood - ∆ - I had heard a lot about this new show from HBO and it all seemed to be good, so I decided to rent season one and give it a shot. Apparently I'm the only one who thinks this show was lame?! I barely got through the first episode. The characters were stereotypical and over-the-top. The episode was poorly edited - example: The "cool" vampire dude goes outside with two local looneys. The woman (who looks like she's about 98pounds wet) fears for his safety and decides to run out to try and warn him that the looney's might attack him. Her boss, upon learning this, runs out of the bar also to stop her... next we see the woman pick up a big pile of chains (silently I might add), she whips the chains around a guys neck with super speed, then proceeds to pick up a knife and talk like the meanest gangster who ever lived. She rescued the vampire who was held down by a little silver necklace, they sit in the woods for a while and trade stories. Eventually (12 minutes later?) she heads back to the bar, where the boss is just standing in the parking lot (50' away) looking around like a doofus. Ugh. I expected more from you HBO.
6/28/09 - ∆∆∆ - The Ali G show - season one disc one - I am not 100% sure I like This series (also an HBO series). While many of the shorts get me to smile, they're not always funny. Not to mention the strong crudeness factor. I will say though that the first bit, where he trains with the Philadelphia police dept was funny, and the scene where Borat is in the gym trying to learn how to use the tread mill - had me in tears! I'm going to give the next disk a chance. Perhaps because this isn't new anymore, and I know what to expect with Sasha's characters it's not as funny, but he def has talent to make me laugh, just not consistently.
7/11/09 - ∆∆∆ - Valkyrie - I'm being generous with 3 stars here, but the movie held my interest (barely) for the whole time. I felt the movie was long and tedious and we got a dry re-telling of history. Granted it was intense at times, but overall it just lacked something. I've noticed in the past, I also have problems with movies that just have one single tone throughout the entire movie, and this was one of them.
7/14/09 - ∆∆ - Proof - Oh, I tried so hard to like this movie, but I just couldn't. While the storyline was there to make for a good movie, and two very talented actors (Jake Gyllenhaal and Gwyneth Paltrow), the movie just laid there and fizzelled. I blame it on two things... the dialogue was poorly written, and the direction was bad. The feelings of the characters never flowed at all, and most of the movie was spent arguing among the characters. No one wants to sit through 2 hours of arguing.
7/22/09 - ∆∆∆∆∆ - Speak - Wow. What a good movie this was. A strong subject matter of a young girl who... actually I don't want to give any of the story-line away. I'll use the words that netflix did "an unfortunate incident that left a young girl shunned..." It involves this girls struggles to carry the weight of what happened to her, while at the same time trying to juggle the social nightmare that only 9th grade can bring. Kristen Stewart was the star, and she did an incredible job. The reason I rented this was because Steve Zahn was the art teacher in this film and I usually like the movies that he is in - this definitely fell in that category.
7/31/09 - ∆∆∆∆∆ - The Haunting in Connecticut - Yep, you saw that right... I just gave a horror movie a 5 star rating. Oddly enough, I was thinking recently, that I had seen all the good horror movies out there. I have exhausted this genre of movies. That I would never see a good horror movie again. I was wrong. Ok, perhaps I was in the right frame of mind tonight, to sit down and watch a good ghost story, that I turned that little "critic filter" off. Were there some silly parts in the movie? Of course. Lots of "Gotcha" type scares (I think I jumped once*) The effects were gory at times, but for the most part, I enjoyed the movie. Then... I decided to watch the dvd special feature which interviewed the real occupants of the house, that was almost better than the movie. There was one scene there that made me jump as well. All in all, it was a good story if nothing else.
8/6/09 - ∆∆∆∆ - The Future of Food - A really eye opening documentary about the Food industry and genetic engineering. A bit heavy on the science side of things, but overall an educational film. Really makes Monsanto out to be a bad guy (Which I think they might be). Everyone who eats should watch this film.
8/09 - ∆∆∆∆∆ - Dexter - I have been hooked on the Showtime (which I learned is a subsidiary of CBS), called "Dexter", about a serial killer living in Florida who is a forensics cop. Good storyline, good suspense, good acting (for some). MY biggest complaint... the sister character (after watching the entire first series, I still can't name the characters! odd.) I look forward to starting season 2 any day now.
8/20/09 - ∆ - 10,000 BC - Just lame. perhaps I wasn't in the right mood, but this one just struck me as really lame. poor acting, mediocre effects, goofy love story. I expected more.
8/23/09 - ∆∆∆∆∆ - The Cats of Mirikitani - Documentary about Japanese/American artist "Jimmy" Mirikitani, who was homeless on the streets of NYC, and through this documentary film maker, Linda Hattebdorf managed to give him a helping hand up and get him back on his feet again. Really nice film. Peace Jimmy.
9/13/09 - ∆∆ - The Assassination of Jesse James - What LONG and tedious film. Yes it had really good acting, yes it had some nice cinematography, hut there was no way that film needed to be dragged out to 2.5 hours! I bet if I went through and edited out all the moments of silence and people just walking in an empty field that could shave off 45 minutes. Skip this film is my suggestion.
9/16/09 - Firewall - ∆∆ - A Harrison ford movie that was really lame. predictable "paint by number" script. poor acting (except for the bad guy who was pretty good). What I thought was a technological thriller amounted to some bogus scenes of hacking an ipod with a fax machine - lame.
9/25/09 - Adventureland - ∆∆∆∆ - I actually thought this movie was ok, and gave it that last "∆" for the soundtrack alone. It was basically a "chick flick" disguised as a stoner movie. A sort of teen-angst movie. It was well written too. The only thing that bothered me, was that the time frame seemed off for me... they said in the beginning of the movie it was 1987, but It seemed more like it might have been early 80's to me.
10/4/09 - The King of Kong - ∆∆∆∆ - Overall a good documentary. It was a bit dry at times, and the production levels were a bit on the low side, but it told a good story, which is what a documentary is supposed to do. I enjoyed seeing the tension, and thought the movie did a good job at creating that tension. By the end you really were rooting for the "underdog" Steve Weibe (weebee). It was neat to see a lot of the old "coin-op" classic video games that I grew up with too. If you are familiar with the 80's, classic arcade games, or enjoy anything that's 8-bit, I'd recommend this dvd. (disclaimer: Yes, I'm a geek so this perhaps that's why it was entertaining to me).
10/11/09 - Stander - ∆∆∆ - A movie I only heard about via Netflix. This was just a solid middle of the road for me. It wasn't bad, and I watched the story-line to see what would happen next, the only thing that I think kept it from being a good movie was that the acting was a bit flat (one sided - cool tough-guy attitude). I also felt like the editing was a bit choppy. I will give credit in that up until I looked it up on imdb, I thought it might of actually been filmed in the 70's. It was actually filmed in 2003, but they did a great job of capturing the feel of the 70's. Based on a True story as well, which is always interesting.
10/12/09 - ∆∆∆ - The Impressionist: Monet - A good documentary about the painter. Not great, but good. I felt like too much time was spent on just a few paintings though, I wish I saw a broader spectrum of his work.
10/12/09 - ∆ - The Pacific and Eddy - An attempt at an "indie film" but just didn't cut it for me. Too many long drawn out shots of trees in the wind, or wave of the ocean. It tried too hard to be an "artsy" film that I was totally board.
10/24/09 - ∆∆∆ - The Brothers Bloom - This is another one of those "con movies" that has twist after twist after twist, until either you give up trying to figure it out, or you're lucky enough to have kept up. I thought the acting was good on Adrien's part, but Rachel Weisz always gets on my nerves for some reason. This movie she was more tolerable to me. It was almost a good movie, but it became tedious. The saving grace I think for me was that it was really nicely filmed. The Cinematography was very well done.
10/30/09 - ∆ - Year One - Sadly another Jack Black movie that scraped the bottom of the barrel. I also really like Michael Cera and the two were not enough to raise the level of this movie. Classic example where the trailer had the funniest parts (and I'm also realizing that a 2 minute trailer can be funny whereas an hour and half movie is not.
11/8/09 - ∆∆ - Sunshine Cleaning - A difficult movie to rate for me because it was a good story, and good acting, but wow, was it ever depressing. It was marked as a "dark comedy" and I'd put the emphasis on "dark" more than comedy. Personally, I just don't like depressing movies, so that's why the low rating. Topics include, death, suicide, drugs, single parenting, unhappy with her job, infidelity. So put all those topics into a "comedy" and this is what you get.
11/11/09 - ∆∆∆∆ - Chaos Theory - Perhaps I'm being a little generous with that last '∆', but it was kind of a 'feel-good' movie so I'm still in a good mood. I mainly rented this movie because it had Ryan Reynolds in it... I think he's a good actor, and usually finds that right balance of comedy with good acting. The movie was a td on the cheesy side, but then would surprise me with a really nice scene. A good story (though a bit predictable at times). Worth a rental.
11/14/09 - ∆∆ - The Boondock Saints - This ended up being a 'fast forward' movie for me. Shortly after getting the gist of the plot, I end up fast forwarding through all the poorly written dialogue, and give the movie one last chance for redemption (ie: something catches my eye.) Sadly, no. Lots of yelling, gun shooting, blood packs, and stereotypes.
11/14/09 - ∆∆ - The Strangers - A horror movie that caught my interest when it first appeared in the theaters. It wasn't something I was willing to spend $9.50 to see, so I waited for dvd. I had joked that when it came out, and Liv Tyler was in it, that I would watch a 2 hour movie of her washing dishes - well, that's about the same entertainment level here. A movie that is 98% suspense, and 1% 'boo' factor, and 1% gore. Psychologically it was scary and creepy, but there had to be a better story for it to pay off.
11/22/09 - ∆ - G.I. Joe - Perhaps I just wasn't in the right mood for this, but this movie just could not hold my interest in the slightest. Lots of nice effects and computer generated art, but beyond that - nothing else. Characters were goofy, one-liners were lame, lots of shaky camera techniques... I could go on, but I won't.
12/12/09 - ∆∆∆∆ - Food Inc - I'm about a week late with this review so the details will be sparse. Nutshell, a good documentary on how the food industry is... not broken per say, but seriously flawed. The motivator is simple... faster and cheaper. But what this means to the consumers is a dangerous trade-off to quality food. A bad combination between Government (lobbyists for big business), and corporation. For example... Chickens are bred now that that do not resemble chickens of 50 years ago. They are slaughtered in just a few months when they're growth rate is altered to produce overweight chicks. These chicks are so over weight at times they can not take more than a few steps at a time before collapsing (usually in the muck and feces of all the other thousands of chicks in the shed.) If you have no idea why it's cheaper to get a $1 hamburger than a $7 salad, you should watch this movie.
12/19/09 - ∆∆∆∆∆ - The Answer Man - Yes, a bit of a chick flick, but this movie really entertained me. Jeff Daniels always does a great job. What I liked most though, was the storyline... not overly complicated, but just a well told story. A small warning though on the language, just a bit harsh at times if that sort of thing bothers you. I feel like it fit the story, so it didn't bother me. Definitely worth a rental.
12/30/09 - ∆∆∆ - Chalk - I'm being very generous with that last ∆. A bit of a strange movie that definitely falls in the category of an "indy film". It was a "mockumentary" style comedy about a group of teachers in what looked to be a high school (or maybe it was middle school?). While there were some funny moments at times there were also many moments that seemed forced and just plain stereotypical. So because it made me chuckle a couple of times, I'm giving the extra ∆, but towards the end, I was ready for it to be over with.
12/30/09 - ∆∆∆∆ - Heavy Metal - Yes, I'm giving this dvd 4 stars mainly for sentimental reasons. By today's standards the movie might be something you'd see on a late night cable program, but back in the day... Of course this may be the greatest soundtrack ever assembled for a movie, which also counts for at least one or two ∆'s. Perhaps this time around, what I enjoyed most about the dvd was the small documentary as the 'bonus' that explained some of the events and thinking and even animation techniques behind the movie. I really enjoyed seeing how they did the scenes where they filmed the B-17 in all black, with white lines, then 'reversed' the film in order to get a black line outline. (hard to describe I guess). A nice way to spend an hour and a half or so remembering my youth in my teens.
Since the lists also include short "reviews" they've added up to a lengthy post, so I decided to split them into 3 parts: Books, dvd's, and theater.
Comments are welcomed.
>>>>>>>
DVD:
The Impressionists (disc one). ∆∆∆
Big Rig - ∆∆∆ (documentary on truck drivers)
Sweeny Todd - ∆∆
Be Kind Rewind - ∆
The Kite Runner - ∆∆∆∆ Good movie. Rough story about the evils of some of humanity.
The Impressionists (disk 2) - ∆∆∆ Bit rough and dry in the acting, but interesting stories about the painters.
This American Life (disk 1) - ∆∆∆∆ - some interesting stories.
Invader Zim (vol 1 disk 1) - ∆∆∆ - good, but you can't watch that many shows back to back.
Eagle Eye - ∆∆∆∆ - Some corny scenes, a bit cliché at times, but overall I enjoyed it. And Some really clever/funny lines for Billy-Bob's character.
Le Cercle Rouge - ∆ - a SLOW heist movie. Just couldn't hold my interest. LOTS of continuity mistakes too.
2/28/09 - The Quiet American - ∆∆ - wasn't horrible, but I had trouble with how it was written... in that the characters never seemed believable. Lack of motivation for some of their actions. Could have been a good movie.
3/3/09 - Body of lies - ∆∆∆∆ - Good spook movie. Lots of twists and turns that made it a bit difficult to follow at times, but for the most part I was able to keep up. Leonardo was good. Russell Crowe was so-so, mediocre dialogue for him.
3/10/09 - Max Payne - ∆∆ - Could have been really good, but felt rushed. Poor acting (and I like wahlberg). Connection between spiritual and drug/company never explained or panned out.
3/14/09 - RocknRolla - ∆∆∆∆ - Classic "guy ritchie" british gangster film. Bit complicated at first but pulls together in the end. Well done.
3/20/09 - Let the Right one in - ∆∆∆ - I'm being generous with that third triangle. Only because it was a vampire story like no other I've seen before. This was a Swedish film with English over dubbing, and the overdubbing was horrible.
3/27/09 - Charlie Bartlett - ∆∆∆∆∆ - Really well written teen angst movie. Robert Downey Jr is amazing. Kid who played Charlie also = amazing! Great casting. I do wonder though if teens liked this movie.
4/3/09 - The Conversation - ∆∆ - Almost gave it a 3 rating, but can't. Slow moving. strange dialogue. Jazz. 1970's 'technological' thriller. Good story though. Gene Hackman. Young harrison ford, Cindy williams = odd cast.
4/9/09 - Meet Bill - ∆ - I liked all the actors/actress, it was just a poor story, and poorly acted (directed?). Inconsistent characters. It was a fast-forward movie just to get through it.
4/17/09 - Chaplin: The movie - ∆ - much to my surprise I gave this movie only one star/triangle. I really like Robert Downey. I like Charlie Chaplin. Several other actors and actresses in this movie playing bit parts... but you know what killed the movie for me? The sound. It was horrible. Chaplin/Downey played a very mellow part with soft spoken words, so I had to turn the volume way up to hear him, then the other characters/sound effects were blaring. But perhaps most of all, the entire movie (I actually shut it off about 3/4 in!) appeared to be over-dubbed. The sound didn't quite match up with the video. Not to mention inconsistent volume levels. It actually ruined the movie for me because I was too distracted by the sound.
4/19/09 - Mondrian: From Naturalism to Abstraction - ∆∆∆ - Semi-poor production levels (poor lighting on the paintings for instance), dated music, and lots of odd helicopter footage that must have been filmed while hanging out of the helicopter itself because it was rather bouncy. But put all that aside, and it was a good 1 hour film introducing Mondrian's works.
4/19/09 - Flash of Genius - ∆∆∆∆∆ - I may be a bit too generous with that last star (triangle) but I thought this was a really good movie. The only downside is that it's an underdog story. In all my years of watching movies, I can tell you what usually happens at the end of an underdog movie, so in that sense it was a bit predictable. But none-the-less it was a good story, and Greg Kinnear did another fantastic job at acting on this one. As a wanna-be "maker" this movie should be on every inventor/makers list.
4/24/09 - Special - ∆∆∆∆∆ - a really interesting independent movie. A man thinks he can fly when he takes part in an experimental drug program. One of those indy movies that I feel is a real gem in the rough.
4/26/09 - Doubt - ∆∆∆∆ - really well done job of acting all the way around. Not exactly a happy movie though so I took one star off for that. I won't say anything else as the less you know about the movie the better.
5/1/09 - Run, fat boy, run - ∆ - I liked Simon Pegg in "Shaun of the dead" and I even liked him in "hot fuzz", but sadly, run fat boy run, was just lame. Here's a clue... when the title of the film has "fat boy" in it, then the main character um should be... fat! They basically put a small pillow under his shirt, that had to be some of the lamest prosthetic work I've seen. Then the plot was just so predictable, I ended up watching the second half of the movie in fast forward mode.
5/1/09 - Delicatessen - ∆∆ - Perhaps, had I seen this movie when I was in the right mood I would have liked it more, but I just had a difficult time with this one. It was a french movie (yes subtitled). What is it with the french making weird movies? It had Dominique Pinon in it, which I like (odd looking man, but good actor, though his films that I've seen him in don't exactly push his acting skills (aliens, city of lost children)).
It was a very quirky film. Too quirky for me. Characters were over the top on purpose. I just kinda walked away shaking my head after this one.
5/?/09 - Wild China - ∆∆∆ - A BBC documentary series about remote places in China. Disk one (which I finished last night) had 3 episodes (1 hour each). It can be tedious at times, but usually in each episode there is some really interesting piece of information. Not to mention some of the wildlife is incredibly filmed. I hope to get to disk 2 soon.
5/24/09 - Milk - ∆∆∆∆ - Sean Penn is an amazing actor. This entire story was all new to me, and the ending was a complete shock. It amazes me that people who try to do good in this world are almost always seen as a threat.
6/3/09 - Dark Matter - ∆∆ - I hate it when netflix gets my rating right. They said this would be a 2 star rating, and sure enough. I tried very hard to like this movie but it was just disjointed. Meryl Streep and Aidinn Quinn, yet the acting was mediocre and not believable. The film edits were choppy and confusing. The storyline was forced. I ended up fast-forward watching this movie about 3/4 of the way through.
6/8/09 - The Tale of Despereaux - ∆∆ - I tried really hard to like this film. It just didn't cut it for me.
warning - spoilers:
Technically speaking - some of the computer animation was nicely done. In fact there were sections (book scene) that I preferred over the main animation - especially how they did the fire effect. But a lot of sections that it looked like they cut corners on the the animation.
The storyline - convoluted. The talking vegetable man was totally out of left field, and didn't make any sense to me.
They ended the storyline with such abruptness it felt forced. The girl going back to live on a pig farm was supposed to be her living "happily ever after?!"
I knew I was in trouble in the first few minutes of the film when they said that "soup day" was more exciting than Christmas! What?! No kid (or me) can relate to that!
6/11/09 - The Battle for Seattle - ∆∆∆∆∆ - An AWESOME protest movie. Ok, it wasn't perfect, some of the acting was forced, some of the storyline was a bit too preachy, but there were plenty of moments where the movie soared. Andre Benjamin (yes, from Outkast) was amazing. I still do not care for Michelle Rodriquez - she always plays the "tough chick" and it's old. Martin Henderson was good as was Woody and Charlize (though I had hoped to see more of Charlize). Also, kudos to Stuart Townsend for showing both sides of the story (protestors and police). Lastly: We the people will never be divided.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wto
6/16/09 - In the valley of Elah - ∆∆∆∆∆ - Solid 5 star movie. Powerful acting, and a sad story behind it all. Fantastic acting by Tommy Lee Jones and Charlize Theron. I'll end with just this... I wish peace in this world.
6/22/09 - W. - ∆∆ - I almost gave it a 3 star, but just couldn't do it. The movie was long and tedious. While some of the acting was well done (Brolin was very good, Richard Dreyfus was Amazing) the story just was a retelling of events we already knew. Some of the bias was just over-the-top and silly (for example watching "Bush" eat his sandwich and stuffing his mouth, and talking with his mouth full.) Some of the character actors were just too distracting... Rove and Condi. I had hoped for more details and insight into the man, but instead was just met with a 2+ hour retelling of the last 8 years.
6/23/09 - Frost/Nixon - ∆∆∆∆∆ - Unbelievable acting on this one. I was able to keep up with some of politics involved, but admit to not knowing all the names of the key players. Even so, to be on the edge of my seat waiting to see how the "duel" progressed is saying a lot about a subject as dry as an interview. Tip of the hat to all the fine actors, top notch.
6/26/09 - True Blood - ∆ - I had heard a lot about this new show from HBO and it all seemed to be good, so I decided to rent season one and give it a shot. Apparently I'm the only one who thinks this show was lame?! I barely got through the first episode. The characters were stereotypical and over-the-top. The episode was poorly edited - example: The "cool" vampire dude goes outside with two local looneys. The woman (who looks like she's about 98pounds wet) fears for his safety and decides to run out to try and warn him that the looney's might attack him. Her boss, upon learning this, runs out of the bar also to stop her... next we see the woman pick up a big pile of chains (silently I might add), she whips the chains around a guys neck with super speed, then proceeds to pick up a knife and talk like the meanest gangster who ever lived. She rescued the vampire who was held down by a little silver necklace, they sit in the woods for a while and trade stories. Eventually (12 minutes later?) she heads back to the bar, where the boss is just standing in the parking lot (50' away) looking around like a doofus. Ugh. I expected more from you HBO.
6/28/09 - ∆∆∆ - The Ali G show - season one disc one - I am not 100% sure I like This series (also an HBO series). While many of the shorts get me to smile, they're not always funny. Not to mention the strong crudeness factor. I will say though that the first bit, where he trains with the Philadelphia police dept was funny, and the scene where Borat is in the gym trying to learn how to use the tread mill - had me in tears! I'm going to give the next disk a chance. Perhaps because this isn't new anymore, and I know what to expect with Sasha's characters it's not as funny, but he def has talent to make me laugh, just not consistently.
7/11/09 - ∆∆∆ - Valkyrie - I'm being generous with 3 stars here, but the movie held my interest (barely) for the whole time. I felt the movie was long and tedious and we got a dry re-telling of history. Granted it was intense at times, but overall it just lacked something. I've noticed in the past, I also have problems with movies that just have one single tone throughout the entire movie, and this was one of them.
7/14/09 - ∆∆ - Proof - Oh, I tried so hard to like this movie, but I just couldn't. While the storyline was there to make for a good movie, and two very talented actors (Jake Gyllenhaal and Gwyneth Paltrow), the movie just laid there and fizzelled. I blame it on two things... the dialogue was poorly written, and the direction was bad. The feelings of the characters never flowed at all, and most of the movie was spent arguing among the characters. No one wants to sit through 2 hours of arguing.
7/22/09 - ∆∆∆∆∆ - Speak - Wow. What a good movie this was. A strong subject matter of a young girl who... actually I don't want to give any of the story-line away. I'll use the words that netflix did "an unfortunate incident that left a young girl shunned..." It involves this girls struggles to carry the weight of what happened to her, while at the same time trying to juggle the social nightmare that only 9th grade can bring. Kristen Stewart was the star, and she did an incredible job. The reason I rented this was because Steve Zahn was the art teacher in this film and I usually like the movies that he is in - this definitely fell in that category.
7/31/09 - ∆∆∆∆∆ - The Haunting in Connecticut - Yep, you saw that right... I just gave a horror movie a 5 star rating. Oddly enough, I was thinking recently, that I had seen all the good horror movies out there. I have exhausted this genre of movies. That I would never see a good horror movie again. I was wrong. Ok, perhaps I was in the right frame of mind tonight, to sit down and watch a good ghost story, that I turned that little "critic filter" off. Were there some silly parts in the movie? Of course. Lots of "Gotcha" type scares (I think I jumped once*) The effects were gory at times, but for the most part, I enjoyed the movie. Then... I decided to watch the dvd special feature which interviewed the real occupants of the house, that was almost better than the movie. There was one scene there that made me jump as well. All in all, it was a good story if nothing else.
8/6/09 - ∆∆∆∆ - The Future of Food - A really eye opening documentary about the Food industry and genetic engineering. A bit heavy on the science side of things, but overall an educational film. Really makes Monsanto out to be a bad guy (Which I think they might be). Everyone who eats should watch this film.
8/09 - ∆∆∆∆∆ - Dexter - I have been hooked on the Showtime (which I learned is a subsidiary of CBS), called "Dexter", about a serial killer living in Florida who is a forensics cop. Good storyline, good suspense, good acting (for some). MY biggest complaint... the sister character (after watching the entire first series, I still can't name the characters! odd.) I look forward to starting season 2 any day now.
8/20/09 - ∆ - 10,000 BC - Just lame. perhaps I wasn't in the right mood, but this one just struck me as really lame. poor acting, mediocre effects, goofy love story. I expected more.
8/23/09 - ∆∆∆∆∆ - The Cats of Mirikitani - Documentary about Japanese/American artist "Jimmy" Mirikitani, who was homeless on the streets of NYC, and through this documentary film maker, Linda Hattebdorf managed to give him a helping hand up and get him back on his feet again. Really nice film. Peace Jimmy.
9/13/09 - ∆∆ - The Assassination of Jesse James - What LONG and tedious film. Yes it had really good acting, yes it had some nice cinematography, hut there was no way that film needed to be dragged out to 2.5 hours! I bet if I went through and edited out all the moments of silence and people just walking in an empty field that could shave off 45 minutes. Skip this film is my suggestion.
9/16/09 - Firewall - ∆∆ - A Harrison ford movie that was really lame. predictable "paint by number" script. poor acting (except for the bad guy who was pretty good). What I thought was a technological thriller amounted to some bogus scenes of hacking an ipod with a fax machine - lame.
9/25/09 - Adventureland - ∆∆∆∆ - I actually thought this movie was ok, and gave it that last "∆" for the soundtrack alone. It was basically a "chick flick" disguised as a stoner movie. A sort of teen-angst movie. It was well written too. The only thing that bothered me, was that the time frame seemed off for me... they said in the beginning of the movie it was 1987, but It seemed more like it might have been early 80's to me.
10/4/09 - The King of Kong - ∆∆∆∆ - Overall a good documentary. It was a bit dry at times, and the production levels were a bit on the low side, but it told a good story, which is what a documentary is supposed to do. I enjoyed seeing the tension, and thought the movie did a good job at creating that tension. By the end you really were rooting for the "underdog" Steve Weibe (weebee). It was neat to see a lot of the old "coin-op" classic video games that I grew up with too. If you are familiar with the 80's, classic arcade games, or enjoy anything that's 8-bit, I'd recommend this dvd. (disclaimer: Yes, I'm a geek so this perhaps that's why it was entertaining to me).
10/11/09 - Stander - ∆∆∆ - A movie I only heard about via Netflix. This was just a solid middle of the road for me. It wasn't bad, and I watched the story-line to see what would happen next, the only thing that I think kept it from being a good movie was that the acting was a bit flat (one sided - cool tough-guy attitude). I also felt like the editing was a bit choppy. I will give credit in that up until I looked it up on imdb, I thought it might of actually been filmed in the 70's. It was actually filmed in 2003, but they did a great job of capturing the feel of the 70's. Based on a True story as well, which is always interesting.
10/12/09 - ∆∆∆ - The Impressionist: Monet - A good documentary about the painter. Not great, but good. I felt like too much time was spent on just a few paintings though, I wish I saw a broader spectrum of his work.
10/12/09 - ∆ - The Pacific and Eddy - An attempt at an "indie film" but just didn't cut it for me. Too many long drawn out shots of trees in the wind, or wave of the ocean. It tried too hard to be an "artsy" film that I was totally board.
10/24/09 - ∆∆∆ - The Brothers Bloom - This is another one of those "con movies" that has twist after twist after twist, until either you give up trying to figure it out, or you're lucky enough to have kept up. I thought the acting was good on Adrien's part, but Rachel Weisz always gets on my nerves for some reason. This movie she was more tolerable to me. It was almost a good movie, but it became tedious. The saving grace I think for me was that it was really nicely filmed. The Cinematography was very well done.
10/30/09 - ∆ - Year One - Sadly another Jack Black movie that scraped the bottom of the barrel. I also really like Michael Cera and the two were not enough to raise the level of this movie. Classic example where the trailer had the funniest parts (and I'm also realizing that a 2 minute trailer can be funny whereas an hour and half movie is not.
11/8/09 - ∆∆ - Sunshine Cleaning - A difficult movie to rate for me because it was a good story, and good acting, but wow, was it ever depressing. It was marked as a "dark comedy" and I'd put the emphasis on "dark" more than comedy. Personally, I just don't like depressing movies, so that's why the low rating. Topics include, death, suicide, drugs, single parenting, unhappy with her job, infidelity. So put all those topics into a "comedy" and this is what you get.
11/11/09 - ∆∆∆∆ - Chaos Theory - Perhaps I'm being a little generous with that last '∆', but it was kind of a 'feel-good' movie so I'm still in a good mood. I mainly rented this movie because it had Ryan Reynolds in it... I think he's a good actor, and usually finds that right balance of comedy with good acting. The movie was a td on the cheesy side, but then would surprise me with a really nice scene. A good story (though a bit predictable at times). Worth a rental.
11/14/09 - ∆∆ - The Boondock Saints - This ended up being a 'fast forward' movie for me. Shortly after getting the gist of the plot, I end up fast forwarding through all the poorly written dialogue, and give the movie one last chance for redemption (ie: something catches my eye.) Sadly, no. Lots of yelling, gun shooting, blood packs, and stereotypes.
11/14/09 - ∆∆ - The Strangers - A horror movie that caught my interest when it first appeared in the theaters. It wasn't something I was willing to spend $9.50 to see, so I waited for dvd. I had joked that when it came out, and Liv Tyler was in it, that I would watch a 2 hour movie of her washing dishes - well, that's about the same entertainment level here. A movie that is 98% suspense, and 1% 'boo' factor, and 1% gore. Psychologically it was scary and creepy, but there had to be a better story for it to pay off.
11/22/09 - ∆ - G.I. Joe - Perhaps I just wasn't in the right mood for this, but this movie just could not hold my interest in the slightest. Lots of nice effects and computer generated art, but beyond that - nothing else. Characters were goofy, one-liners were lame, lots of shaky camera techniques... I could go on, but I won't.
12/12/09 - ∆∆∆∆ - Food Inc - I'm about a week late with this review so the details will be sparse. Nutshell, a good documentary on how the food industry is... not broken per say, but seriously flawed. The motivator is simple... faster and cheaper. But what this means to the consumers is a dangerous trade-off to quality food. A bad combination between Government (lobbyists for big business), and corporation. For example... Chickens are bred now that that do not resemble chickens of 50 years ago. They are slaughtered in just a few months when they're growth rate is altered to produce overweight chicks. These chicks are so over weight at times they can not take more than a few steps at a time before collapsing (usually in the muck and feces of all the other thousands of chicks in the shed.) If you have no idea why it's cheaper to get a $1 hamburger than a $7 salad, you should watch this movie.
12/19/09 - ∆∆∆∆∆ - The Answer Man - Yes, a bit of a chick flick, but this movie really entertained me. Jeff Daniels always does a great job. What I liked most though, was the storyline... not overly complicated, but just a well told story. A small warning though on the language, just a bit harsh at times if that sort of thing bothers you. I feel like it fit the story, so it didn't bother me. Definitely worth a rental.
12/30/09 - ∆∆∆ - Chalk - I'm being very generous with that last ∆. A bit of a strange movie that definitely falls in the category of an "indy film". It was a "mockumentary" style comedy about a group of teachers in what looked to be a high school (or maybe it was middle school?). While there were some funny moments at times there were also many moments that seemed forced and just plain stereotypical. So because it made me chuckle a couple of times, I'm giving the extra ∆, but towards the end, I was ready for it to be over with.
12/30/09 - ∆∆∆∆ - Heavy Metal - Yes, I'm giving this dvd 4 stars mainly for sentimental reasons. By today's standards the movie might be something you'd see on a late night cable program, but back in the day... Of course this may be the greatest soundtrack ever assembled for a movie, which also counts for at least one or two ∆'s. Perhaps this time around, what I enjoyed most about the dvd was the small documentary as the 'bonus' that explained some of the events and thinking and even animation techniques behind the movie. I really enjoyed seeing how they did the scenes where they filmed the B-17 in all black, with white lines, then 'reversed' the film in order to get a black line outline. (hard to describe I guess). A nice way to spend an hour and a half or so remembering my youth in my teens.
2009 - Media Consumed - part 1 of 3 - Books
I decided at the beginning of 2009, to keep a list of the media that I consumed. I listed movies that I saw in the theater, movies that I rented on dvd, and books. In hindsight, I WISH I thought to include my music purchases (and gifts) to this list as well.
Since the lists also include short "reviews" they've added up to a lengthy post, so I decided to split them into 3 parts: Books, dvd's, and theater.
Comments are welcomed.
>>>
Books:
The Judas Strain - ∆∆∆∆∆ - A bit out there but really good. Enjoyed.
A Year of living biblically - ∆∆∆∆ - To be fair, I started this book in 08, read about half, then put it down until Jan of 09. I needed that break as it was getting a tad monotonous. But I enjoyed finishing the book and it gave me lots of good thoughts to ponder.
Mondrian - ∆∆∆∆ - A "small" book with lots of pictures, but it had small type too so I'm counting it in this list. At the Cezanne exhibit - much to my surprise I walked away with a much higer appreciation of Mondrian. This little book talked about his life and paintings in more detail. I enjoyed it.
Brain Rules - ∆∆∆∆ - A really intersting book about how the brain works. I took a small break while reading as it got a little tedious at points, but overall lots of interesting facts and stats and stories... sad irony is that I now have a very difficult time remembering any of the interesting facts, stats to relate to others. ugh.
Napoleon's Pyramids - ∆∆∆∆ - While the book had a lot of technical flaws, and in my opinion some poorly written material, I really liked the story. The subject matter was interesting to me, as I've always had an interest in the Great Pyramid and its mysteries. The story moved along well like a hollywood action movie.
The Road - ∆∆∆∆ - An odd book, but it held my interest til the end, and made me think about things afterward. I happened upon this book while on vacation and I don't recall if I picked it up, or if my sister handed it to me, but regardless, she said it was "(one of?) the best books I've ever read"! Wow, with an endorsement like that, I HAD to check it out! I found the writing style different but I liked it (for example no quotation marks! If I wrote a book, that's how I'd do it too!). I do have a complaint (though it's my own short fall, and not the author's)... the vocabulary was a bit above me. I felt like every other page, I would stumble on at least 1-2 words that I didn't know the meaning of. But I really can't fault an author for that! I also have to admit I wanted to know more "answers" while reading the story, but again, that's just me.
I felt pressured to finish the book quickly too, because it's being released soon on the Big Screen! It should make for a good movie for sure.
Daemon - ∆∆∆∆∆ - A really entertaining book. I don't suppose this book is for everyone though, it has a lot of computer related information, that perhaps the "average joe" may not understand or get lost in. Some of it over my head as well, but I had the general gist of what was going on. It moved along quickly like a good thriller should, and didn't get too bogged down in the details. While I wouldn't call it perfect (the ending felt rushed to me, and didn't make a lot of sense at times). But overall, if you are a geek in anyway, and these topics interest you, then you should def check it out: computer viruses, MMORPG's, computers, cryptography, hacking, government conspiracies, end of days, society, classism, engineering, and on and on.
::::Semi - Spoiler alert::::
I kinda wish someone would have warned me so I will do the same - This book appears to be the first in a series - the second book is due for release in 2010 - I look forward to it.
Paranoia - ∆∆∆ - I enjoyed this book as a fun read, but I also feel like there were some flaws in the writing and story-line so I took some points off for that. In a nutshell it was a book about corporate espionage. A guy gets "blackmailed" into infiltrating another rival company, and proceeds to work the social ladder and several late night snooping sessions to get company secrets. There was a subplot as well that dealt with a man and his aging and sick father - which was a good side story. I felt like the author was writing down to me at times, and I couldn't tell if he was doing this on purpose or if perhaps he was struggling to write from a higher point of view (in regards to portraying a "working class Joe" versus a high profile corporate CEO). All in all a good summer read I guess. AND this marks a historical moment for me in that it was my first completed ebook on my Kindle. It was FREE to boot - I doubt I would have read it otherwise, so it was a nice surprise to have enjoyed it.
Fantômas - ∆∆∆∆ - I overall enjoyed this book, but towards the end, it kinda fell apart for me. I felt like new characters were being introduced every other page and I was having a hard time keeping track of them all. Speaking of every other page... the other thing that made this book difficult to enjoy was the words... yes the vocabulary was very difficult for me. In my defense, it was written in 1911, and it was orignally written in French, so a lot of words were period related, and French related. I kept a list of them and ended up at 85 words! Still an interesting "who done it" book that some credit as being the first book of its kind in the murder mystery style.
The Call of Cthulhu - ∆∆ - It's odd... I've read this story before, and enjoyed it, but for some reason this time around was just tedious. I think it is because my heart wasn't in it... I found some 'free' Lovecraft e-books online and downloaded them to read on my kindle. But I think I was just reading it cause it was free - not a very good reason to read. So, don't take this "review" as anything serious, if you've never read Lovecraft - you must. But do it on a cold october evening with some drizzling rain and perhaps by candlelight.
Doomsday Key by James Rollins - ∆∆∆∆ - I had a little trouble following this story this time, but I suspect it was just me. I tended to let too much time go in-between readings and I felt slightly confused. But all in all, yet another J. Rollins book that I very much enjoyed. As I mentioned... I feel like he's writing his books specifically for me and I thank him for it. Action, adventure, religion, conspiracy, dark-ops, history, etc... Only problem now... I think this was the last of his books that I needed to read - I've read all his others, so now I must wait until he comes out with a new one! Maybe I'll pick up one of his other books and re-read it.
The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown - ∆∆∆∆ - Disclaimer: The topics included in Dan's book are right up my alley. Secret Societies, Religion, Conspiracy, Science = awesome. So that being said, this story probably could have been written by a 6 year old, and I would have enjoyed it. But, trying to be objective for a minute... There were times when i felt Dan was spoon feeding me the plot. Little "reminders" of the story that he just finished setting up became annoying to me. I can't help but to wonder if coming off his big success of his last book (The DaVinci Code) that appealed to the masses, if he didn't deliberately dumb this book down. Now, about half way through the book, I didn't notice this anymore. Perhaps he did this only in the beginning to hook people in, or perhaps I just didn't become aware of it later on, I can't be sure. Would I recommend this book to others? Probably not. I think you either like Dan's material or you don't. If you didn't like DaVinci, you will def not like this one. But for me... it was a great read!
Dracula - ∆∆∆ - This is a solid three ∆∆∆. I took off 2 ∆'s mainly because about half-way through the book it became VERY tedious. The story-line focused mainly and almost entirely on the preparation of the group planning an plotting to kill Dracula. I so much wanted the story to move on faster. But, it did hold my interest enough that I plodded through it all with them. I found it interesting, in that of all the movies, TV shows, comic books, etc... that I've seen about Vampires, (Including Copala's version which was supposed to be truer to the book) there were a lot of elements I had never heard before regarding Dracula himself, and or vampires in general. I appreciated thegothic tone in the book as well. The vocabulary again was a struggle for me, something about these older books and the words they used fascinates me. I just hope I am able to retain a FEW of the MANY words I had to look up (Thank goodness for my kindle that has the built in dictionary.)
On the Road - ∆ - Jack Kerouac was either on drugs when he wrote this or he has ADD (or both). Way too scattered of a story for me to enjoy. I did a longer more involved review on my blog here.
Carmilla - ∆∆∆∆ - I discovered this book - or rather short story - in doing a little wikipedia searching about Dracula. Turns out Carmilla came out about 25 years before Dracula, and many credit (or accuse?) Bram from lifting similar ideas and plot lines from Carmilla. I defintely saw some similarities, but whose to say what's "stealing" and what's "Inspiration"... Anyway, I enjoyed Carmilla very much. It was fairly short (being a short story and all). Granted, there is somewhat of a spoiler by knowing ahead of time that this is a vampire story. The author treats it like a mystery, yet the reader already knows what most of the other characters in the book don't - but that was a minor point I suppose. Overall, I just liked the storyline of it all.
Sidenote about books: This year I took the plunge and bought a Kindle. That has influenced my reading list (I've enjoyed several "out of copyright" books because of it. - In other words, they were free!)
>>>>>>>>>
comic books:
Watchmen
Squee
Starcraft
>>>>>>>>>>>>
Since the lists also include short "reviews" they've added up to a lengthy post, so I decided to split them into 3 parts: Books, dvd's, and theater.
Comments are welcomed.
>>>
Books:
The Judas Strain - ∆∆∆∆∆ - A bit out there but really good. Enjoyed.
A Year of living biblically - ∆∆∆∆ - To be fair, I started this book in 08, read about half, then put it down until Jan of 09. I needed that break as it was getting a tad monotonous. But I enjoyed finishing the book and it gave me lots of good thoughts to ponder.
Mondrian - ∆∆∆∆ - A "small" book with lots of pictures, but it had small type too so I'm counting it in this list. At the Cezanne exhibit - much to my surprise I walked away with a much higer appreciation of Mondrian. This little book talked about his life and paintings in more detail. I enjoyed it.
Brain Rules - ∆∆∆∆ - A really intersting book about how the brain works. I took a small break while reading as it got a little tedious at points, but overall lots of interesting facts and stats and stories... sad irony is that I now have a very difficult time remembering any of the interesting facts, stats to relate to others. ugh.
Napoleon's Pyramids - ∆∆∆∆ - While the book had a lot of technical flaws, and in my opinion some poorly written material, I really liked the story. The subject matter was interesting to me, as I've always had an interest in the Great Pyramid and its mysteries. The story moved along well like a hollywood action movie.
The Road - ∆∆∆∆ - An odd book, but it held my interest til the end, and made me think about things afterward. I happened upon this book while on vacation and I don't recall if I picked it up, or if my sister handed it to me, but regardless, she said it was "(one of?) the best books I've ever read"! Wow, with an endorsement like that, I HAD to check it out! I found the writing style different but I liked it (for example no quotation marks! If I wrote a book, that's how I'd do it too!). I do have a complaint (though it's my own short fall, and not the author's)... the vocabulary was a bit above me. I felt like every other page, I would stumble on at least 1-2 words that I didn't know the meaning of. But I really can't fault an author for that! I also have to admit I wanted to know more "answers" while reading the story, but again, that's just me.
I felt pressured to finish the book quickly too, because it's being released soon on the Big Screen! It should make for a good movie for sure.
Daemon - ∆∆∆∆∆ - A really entertaining book. I don't suppose this book is for everyone though, it has a lot of computer related information, that perhaps the "average joe" may not understand or get lost in. Some of it over my head as well, but I had the general gist of what was going on. It moved along quickly like a good thriller should, and didn't get too bogged down in the details. While I wouldn't call it perfect (the ending felt rushed to me, and didn't make a lot of sense at times). But overall, if you are a geek in anyway, and these topics interest you, then you should def check it out: computer viruses, MMORPG's, computers, cryptography, hacking, government conspiracies, end of days, society, classism, engineering, and on and on.
::::Semi - Spoiler alert::::
I kinda wish someone would have warned me so I will do the same - This book appears to be the first in a series - the second book is due for release in 2010 - I look forward to it.
Paranoia - ∆∆∆ - I enjoyed this book as a fun read, but I also feel like there were some flaws in the writing and story-line so I took some points off for that. In a nutshell it was a book about corporate espionage. A guy gets "blackmailed" into infiltrating another rival company, and proceeds to work the social ladder and several late night snooping sessions to get company secrets. There was a subplot as well that dealt with a man and his aging and sick father - which was a good side story. I felt like the author was writing down to me at times, and I couldn't tell if he was doing this on purpose or if perhaps he was struggling to write from a higher point of view (in regards to portraying a "working class Joe" versus a high profile corporate CEO). All in all a good summer read I guess. AND this marks a historical moment for me in that it was my first completed ebook on my Kindle. It was FREE to boot - I doubt I would have read it otherwise, so it was a nice surprise to have enjoyed it.
Fantômas - ∆∆∆∆ - I overall enjoyed this book, but towards the end, it kinda fell apart for me. I felt like new characters were being introduced every other page and I was having a hard time keeping track of them all. Speaking of every other page... the other thing that made this book difficult to enjoy was the words... yes the vocabulary was very difficult for me. In my defense, it was written in 1911, and it was orignally written in French, so a lot of words were period related, and French related. I kept a list of them and ended up at 85 words! Still an interesting "who done it" book that some credit as being the first book of its kind in the murder mystery style.
The Call of Cthulhu - ∆∆ - It's odd... I've read this story before, and enjoyed it, but for some reason this time around was just tedious. I think it is because my heart wasn't in it... I found some 'free' Lovecraft e-books online and downloaded them to read on my kindle. But I think I was just reading it cause it was free - not a very good reason to read. So, don't take this "review" as anything serious, if you've never read Lovecraft - you must. But do it on a cold october evening with some drizzling rain and perhaps by candlelight.
Doomsday Key by James Rollins - ∆∆∆∆ - I had a little trouble following this story this time, but I suspect it was just me. I tended to let too much time go in-between readings and I felt slightly confused. But all in all, yet another J. Rollins book that I very much enjoyed. As I mentioned... I feel like he's writing his books specifically for me and I thank him for it. Action, adventure, religion, conspiracy, dark-ops, history, etc... Only problem now... I think this was the last of his books that I needed to read - I've read all his others, so now I must wait until he comes out with a new one! Maybe I'll pick up one of his other books and re-read it.
The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown - ∆∆∆∆ - Disclaimer: The topics included in Dan's book are right up my alley. Secret Societies, Religion, Conspiracy, Science = awesome. So that being said, this story probably could have been written by a 6 year old, and I would have enjoyed it. But, trying to be objective for a minute... There were times when i felt Dan was spoon feeding me the plot. Little "reminders" of the story that he just finished setting up became annoying to me. I can't help but to wonder if coming off his big success of his last book (The DaVinci Code) that appealed to the masses, if he didn't deliberately dumb this book down. Now, about half way through the book, I didn't notice this anymore. Perhaps he did this only in the beginning to hook people in, or perhaps I just didn't become aware of it later on, I can't be sure. Would I recommend this book to others? Probably not. I think you either like Dan's material or you don't. If you didn't like DaVinci, you will def not like this one. But for me... it was a great read!
Dracula - ∆∆∆ - This is a solid three ∆∆∆. I took off 2 ∆'s mainly because about half-way through the book it became VERY tedious. The story-line focused mainly and almost entirely on the preparation of the group planning an plotting to kill Dracula. I so much wanted the story to move on faster. But, it did hold my interest enough that I plodded through it all with them. I found it interesting, in that of all the movies, TV shows, comic books, etc... that I've seen about Vampires, (Including Copala's version which was supposed to be truer to the book) there were a lot of elements I had never heard before regarding Dracula himself, and or vampires in general. I appreciated thegothic tone in the book as well. The vocabulary again was a struggle for me, something about these older books and the words they used fascinates me. I just hope I am able to retain a FEW of the MANY words I had to look up (Thank goodness for my kindle that has the built in dictionary.)
On the Road - ∆ - Jack Kerouac was either on drugs when he wrote this or he has ADD (or both). Way too scattered of a story for me to enjoy. I did a longer more involved review on my blog here.
Carmilla - ∆∆∆∆ - I discovered this book - or rather short story - in doing a little wikipedia searching about Dracula. Turns out Carmilla came out about 25 years before Dracula, and many credit (or accuse?) Bram from lifting similar ideas and plot lines from Carmilla. I defintely saw some similarities, but whose to say what's "stealing" and what's "Inspiration"... Anyway, I enjoyed Carmilla very much. It was fairly short (being a short story and all). Granted, there is somewhat of a spoiler by knowing ahead of time that this is a vampire story. The author treats it like a mystery, yet the reader already knows what most of the other characters in the book don't - but that was a minor point I suppose. Overall, I just liked the storyline of it all.
Sidenote about books: This year I took the plunge and bought a Kindle. That has influenced my reading list (I've enjoyed several "out of copyright" books because of it. - In other words, they were free!)
>>>>>>>>>
comic books:
Watchmen
Squee
Starcraft
>>>>>>>>>>>>
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