Archive for the 'Movies' CategoryPage 2 of 5

Bad sequels make me mad

Published
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Austen
on May 24, 2007
in Movies
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Bad sequels make me mad, and so far this summer is litered with them. Spider-Man 3 could have been a wonderful ending to trilogy, taking it’s place next to it’s previous two films as perhaps the best superhero movies ever. But no, it didn’t. 61% on RT.

Shrek 3 was preceded by two great movies, but no: 42% on RT. And now, Pirates of the Caribbean 3: preceded by a great movie and a mediocre one: 54% on RT, giving it the same score as Pirates 2. So basically, it’s just as good as the last one.

It should be noted that I haven’t seen any of these movies (yet) but from Rotten Tomatoes and other reviews that I’ve read, all 3 of these 3rd installments appear to not live up to their predecesors. But they do good in the box office, so now Spidey 4 is probably going to happen, Shrek 4 is already in production, and Pirates spinoffs are being hinted at. And how often in a movie series has there been a bad one, and then a good one. Like, almost never. One one of the movies isn’t good, the rest of the series is usually ruined.I like sequels - as long as they’re good. Spider-Man 2, Shrek 2, Empire Strikes Back, Harry Potter 2, The Lost World - those are all good sequels, and they make me happy. But that doesn’t happen too often.

So bad sequels make me mad. They take a great movie, and try to do it again, or do it better, or just make money, and it doesn’t work and they completely ruin the other movie because it will be forever associatted with the sequel.

How many of you think that Rush Hour 3 is going to be any good? I can almost guarantee it’s going to be horrible. WHY CAN’T HOLLYWOOD JUST MAKE GOOD SEQUELS, OR NOT MAKE ANY SEQUELS AT ALL????? Because all they care about is the money, basically. But that’s not right.

Borat

Published
by
Austen
on May 21, 2007
in Movies
. 2 Comments

I just saw Borat last night. This isn’t a full-fledged review, just a quick tidbit about it…

It was… hilarious, stupid, racist, rude, and funny. Some of my favorite scenes:

  • NYC Subway scenes
  • Borat thinking that the elevator was the hotel room
  • The bear in the ice cream truck! And it roaring at the little kids! Hilarious!
  • Bag of crap… no comment
  • The antique store. Sometimes I just wish that I could do that

If you, like me, are wondering about how many of the scenes were real or staged, be sure to check this out. It seems like the Pamela Anderson thing was staged, but aside from that it all seems to be real. I understand the controversy over the movie but… it makes for some really good comedy. And he’s really a comic genius… although his tactics are a bit… extreme.

Movie Review: The Departed

Published
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Austen
on May 13, 2007
in Movies and Reviews
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Note that this movie is rated R (and for good reason) and should not be watched lightly. I refer to a couple of graphic scenes during this review.

Whooooaaa. Wow. Oh my god. The Departed is… an amazing movie. The acting is incredible, and so is the directing. It’s just… great. Great filmmaking.

The Departed is the winner of 4 Oscars: Best director, editing, best adapted screen play, and of course best picture. And yes, it deserved it. The Departed is directed by Martin Scorsese and stars Jack Nicholson as the head of the Irish Mafia in contemporary Boston. Matt Damon plays his mole in the Boston police department, and Leonardo DiCaprio plays the police department’s mole in Nicholson’s mafia.

The story generally follows DiCaprio and Damon, both who are terrific actors in this movie. Damon is great, but DiCaprio really steals the show. (DON’T think Titanic) He does an amazing job playing a good guy playing a bad guy. Both DiCaprio and Damon’s character’s stories unravel and relate to each other over the course of the film, and when they finally meet it’s great. Jack Nicholson is, well, Jack Nicholson. He delivers a great performance even at 70 years of age.

Continue reading ‘Movie Review: The Departed’

Serenity

Published
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Austen
on April 29, 2007
in Movies, Television and Videos
. 0 Comments

Serenity is probably the best Sci-Fi movie to come out in the last decade (when digital technology was available.) I have talked about both Serenity and the series it was based on, Firefly. I recieved the complete season of Firefly on DVD for my 13th birthday, knowing nothing about it. I did eventually find out though, that it was a sci-fi TV show made during the 2001-2002 season that takes place 500 years in the future, and now instead of riding boats, we ride spaceships.

The show pulled very much from a classic western style of life. The main characters were crewmates on a small ship called Serenity who are always trying to evade the Alliance, an interplanetary government trying to control the galaxy. Of course, they’re not the good guys. There ways of getting things done can be considered… violent at times.

Anyway, the TV show (all 16 episodes of it) were simply amazing. Despite a normal TV budget, it is still in my opinion one of the most imaginative and great shows I have ever seen. Joss Whedon, who created Buffy the Vampire Slayer was the executive producer, and despite his fame, the show was cancelled before the end of the season. But the fan base was amazing. The fans pushed for Joss Whedon to continue it, even raising money to give to him. Finally, in 2005 Serenity comes out. Serenity is the continuation of the TV show, and it stays true to all of the characters, only this time we have a slightly larger budget.

Even without seeing the TV show (although it definitely helps) Serenity is funny, exciting, scary and just FUN all at the same time. Take a look at this clip from the opening sequence of the movie:

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That clip shows the characters and the heart of the show/movie. Although Serenity is a Sci-Fi movie, it doesn’t over-do the special effects (the budget was fairly low) and it keeps things real. So rent Serenity from your local store or on Netflix! You won’t be disappointed. Then, if you like it, buy Firefly on DVD.

New trailer for Harry Potter 5

Published
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Austen
on April 23, 2007
in Books, Movies and Videos
. 0 Comments

The new international trailer for the 5th Harry Potter movie, The Order of the Phoenix was released yesterday…

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My favorite part:

Hermione: It’s really exciting, isn’t it? Breaking the laws.
Ron: Who are you and what have you done with Hermione Granger?

The trailer is AWESOME, and I’m looking forward to the movie, but not nearly as much as the 7th book. This is probably the only series where I would prefer the book to the movie. Not that the movies aren’t great, though. I really think that they handled the movies very well. They could have easily just been crap. They’re not as good as the books, but they do a good job of interpeting them.

Netflix is the coolest thing ever

Published
by
Austen
on April 6, 2007
in Movies and Technology
. 1 Comment

You may have heard of Netflix, you may use Neflix. If you do use Netflix, then you know that it is one of the coolest things ever. If you don’t, then I’m about to tell you why.

Initially, Neflix is an online service that allows you to browse for movies that you want. Then, you can add them to your Queue, or list of movies. The movies in your Queue are sent to you on DVD, via mail, in little slips. And amazingly, they never break. You then watch the movie, put it back in the slip, seal it, and send it back to Netflix with pre-paid mail. Then they’ll send you your next movie, usually within 2 days. It’s that easy. The different plans allow you to have from 1 movie at a time to 8 movies at a time. (The default is 2 or 3) and the price depends on how many movies you’re allowed to have at a time.

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Movie Review: 300

Published
by
Austen
on April 4, 2007
in Movies and Reviews
. 1 Comment

300 is Lord of Rings + Sin City + 300 gallons of blood.

300 graphically depicts the Battle of Thermopylae, the ancient battle between 300 Spartans and 10,000 Persians. King Leonidas leads the 300 men, going against the wishes of the Spartan council. The majority of the movie consists of the different waves of attacks by the Persians, (almost) all of which are met with… lots of very pointy sticks. Meanwhile, back in Sparta, Leonidas’s wife (the Queen) is trying to convince the Spartan council to go and send the rest of the Spartan army to go and help King Leonidas.

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And I though Sin City was violent

Published
by
Austen
on March 27, 2007
in Movies
. 0 Comments

Just saw 300. In Imax. Wow. Very big. Very loud. Very violent. Very cool. I didn’t love or hate the movie. On one hand, technically and visually it’s amazing, but on the other hand the violence could have been cut (or sliced) down a bit. Full review coming soon.

Seeing 300 on Tuesday

Published
by
Austen
on March 26, 2007
in Life and Movies
. 0 Comments

I’m seeing 300 Tuesday afternoon with Film Club!!! Yay! Expect a review shortly afterwards. Here’s a couple things I did to the 300 poster:

“Glory” was changed to “Gory” also.

Movie Review: Stranger than Fiction

Published
by
Austen
on March 24, 2007
in Movies and Reviews
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I just got and watched Stranger than Fiction, you know - that movie with Will Ferrell and the woman who’s doing the voiceover of his life, and then she says that it would lead to his “imminent death.” I had seen the trailer, then BAM, the movie was gone, I didn’t even know that it was released. What would we do without DVDs?

Stranger than Fiction stars Will Ferrell as Harold Crick, a boring and unknowingly depressed IRS agent who counts his steps while he walks to work. Then he starts hearing a voice narrating his life. And it says that he will die. Oh, and then he meets this woman who is the exact opposite of him. And they fall in love, and Harold starts to “live his life.” It turns out, there’s a real writer out there who IS writing his story, and is trying to decide how to kill her character.

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Movie Review: Hamlet (2000)

Published
by
Austen
on March 6, 2007
in Movies and Reviews
. 7 Comments

I did this for school, but it was exactly like what I post on here, so here’s my review of the (sort of) modern version of Hamlet.

The new version of Hamlet starring Ethan Hawke is a very interesting merge of the new and the old. It takes the classic Shakespeare play and plops it right down in modern day New York City. Everything is converted to modern day standards: A film instead of a play, a CEO instead of a King, a gun instead of a sword. The modern interpretations are very, very cool. They help you understand the play better, and enjoy it even more.

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Oscars Commentary

Published
by
Austen
on February 26, 2007
in Movies and Television
. 2 Comments

The Academy Awards this past Sunday night were very good. Here’s what I thought:

  • Ellen Degeneres was a great host - she’s funny, and very real. I especially loved the vacuum skit towards the end.
  • The dancers who created logos and other things from nominated movies was very, very awesome. I loved the Little Miss Sunshine one with the guy running behind it.
  • Helen Mirren winning best actress for The Queen was pretty obvious, nice speech. Also, apparently she has been invited to have tea with the real Queen of England.
  • Forest Whitaker for best actor was also obvious, but from the clip they showed from The Pursuit of Happyness (which I have yet to see) Will Smith looked like he had a good chance at it.
  • And Forest Whitakers’s speech was definitelly better than the Golden Globes one, but it’s so weird how he’s the vicous and terrifying dictator in The Last King of Scotland, and then he’s like so nervous and stuff when he gets the award.
  • The awards seemed pretty even until The Departed took the last two big ones: Best director and best film.
  • Finally, I barely recognized Jack Nicholson bald. Here’s why.

The Oscars

Published
by
Austen
on February 22, 2007
in Life and Movies
. 0 Comments

The Academy Awards are next Sunday, and here’s the nominations list.

Here are a couple of my predictions:

  • I think that Forest Whitaker will win (or at least he deserves it) for best Actor - he was simply amazing in Last King of Scotland.
  • Best animated feature has to be Pixar’s Cars.
  • Achievement in directing will be The Departed most likely.
  • Best motion picture is tough - I think Babel or The Queen will win.
  • Visual effects is flat-out Pirates of the Caribbean.

I literally haven’t seen a tenth of the movies that I wanted to this past year, so here are movies I definitely want to rent on DVD, whether or not they win:

  • The Departed
  • The Queen
  • Babel
  • Letter’s from Iwo Jima
  • Pan’s Labyrinth
  • Borat
  • Blood Diamond
  • Dream Girls
  • An Inconvienent Truth

I know, I know you’re saying “And he calls himself a film buff?!?!?!” But I’m really looking forward to seeing and reviewing all of these movies, in addition to some that I’ve already seen like Little Miss Sunshine and The Last King of Scotland.

The True Purpose of the Windows OS

Published
by
Austen
on February 3, 2007
in Humor, Movies and Technology
. 2 Comments

From tk421.net…

Out of the Microwave…

Recently one of my friends, a computer wizard, payed me a visit. As we were talking I mentioned that I had recently installed Windows on my PC, I told him how happy I was with this operating system and showed him the Windows CD. Too my surprise he threw it into my microwave oven and turned on the oven. Instantly I got very upset, because the CD had become precious to me, but he said: ‘Do not worry, it is unharmed.’ After a few minutes he took the CD out, gave it to me and said: ‘Take a close look at it.’ To my surprise the CD was quite cold to the touch and it seemed to be heavier than before. At first I could not see anything, but on the inner edge of the central hole I saw a inscription, an inscription finer than anything I have ever seen before. The inscription shone piercingly bright, and yet remote, as if out of a great depth:

4F6E65204F5320746F2072756C65207468656D20616C6C2C204F6E6
5204F5320746F2066696E64207468656D2C0D0A4F6E65204F532074
6F206272696E67207468656D20616C6C20616E6420696E20746865206
461726B6E6573732062696E64207468656D

‘I cannot understand the fiery letters,’ I said.’No but I can,’ he said. ‘The letters are Hex, of an ancient mode, but the language is that of Microsoft, which I shall not utter here. But in common English this is what it says:’

One OS to rule them all, One OS to find them,
One OS to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

The True Purpose of the Windows OS

Also on the website, Diary of an AOL User - very funny.

Lord of the Rings

Published
by
Austen
on February 3, 2007
in Movies
. 0 Comments

I recently re-watched a good part of each LOTR film by Peter Jackson on DVD, and I have to say that they are amazing technical achievments. I mean, I saw all of them in theaters, and have them all on DVD, but I think when they came out I wasn’t yet old enough to recognize how good they are. They’re just so….. epic. I mean, I knew that already - but the way it starts out all happy in the Shire (shows what they’re fighting for) and eventually ends up in Mordor is just amazing. And yes, although it is overly violent at times, it makes up for it by being awesome

It’s really a great achievment visually also. I mean, Fellowship and Two Towers had their fair share of special effects, but Jackson really went all out on Return of the King. And not in a bad way. Of course, special effects can be overused, but it’s hard not to use them a lot if you’re going to have an evil hooded guy flying on a thing that’s a cross between a dragon, snake and bird 2 or three miles above a beautiful city built into the rock of a huge cliff.

But really, I have a new respect for Peter Jackson. I mean, even now - over 3 years later, the special effects are STILL stunning, even on our tiny TV screen. And don’t even get me started on Gollum. Or the volcano. Or the walking and talking trees. Or the fire-monster that takes Gandalf out of the plot for a couple of hours kills Gandalf.

BTW, King Kong also had some awesome effects. Still, aside from the effects LOTR is still a great movie.

Finally, my all-time favorite character of the LOTR: In Fellowship, when Gandalf puts on the fireworks for the children, there’s a grumpy old lady sweeping, and who laughs briefly at the children’s joy.

Then, at the end of Return of the King, during one of the thousands of epilogues, the Hobbits come back to the Shire dressed in knight’s clothes, and riding galantly on horses. The shake of the head, and look on her face is just priceless.