The Interpreter

The Interpreter is a political thriller starring Nicole Kidman in the title role, and Sean Penn as a Secret Service agent investigating an assassination threat overheard by Nicole.

A leader of a country in southern Africa is scheduled to speak before the United Nations general assembly, and the threat against him is that he shall not leave the building alive.  (I don't think this is spoiler material, I think this was in the trailer)  Of course, things aren't as simple as they appear.  Nicole has some serious baggage as does Sean, and the drama and thrill factor get ratcheted up pretty well.  Will Sean put the clues together and figure out who's going to do what and how they're going to try and do it?  What side is Nicole on?  Is she good?  Bad?  Nude?  (as is such a common occurrence in her films)

Overall, I thought the story was pretty well written and acted.  It was a bit cliched with Sean as a hard luck agent, struggling to simultaneously work through his problems and solve the case, but it worked for the story.  There are spots where you see something, and the camera lingers long enough...almost too long...so that you know it'll be important later.  A really observant person could probably piece it together.  I enjoyed the movie and would've enjoyed it as a rental, but I'm not disappointed that I didn't see it in theaters.

The real reason for the title...

I'll say it again, for all the shortcomings of New Zealand's free-to-air television, there is one thing they do very well, and that's show movies.  They don't just show them either, they generally show them complete and unedited, and that's terrific.  They air the content at age-appropriate times, and that's that.  It's grand.

Due to this, we caught Mission Impossible III the other day. The flick didn't get the best press and had some publicity and box office issues when it hit theaters.  The reason for this is that the marketing crew had the impossible mission of trying to sell this film against the backdrop of Tom Cruise in total insanity mode.  He got all mavericky with his persona and starting whooping it up on Oprah's couch, getting all crazy with his Scientology schtick, and insulting Matt Lauer to his face.  

Tom's a guy who has been served really well up until that point by keeping his inner nut case pretty well contained, and really, it's a shame he went to the zoo during promotion for this because it really was a fun and intense movie to watch.  Philip Seymour Hoffman was a terrific bad guy because hey, the guy's a really good actor.  Tom Cruise, as an actor, really can turn in some good performances, and I thought he did here, and the rest of the movie was a fun time.  So, if you enjoyed the first one when it came out, but avoided the third one due to press about Tom, give it a watch, I think you'll enjoy it.

Blockbuster, we hardly knew ye.

How the mighty have fallen.

As collateral damage of the financial meltdown, Blockbuster (who we hear is having financial difficulties in the U.S.) has additionally set the New Zealand branches adrift.

Whatever shall we do?  Wherever shall we rent?

Fear not!  In the case of New Zealand, this is a non-event, as Blockbuster here kinda sucked anyway.  They had all the selection of a Gas Station/Deli/Video Rental location.  We now go to a place called Civic Video, who, as part of their new customer experience tell you all about Blockbuster going under!

So what did they serve us up at Civic Video?

Iron Man, Horton Hears a Who, Oceans 11, The Last Mimzy, Evan Almighty, 300, & Kinky Boots.

Let's start with the lighter fare first, shall we...

Horton Hears a Who is a computer animated feature based on the Dr. Seuss book of the same name.  It has the voice talents of Jim Carrey and Steve Carell as a couple of the main characters and, drawing from the creaky depths of my memory, all the main plot points in the book are covered here.  As you may suspect if you haven't actually read this literary morsel, it's not particularly lengthy...certainly not something easily conducive to 86 minutes of movie.  The kids enjoyed it, and indeed there were adorable parts, and some pretty funny scenes, but also from an adult's perspective, there were some really kinda odd moments.  Some of the scenes were, in my opinion anyway, bordering on uncomfortable to watch.  I'm not really sure why exactly...just a bit of strangeness there I couldn't quite put my finger on.  So, if you have kids, give it a rent, if not, hey, it may or may not be your cup of tea.

The Last Mimzy was good, but be warned, it requires a nigh-unbelievable suspension of belief to watch.  Am I talking about the time travel aspects or the supernatural changes that occur with the main characters?  Hardly.  That part's easy.  The plot centers around two young siblings who find an interesting box on the beach which contains even more interesting items.  Throw in adults who can't comprehend any of it, and make this humanity's last chance to save itself, and all in all it's a pretty nifty story, and well told and acted to boot.  It's a good show for the whole family.  Now, more about crazy-insane suspension of belief...quick warning...a spoiler of sorts follows...the feds (who of course get involved in these sorts of things), after seeing some mucho-crazy-loco stuff go down, stuff involving super-advanced technology and portals to other times, these kooky federal agents just smile, give a quick chuckle and a wink, and head home, leaving the children to get on with their lives.  There are many flights of fancy that can be imagined.  To borrow some imaginative genius from South Park, I offer up for your consideration the 5-assed monkey.  And sure, that's within the realm of fantasy, but there's no way no how the government would walk away from anybody related to that kind of action.  I digress...

Evan Almighty is another story of a guy with good intentions and misaligned priorities who, through crazy circumstance, realizes what's really important in his life is, you guessed it, his family.  This story line is done a lot, and for good reason.  It's just a really relatable and earnest thing.  This is the sequel to Bruce Almighty, minus Jim Carrey, but retaining and starring Steve Carell.  Steve's a funny guy.  This film wasn't as funny as the first though.  Still, it was a good rental and a pretty funny film for the whole family.  This time around, Evan is tasked with building an ark for a coming flood.  Much divine hijinks ensues, hecklers and doubters abound, some serious and touching moments intermingle with the comedy, and of course everything works out according to God's master plan in the end.  

Iron Man rocked the house.  We expected action of course, but weren't really sure what to expect beyond that.  Again, we found a great movie for the whole family!  This flick didn't really have much in the way of harsh language to speak of.  This was something we didn't even realize until it was over and we were on to our second viewing.  It just doesn't need profanities and such. Nor did they go overboard with gratuitous violence.  There is indeed violence...we're talking weapons manufacturers and militant thugs after all...but not the extended slow-mo head-removing kind of violence.  The acting, dialog, and story telling were brilliantly done.  Robert Downey Jr. is the embodiment of main man Tony Stark, and we're looking forward to the sequels in a big way.  But on to what it's about.  Tony's a weapons designer.  Make that weapons designer savant.  He's an engineering marvel who creates really cool, really deadly stuff.  ("But wait, you said family movie," you gasp)  Tony is captured, where he learns the lethal reality of the business he's in.  It's a moment that alters his future for the better, and he becomes a force for good. (See?  Good moral, good family movie.)  He becomes Iron Man.  Of course he needs a villain (very ably cast and acted), and the result is a wonderfully enjoyable movie.  Definitely give this a viewing.

It took us forever to get around to renting Oceans 11.  I'm glad we didn't strain ourselves trying harder to watch it.  I found it mildly entertaining, in that "late movie on cable" kind of way, but frankly, I could take it or leave it.  The film is more about packing in the stars than being a great movie.  It just didn't strike any chords with me...I may or may not get around to renting the sequels.

The next film on the list, 300, has a little something for the guys and the gals.  For the guys, there are really manly displays of violence, ass kickings, blood, more violence, even more ass kickings, entire walls being built out of slain enemies, etc. etc.  For the ladies...well...the ass kicking guys do all of this stuff dressed in very, dare I say, spartan outfits (giggle snort).  There's enough beefcake on display for a Chippendale's convention.  There's some minor dessert fare for the guys with a couple of requisite boobie shots of exceedingly attractive women, but it's primarily main course, and primarily raw meat.  You want a manly flick?  These guys will give you a manly flick...and they'll rip your head off and cram it down your throat when they do it...all while sporting rippling six-packs!

Every bit as manly, but in more of a "secure with your heterosexuality" kind of way is Kinky Boots.  This movie falls right in there with Hot Fuzz in the "really good English movie" category.  It has great comedy, it has some really nice dramatic moments, and is supposed to be based on a true story as well.  It centers around a long-standing shoe factory (real, high quality shoes) that must embrace change or die.  They ultimately embrace change and give it a bit ole sassy hug! (oh snap!)  Inspiration comes when you least expect it, and it's so so important to look at people on the inside, rather than judge them on the outside.  Great story, great acting, give this a view sometime.

That raps up this batch of rentals.

Journey to the Center of the Theater

For our son's birthday, we played hooky and caught a matinee of Journey to the Center of the Earth.

First, I must say it's a thoroughly enjoyable experience to catch a movie at 11am on a weekday when it's toward the end of its run and you have pretty much the entire theater to yourself.

As the title and trailer suggest, the main characters (Brendan Frasier of The Mummy, and Josh Hutcherson of Zathura) manage to find themselves falling to the earth's core (or thereabouts) and arriving with nary a scratch on them.  Trust me when I say that's the BELIEVABLE part!  For bits of the rest of the movie, you need to not just suspend belief, but casually walk it out into the alley and put a couple bullets in it.

That said, if you can let your mind roam free, it was a lot of fun to watch!  Loads of action, unusual creatures, and strange plants are all there in abundance.

Achieving the Impossible!

I was thinking about Google Chrome recently, particularly an experience I had with it, and this led me to think of Windows Vista and a similar experience.  I achieved what was advertised as an impossibility with each of them (at least as far as I've been informed).

Google Chrome is billed as having this great feature where everything that happens is kept in its own little isolated section of memory.  If a plug-in within a window crashes, only the plug-in crashes, or possibly in a worst case scenario, that window crashes, but definitely NOT the whole shootin' match (IE. all of your other open windows).  Well, guess what folks.  In a feat not possible according to Google advertising documentation, I've crashed the whole damned thing on two different occasions now!  Funny thing is, even in beta, and even factoring in these two crashes, I've been having much better luck with Chrome than I've had with Firefox or IE!!!  Chrome still kicks butt!

This takes me back to early use of Windows Vista.  I installed it, and within the first half-day of use, it blue-screened on me.  Not knowing any better, I called a friend who is far more knowledgeable about Windows in general (as part of his job).  "Naw," he said, "Vista isn't supposed to blue-screen, cause they took those out...it'll black-screen, but not blue-screen."  I assured him that I was, at that moment, sitting in front of a blue-screen, fresh out of Vista.  "Huh?!", he said.  "That's not supposed to happen."  And we laughed uproariously at the kookiness of Microsoft.

You too can do the impossible!

Back to the Week in Film!

This week we hit the rental shop for another round of entertainment.  Here's the lineup:  The Cat in the Hat (cartoon), Barbie:  Fairytopia, The Mask, Hot Fuzz, and The New World.

Let's start with the presumably delightful Cat in the Hat (animated version).  This one quickly brought me to the point I would've expected to be at while watching the live-action Mike Myers version.  That is to say, disappointed, and praying for the end credits.  It had the Dr. Seuss animated characters, and the basic storyline, but done in an entirely annoying way, complete with highly annoying songs that were simple and practically ground into dust before they relented and moved on.  The kids were ok with it but not excited...maybe if they were much younger it would've been more enjoyable for them.

I had the good fortune to work through Barbie: Fairytopia, and am still amazed at the number of people who actually work on that line of films.  Our 6-year-old daughter of course loved it.

The Mask is great for a first viewing (and assuming you like Jim Carrey films).  The second viewing I did get a chuckle out of a handful of the jokes, but this really isn't a multiple-view movie in my opinion.  I'd certainly recommend renting it when you're in a silly mood, as it is quite funny, but wait on buying it until you give it a thorough assessment.  The story revolves around Jim Carrey's mild-mannered bank employee stumbling across a mask that, when worn, seriously amplifies his innermost desires and gives him abilities heretofore confined to cartoons.  All of this, of course, with zany results.

Film as art is highly subjective.  The New World is film posing as art.  It's visually beautiful.  The story, by itself, is beautiful.  The music, by itself, is beautiful.  The way in which it was all put together was a lot more hit and miss.  It's the story, reasonably accurately told, about John Smith, Pocahontas, and some other guy.  There is the establishment of Jamestown, ships coming and going from England, friendly and violent contact with the Native Americans, etc.  Where I had problems with it were the loud musical score paired with low near-mumbling speaking from the characters.  Also of issue were scenes where the settlers are bartering with natives, no, wait, they're fighting with them, no, hang on a second, they're bartering again, no, wait...  It almost felt like they accidentally spliced the film the wrong way and flip-flopped some parts of some of the scenes.  This was presumably intentional, and therefore I assume it was supposed to feel artsy or something.  What I felt like it actually did was to keep me from getting immersed in the story.  I kept getting yanked back out to scratch my head and wonder what they were thinking.  My recommendation, if you go in with low enough expectations, it's an interesting movie.

This brings us to Hot Fuzz, our gem of the week.  This one's the story of a seriously over-achieving cop in London's elite police division.  How good is he?  So good he gets transferred to the safest little dinky community in all of England because, well, he's making the rest of the London unit look bad, and frankly, they just can't have that.  But then shortly after his arrival, questions about the safety of this little town start to surface.  The humor here is unmistakably British, and it's very well written and performed.  It was hilarious and just plain good.  This one's a must-see!

Funny stuff from the Evil Empire

Microsoft is releasing a new ad campaign where we watch the many misadventures of Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates attempting to get "back in touch" with regular people.  Windows lovers will probably be yelling a collective "In your face, Mac!", and the Mac folks will probably adopt a smug "our ads are still better than yours" posture.

For my part, I'm indifferent to this whole "my system's the bestest ever and yours sucks" line of thought.  Microsoft catches flack because they're the dominant player.  If you reversed their respective market shares and reach, everybody would be bitching about Apple and talking about how crappy their OS is, and how Microsoft, this small niche player really has it going on.  Same for Linux.  If most people on the planet were running Linux at home, we'd undoubtedly see more cracks showing, more efforts made by the malevolent of mind to wreak havoc in that space.  In the end, I just want to be able to get my stuff done effectively with minimal disruption and good compatibility with everyone else, and frankly, I don't care what I'm using so long as it's reliable and stays out of the way, and doesn't require multiple years of sys admin experience to run properly.  So, quick recap:  Windows has problems, and, guess what, so does OS X, and yes, Linux too.  Work to improve them, don't tell me how, in spite of your favorite's problems, that it's still better than the others...I don't care.  

On with the show!  The ads are funny.  They're reminiscent of Seinfeld's American Express ads, or very short episodes of his show.  They're not heavy-handed in the marketing either, which is nice.  Part of the schtick, judging from the first two installments, is Seinfeld, toward the end, asking for some ridiculous feature in future Microsoft software, and asking Gates to acknowledge this with some odd behavior (say, doing the robot).  As for the message, it's supposed to be about connecting people, and we're supposed to say "Gosh, I can do that best with Microsoft products."  I really don't know if that's what comes across or not, but they're entertaining at least.

Ad #1:

Ad #2:

Identity

First, a quick note on one of the things I like about NZ television.  They'll routinely play a wide array of movies (kids, dramas, action, etc.), and, they're largely unedited.  People never say "Aww shucks!" while their mouths are muttering something different, and, for better or worse, it's great!

On with the show...

Identity has a good cast with John Cusack, Ray Liota, Amanda Peet, and Alfred Molina (among others).  It's a pretty well done thriller with a nice plot twist toward the end.  It borders on horror...but I'd say it doesn't quite cross that line.  People do die, there are tense moments, and there is a bit of blood, but not to the extent of most of the horror genre.  

The plot is roughly this.  During a rainstorm in a fairly desolate Nevada location, a small group of independent people end up at a small motel/cafe/gas station, and roads are washed out and/or flooded in every direction.  The people are from geographically disparate locations and from all walks of life, but is that really the case, or do they in fact share something in common?  While this is puzzled over, people start dying, and it becomes apparent very quickly that there is a method behind the madness.

Overall, it was a good thriller and it was nice to catch it.  If you like a good thriller, I'd recommend giving it a watch.

The week in film: Part Trois!

The third installment of what has roared out of the box as a feature du jour on this blog gives us another handful of flicks, some of which you may have even heard of!

This week's lineup brings us these choice bits: Brother Bear 2, Garden State, Out of the Blue, The Station Agent, and House of Sand and Fog.

Brother Bear 2 leads us off with a story that, in the tradition of hastily made Disney sequels is both unmoving and forgettable, or rather, it would be if the adults in the room could stay awake to watch it. Generally speaking, if I'm watching an awful movie, often I can find at least one plot point to cling to that makes me watch it to the end, hoping something interesting may actually happen. This is a kid's film, and as such it doesn't necessarily need such hooks for the intended audience, and I just couldn't stay awake for lack of caring. (my wife fared better, but she did also have a laptop and internet connection on her lap throughout) Your kids may very well like this movie, but I cannot promise the same for you.

I did thoroughly enjoy Garden State though. This movie, by "that guy from Scrubs," was really well done. There was a period of time initially where I had this feeling that, well, it was just a little odd or different, and it took a bit to identify why. The portrayal of the characters had a interestingly "real" feel to it that was a nice break from the more polished mannerisms of a typical Hollywood production. The story itself is pretty good. A guy comes home for his mother's funeral, and ultimately confronts some long-standing pain that he has with his father over a prior tragedy shared by Mom, Dad, and son. It's well told, well acted, and has some nice supporting characters with interesting stories of their own. It's recommended viewing.

Out of the Blue falls under the category of "films about things that happened in New Zealand that were not related to Lord of the Rings and are therefore not likely common knowledge." This category label alone, at just under 4 feet long, was what attracted us to the section, and ultimately to this movie. ;-) This flick is a true-to-life drama about the Aramoana massacre, the deadliest shooting in the history of New Zealand, leaving 13 people dead. It's well acted, and has Karl Urban (Eomer from Lord of the Rings) leading the cast. This is a difficult film to watch in the sense that it is an utterly gut wrenching event. The senseless slaughter of many innocent men, women, and children, gunned down in cold blood... It's a powerful movie for sure. One area that was left open in our opinion was any kind of background into the killer. Obviously he snapped, but there isn't much given for background (possibly simply because nobody really knows). There is fleeting reference to police checking in on him...some bad blood between him and a former long-time friend and neighbor...but any kind of obvious history that would've triggered his snap aren't really presented. Of particular interest to us with this movie was seeing scenery that we've been to, and that we live (figuratively) right around the corner from!!! There were definite moments of "hey! we've been there!" So, if you're interested in a bit of NZ's unsavory history captured in an effective and well executed film, this is a good one.

The Station Agent is another independent flick that I heard of awhile ago and, upon seeing it on the shelf, it came to the forefront and I thought hey, why not. Well, I'm glad I did. This is a really fun movie, often funny, and at times moving, about the lives of three strangers, each with their own issues and demons who, through the course of time become unlikely good friends. This one shares with Garden State that feel of dropping a camera in on normal people going about their business. It's well told and well acted all around, and just an enjoyable movie to watch.

The House of Sand and Fog is a difficult film to watch. It's extremely uncomfortable. It's a train wreck from which you can't look away. The story is well done, as is the acting. But be warned, it's a very dark drama. The setup is this...a depressed and down on her luck woman is evicted from her home due to a bureaucratic snafu, and in the resulting auction, her house is sold to an immigrant trying very hard to better his family's situation. The film starts pretty dark and the light only continues to dim as the story progresses. If that sounds like your cup of tea, then this is probably a great one to rent. If you like happy endings, perhaps steer clear.

Forklift Training for the masses

This was forwarded to me by a friend and is absolutely hilarious, though not for the faint of heart. It has blood and guts aplenty, but done with cheezy comedic sensibility, and is a graphic illustration of what not to do when operating a forklift. Oh, and it's in German, but the language barrier really isn't a problem in understanding the video!

The Life & Times of the Thunderbolt Kid

Bill Bryson's just a funny guy with a knack for writing a good story. This particular book is autobiographical of sorts...I say "of sorts," since it's primarily about his childhood, and therefore a bit incomplete I suppose.

What can I say about this book...

For starters, it really does have everything. Drama (lime-green capri pants), crime (ID forgery), explosions (what're friends for), heists (free beer), and gratuitous nudity (strippers). What more could you possibly ask for packed into one book. I laughed (from the hijinks), I cried (from the laughter), it was a roller coaster of a good time (and it contains an actual roller coaster).

Bill had a childhood not unlike many other children of that time, but his masterful writing skills and keen perspective on things make for one heck of an enjoyable story of youth roaming free, as it should, but quite often as it no longer does. And that end of it is actually quite sad indeed.

Shakespeare

Bill Bryson's Shakespeare: The World as a Stage, is quite an interesting read, but not for the reasons you might expect (well, at least not for the reasons I expected). As with most things Bryson writes, it's got a wonderful pace, it's often humorous and entertaining, and quite informative to boot!

Growing up hearing about, reading, and studying Shakespeare's works, I made what I assume to be a fairly normal assumption. That assumption being that as widespread and popular as his works are, as well as the sheer volume, that he was likely a well known guy and they probably knew everything about him from the doctor's first slap at birth through to the grave crew's filling of the hole at death. This could not be further from the truth. This is, in fact, a man about whom very little at all is known. How little you ask? Well, for starters, there is hardly consensus about the correct spelling of his name to this very day. That alone speaks volumes.

It's also not known if he traveled internationally at all or in what order his plays were written (and with his sonnets, to whom they were addressed and for what purpose). They can only place Shakespeare in particular times and places for only a handful of days out of his entire life.

This particular biography discusses all of this and much much more. If you possess a passing fancy of any sort for the works of Shakespeare, you stand a good chance at enjoying this book. It's a real eye opener, even as it doesn't tell you much about the person of whom it's written!

Revisiting Star Wars

I feel the need to post a bit of a disclaimer about this review. You see, while I was in fact born before the original trilogy came to cinemas, I didn't get around to seeing them (for no particular reason) until I was well into college. Thus I wasn't "captured by the magic" as some might have been while watching those movies as kids. This background no doubt colors my opinions, so I thought I'd throw that out there first thing.

As part of family game and/or movie night at our house (weekly event), we've been watching the Star Wars movies in sequence, starting with Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, through to the end. We have yet to watch Return of the Jedi, but that's next up and I'll add a subsequent addition to this review.

Star Wars purists don't tend to think too highly of the newer episodes, and this time through, I tried to keep an open mind...rate them on their own merits...see how they REALLY compared. Let's start at the beginning shall we?

The Phantom Menace
I'm not willing to dismiss the series out-of-hand just because of Jar-Jar. That said, wow is he annoying if you're an adult. My kids...the age I myself would've been when the first ones were coming out...thought he was funny. Is he really any worse than Ewoks? I found the movie annoying for other reasons though...primarily the acting. For this, I hold the director at fault. The actors are generally good in their own right, but the director MUST get the requisite performance from them. In this case, Lucas did not, and the movie suffers. The dialog is hokey and poorly presented (and sadly I think this is what Lucas was going for at the time). Oh...also, midi-chlorians...WTF? This one's at the bottom of my list for the series as a whole.

Attack of the Clones
Less Jar-Jar was nice. Same cheezy dialog and stale performances. Marginally better than the first one.

Revenge of the Sith
The best of the first 3 in my opinion. I'll take this time to note one other big problem I had with the first 3, and that is the casting of Samuel L. Jackson. I love the guy...he does his thing well...but, he just does NOT belong in Star Wars. Perhaps if they had worked in a scene where he was giving Padme a foot massage (cause he IS the foot f*kin' master), and was then sliced in half and thrown off a balcony by Annakin, that might've been cool. He's just not jedi material, and his miscasting distracted from the movies.

A New Hope
Luke Skywalker is a whiner. He is, for me anyway, the biggest detractor to this film. In the grand scheme of things, I think this was intentional...young whining teenager type grows to be a warrior, etc. This film DOES introduce the one thing the first three just didn't have. Han Solo. This was just a character Harrison Ford was built to play, and it really does make the movie. He has the facial expressions and personality to make the second 3 movies engaging and fun, something that was often lacking in the first 3.

The Empire Strikes Back
This one's often cited as "the best one ever" and "the only one Lucas didn't direct" yada yada. This could very well be the case, as this one does seem to take a more serious edge whereas the 6th tends to get into the more cartoonish Ewoks (the shorter and harrier Jar-Jars of the future). This one is a pretty solid movie, and one of my favorites in the series.

The Return of the Jedi
September 8th update:  Finally re-watched this, and yeah.  It was still pretty good.  I don't find the ewoks nearly as offensive as Jar-Jar, and I read or heard something to the effect that they were originally intended to be more wookies, but due to budgetary or time constraints they went with ewoks instead.  This alone only added to my enjoyment, as now I found the ewoks amusing...not for what they were, but for what they weren't.  Now, I would imagine Chewy would love to pick them up and de-limb them for fun.  At any rate, the good guys still won, Luke stopped lusting after his sister, and everybody was happy...except for the bad guys who mostly died.

One overarching issue I have with the series as a whole is this. For reasons dealing with technology, and CGI effects, Lucas made 4-6 first, then, when the technology had advanced sufficiently, he made 1-3. Fine. They're his movies, he could've just made the odds first if he'd wanted. I'm fine with that. Where I take issue is, he set a standard in 4-6 of the type of "technology" available to the characters in those movies, then, in 1-3, instead of giving THOSE characters clunkier "older" versions of this stuff (they're earlier in time remember), they have weaponry and ships that take on a much more polished and refined appearance. It's a big continuity problem if ya ask me!

Olympics Online

As part of our personal mission living in New Zealand, we've opted not to hook up to cable or satellite television at home because, frankly, the scraps we get on the free-to-air networks are more than enough to cause brain atrophy.

When we first learned that a) the Olympics were coming, and b) they were coming to the free channel that we don't get, we were a bit bummed, but never fear, this is the internet age!

So, how did the internet experience stack up for watching such an event...

In short, it stinks. The technology is available, but we managed to see sporadic bits and pieces at best. The local sites (NZ) were slow. (sorry, I meant: sloooooooooow)

Not a problem! There's google, youtube, and countless other sites right? Well, yes and know. There were a lot of incomplete or just generally crappy bits published here and there.

As we reside outside the U.S., sites such as NBC are off limits to our browser's prying eyes (for streaming video), and we more or less missed the bulk of the action, catching up by reading online news articles or catching brief bits on the late night news.

It'd be splendid if the next hosts managed to put up some massive servers to serve up the various events in 2012!

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

Where to start...

Wow..."Dr. Horrible" was one of the best and funniest things I've seen in awhile. It's something on the order of an hour or so in length (broken into 3 parts and classified as a TV series), and was apparently what happens when there's a writers strike in Hollywood! (in short, brilliance breaks out!)

At the helm is Joss Whedon ("Angel", "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", Serenity), and has wonderful casting in the way of Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion, and Felicia Day.

Did I mention it's a musical??? (and a bit surprisingly, they sing quite well!)

It's funny, quirky, and often clever. Give it a watch if you have the time.

The week in film: Back in Action!

In the tradition of good sequels, I give you this follow-up post complete with different movies, reviewed during a different time, yet in a vaguely familiar fashion! Exciting isn't it.

This week's lineup included the following flicks: Minority Report, The Prestige, Whale Rider, The Iron Giant, and Zoom: Academy for Superheroes.

Now that we have the titles, I give you the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The good.

Minority Report was a really fun sci-fi flick set in 2054, where an experiment in precognitive crime fighting is taking place. People are quite literally found and arrested before they get the chance to kill. A delightful plot line is woven into this scenario that takes some great twists and turns, making for a really good time at the movies. I'd recommend checking it out. Steven Spielberg does, as usual, an excellent job on this.

The Prestige is another magician flick that came out in eerie proximity to The Illusionist. It's truly amazing how often this sort of thing happens in Hollywood...two studios releasing oddly similar movies in a rather similar time frame. What a crazy original idea factory that place is! (Madagascar and The Wild anyone???) I digress... The Illusionist with Edward Norton was a really good story, and really well done. I'd recommend that one for sure. The Prestige was even better! A really well written and acted story, lots of suspense, and great twists. Give this one a rent for sure. As for the two mentioned animated flicks, go with Madagascar, forget about The Wild.

Whale Rider entered my mind as "that smallish foreign film that had great critical acclaim and I should think about watching sometime." That's pretty much where it stayed, occasionally surfacing in the back of my mind, but disappearing just as quickly. Then I moved to NZ, and at that point, it seemed more like a required viewing type of thing. I checked out and read the book (good stuff, give that a read if you can), and now I've seen the movie. The movie takes creative license with the book, but still, wonderful movie. It's a beautiful story, well acted, emotional, and powerful. I have to say, in my opinion, it helped me get more out of the story due to exposure I've had to Maori culture since moving here. I don't think this is a requirement for watching, but it didn't hurt either. Anyway, it's a really lovely film and I would strongly recommend this one.

On the animated front, we have The Iron Giant. This is one of the most tragic stories ever. No, not the movie, but the complete bungling of the promotion of the movie. This is a flick that most people likely ignore or maybe haven't even heard of, and it is FANTASTIC! Go, run, rent this now! Adults, kids, it doesn't matter...this is a wonderful story expertly brought to the screen by Brad Bird (The Incredibles, another must-see). It packs a few wonderful and powerful messages and is just a real treat.

Rounding up this bunch with a flick that very ably holds the fort for both "the bad" and "the ugly," we have Zoom: Academy for Superheroes. In some fairness, this did hold the attention of two young children. That said, they promptly forgot about it in a way I only wish I could. The acting was cheezy and the story, such that it was, was sort of coherent but spliced together in a really clunky, disjointed way. Revisiting the earlier commentary on originality, a similar-themed flick that came out was Sky High, and while that's not perfect either, it was all around more enjoyable than this turkey.

That concludes this week's roundup.

The week in film

Due to a lovely rental deal at the local Blockbuster, we brought home 5 movies for the week for the rock-bottom price of $10. Yay us. I'll give my $0.02NZD worth to the following: A History of Violence, Apocalypto, Batman Begins, Treasure Planet, and last (and certainly least) Barbie Fantasia - Mermadia.

A History of Violence

This was simultaneously what I expected, yet not what I expected. The storyline was good. The actors involved are all fine actors. And certainly popular opinion and critical acclaim are all there. I couldn't help but find the whole thing a bit disjointed. The actors didn't really seem to compliment each other, and the overall flow...well...it didn't actually flow in my opinion. It jerked along in fits and starts that were enough to kinda keep reminding me that I was watching a movie, instead of just letting me be absorbed. I'm sure there are many reasons why I'm wrong about this, or how this was intentional and that's what gives it some sort of edgy feel or something, but there you have it. If I'd rented it with lower expectations, I would've probably enjoyed it more. As it was, I expected something great, and had to settle for ok.

Apocalypto

I've seen rumblings about the historical inaccuracies and such of this flick. Well...duh! Whaddya expect?!?! The people who made the film weren't there, nor is this particular plot and characters documented in the ancient ruins...it was fabricated. Yes, there was the pain taken to use a language nobody understands, but this does not a documentary make. So, I watched, and I enjoyed. It was violent. It was brutal. It was an action movie about a guy doing what he must in order to save those he loves (and about one hell of a tough woman as well). I enjoyed it, enjoyed the character development, enjoyed the suspense, the action, all of it. I'm sure there are probably problems with it, but I was too busy hanging on to the edge of my seat to notice them! I'd recommend giving this a watch! (if you can stomach the gore that is)

Batman Begins

Yes, it really took me this long (Dark Knight is already in cinemas) to see the first installment. Before seeing it, I wasn't sure why I'd waited so long, and after seeing it, I feel like a fool for waiting! This was brilliant! A very well done and acted movie. I much preferred this to the more cartoony feel of the Tim Burton version, and now can't wait to see the next installment. The action, the story, the pacing...all just excellent. Can't recommend this enough.

Treasure Planet

This one was ok. I do generally enjoy kids' movies, Disney, Pixar, Dreamworks, etc., and this was ok, but nothing spectacular, and not particularly memorable. The kids liked it, and did take in a repeat performance, but didn't have any interest really in making this a permanent part of the collection. Might be worth a rental...better yet, if you know anyone who bought it, borrow their copy.

Barbie Fantasia - Mermadia

I only watched the bits and pieces I had to in order to get from my computer through the living room to the kitchen and/or bathroom and back. This really holds no interest for adults and is really for fairly young children. My daughter of course loved it. If you have young daughters, they stand a good chance at liking this thing...as an adult, should you be forced to sit through it with your child, it's a good opportunity to catch a little shut-eye. That said, this movie did have something that floored me. The closing credits. For the quality and thought that went into this thing, there are LOADS of people involved in bringing this thing to light!

There you have it...the weekly movie roundup.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was fun to watch. Is it worth full-priced admission, or should you wait for a cheap matinee or for it to hit a dollar-theater??? Well, that's up to you I suppose.

It IS a big screen movie for sure. There is a lot of great action, starting pretty early on and continuing with great regularity throughout.

Harrison Ford delivers. He just IS Indy, and the guy has some of the best facial expressions in the business. All of the other characters carried their own weight as well. There really weren't any slacker performances to be had. They also did a nice job of addressing the real-life death of Denholm Elliot (Marcus Brody), and the absence of Sean Connery (Papa Jones).

So, what'd I think of the movie then...after all, dear reader, that's presumably why you're here.

It is, at least at this point in time, my least favorite of the Indy flicks. Raiders and Grail were just better, more engaging movies. They seemed better fits for the character. Ancient religious lore just worked really well. Temple, well, it had the ancient mysticism bit, but just didn't feel quite as well done as the other two. This fourth one, well, if just didn't scream Indy. Spielberg, yes, but not Indy.

What follows contains spoilers. If you haven't watched it yet, and don't want to know anything about it, above this line is a great place to stop. You've been warned...

The plot line of this installment would've been better suited for X-Files. Spielberg does like his alien movies, and I realize Lucas is probably the guy responsible for the story, but I wish they had reconsidered. The Mayan bit, great. I just wish they would've found some better storyline than they did.

The quick synopsis...after a highly improbably nuclear explosion survival, Indy is drawn into the search for, and mystery behind, a legendary crystal skull. Upon first real glimpse, you can surmise pretty quickly that the thing is alien in origin and that's where this is all heading. Apparently aliens were responsible for the at-the-time ultra-advanced lifestyle of the Mayan population, and this skull, if returned to its original location, would unlock an ancient power. They of course do all of this with the expected results...ie. the bad guys (Russians this time) chase 'em all the way, eventually get what's coming to them, and there is no proof left at the end that any of this happened.

The lead-up to the nuclear blast was action packed and great fun. There is an excellent chase leading up to departure to South America. There are mysterious tunnels, caves, and such. A great chase through the jungle. Big frikkin ants. Waterfalls galore, and an intricately designed Mayan pyramid and chambers. Fun to watch, just not as memorable as the others. Just not as...Indy.

SiCKO

Rent this. Seriously.

I'm not a Michael Moore fan boy, nor would I suggest you watch this and take it as absolute truth. With any documentary there are biases that will creep in, and surely this one isn't the exception. That said, Mr. Moore isn't really center stage here. He asks some big questions, and we're treated to answers from various practitioners of various medical systems around the world, including the likes of the U.S., Canada, England, France, and Cuba.

Much of what I saw was shocking, and as a U.S. citizen, often disappointing. Medical conglomerates that, in addition to fleecing the everyday citizen, also screw their own employees (well, the lower minions anyway, the top shelf bunch get superior care), medications costing hundreds of dollars for U.S. citizens (many who can't afford to buy them, but also can't afford not to) sold for, literally, dollars in poverty stricken countries like Cuba. Yes yes, I'm sure there are some behind-the-scenes accounting practices, subsidies, and the like that may be able to explain away a portion of these huge cost discrepancies (a SMALL portion), but the bulk of it is outright corporate greed.

The lengths insurance companies will go to shirk their duties is absurdity at its highest level. This is of course, stuff most of us already knew to some extent, and this flick does a nice job of bringing it together and presenting it. It also brings into serious question the myriad excuses presented as to just why socialized health care "just can't work", and leads one to hope for some drastic reform.

I'd highly recommend giving this a view, particularly if you reside in the U.S. and depend upon its health "care" system.

Robinson Crusoe

This interesting book by Daniel Defoe took a bit to get into, but after getting used to his writing style, proved to be a pretty good read. I think people are pretty familiar with the basic storyline. It's the story of an Englishman gets marooned on a deserted island, and details his time spent there.

A bit more about the writing style... What made this a challenging read at first was the way Defoe would take something as straightforward as He walked up and said, "Hi.", and turned it into a paragraph-length affair, with thesaurus at the ready to bring out the big words. My initial thought, re-reading some of this was, surely he didn't make it this wordy...I must be missing some deeper meaning here. After surrendering to the wordiness, and dropping the over analysis, the story clipped right along.

I'd recommend it. It was a pretty interesting read and gives a lot of thought to what it might be like to be stranded. What kinds of things might a person miss? What skills would be particularly useful to know? Etc.

Into the Wild

This book, by Jon Krakauer was a good read. It's the true story of a young man who takes off fresh out of college and, for all intents and purposes, disappears. He abandons family ties in favor of roaming the country with the barest of essentials, and ultimately meets his demise in the Alaskan wilderness (this is all stuff on the cover folks...I'm hopefully not spoiling anything here).

His family learns his fate after he's found, and the author retraces his steps in order to try and bring some understanding to the journey he was on.

Krakauer also wrote the excellent Under the Banner of Heaven, and gave us a really well constructed story.

Edit: As long as I'm mentioning Under the Banner of Heaven, I'll give it a quick review as well. This one starts out as a story (a true one) about murder, and ultimately delves into the origins and subsequent role of the Mormon religion. Very well written and a very interesting read for anyone wondering how Mormonism came about. Quick warning though, the crime in question is pretty horrific.

Following the Mormon religion vein, the book Leaving the Saints: How I Lost the Mormons and Found my Faith, by Martha Beck is another nonfiction account of life within the Mormon church. Again, very well written and engaging, and while it also includes some very sad points, it is a testament to the power of the human spirit.

Of DVD Players and things

We made a sad discovery the other day. We had the time and inclination to watch the Lord of the Rings (extended version), when a good half-hour or so in, our DVD player decided it didn't like what it was seeing, and jumped ahead a good bit. Analysis of the disc, we couldn't see anything.

Aha! Says I, I'll test it out in my trusty HP laptop!

Into the laptop it went, and HP has this wonderful feature called Quickplay with these hyper-sensitive buttons for playing movies. By "wonderful" here, I really mean P.O.S. It's really annoying, as the mere settling of dust in the house is enough to set it off. Double-bonus? It plays WORSE than our DVD player. It could barely load the movie at all. What's even more peculiar, I opened the movie in Windows Media Player, and that did much better than Quickplay, but exactly the same as our DVD player (this is in the SAME DRIVE!!! Someone explain how THAT works?!?!). Shoot! (I says)

For kicks, we tried it in my wife's Mac, where the movie played flawlessly. WTF?!?! So, the lesson here is, not all DVD players/drives/etc. are created equal. Nor are the movie discs themselves.

Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde

I must admit there are many many classics that I haven't read. Case-in-point, this one. It was quite good, and to my surprise, quite short. (for some reason I had it in my head that this was a standard length novel) The story itself was very well written, and really draws the reader in, and invokes all the necessary emotions (suspense, dread) at all the appropriate times. What I found even more fascinating in the old copy I have, was a foreword discussing the life of author Robert Louis Stevenson. The guy apparently lived a quite unwell life (though well traveled), and his ill health around the time he wrote this piece was such that he seldom had visitors, and in a fit of disgust threw the first copy into the fire. I'm glad he decided to rewrite it.

Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, and its tale of the duality of human nature, is definitely worth a read.

Pushing Daisies

This show is currently one of the most entertaining bits on television. If you haven't seen it, it's worth a watch. The story line itself is good, but nothing earth shattering. It's the way they TELL the story that really makes this a fun way to pass an hour.

The Story of Stuff

We ran across a really cool site: http://storyofstuff.com/

This is a really interesting overview of the birth of consumerism, and the resulting production chain required to bring consumer goods to the homes of folks in the developed world. It's eye opening, and really pretty damn depressing in many ways to watch. It gives a pretty clear view of the wastefulness of developed society, often at the expense of the developing world. I'd strongly recommend you give this a watch.

Altered title, altered purpose

I started out with a focus of sorts on books. I decided after much deliberation (maybe 5 minutes worth) to branch out to other media items, such as movies, web sites, and other such nonsense. No particular reason I suppose, but I don't mind writing a bit, and this gives me more of an excuse.

No Logo

I started in on No Logo by Naomi Klein, and unfortunately it turned into no-reado. The subject matter is relevant and interesting, but this book just wasn't grabbing my attention. We also recently moved, and maybe the chaos of that had something to do with it, but I just couldn't get into it. When it was time for the library to want it back, I wasn't compelled to renew. There ya have it. Best of luck with it, should you decide to give it a go yourself.

The Whale Rider

It was probably inevitable that I'd get to this book. The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera is kind of one of the first big popular (see: moneymaking) successes by a Maori writer. It was ultimately made into a movie that also achieved critical and financial success. It did well for good reason. It provides a pretty cool story, combining elements of Maori folk lore with a "modern" setting, and the issues that arise from it. The thumbnail sketch is, an elder Maori man...a high-level chief...is ready to begin the process of passing his knowledge down the line to the next-in-line male heir. Problem is, the only available direct descendant is a girl. The old man is thoroughly opposed to this, has no use for the little girl, and spends the majority of the story shunning and excluding her at every available opportunity, while looking everywhere and anywhere for some boy to impart his wisdom to. From the girl's end of things, she absolutely adores her grandfather, and throughout the story, we get glimpses of her true calling...glimpses that go unnoticed by her gender-blinded elder. In a dramatic conclusion, the grandfather realizes the error of his ways as his granddaughter steps up to claim her rightful place, but at what cost?! It was a quick read, a really interesting bit of Maori culture, and a good story.

Slipping Into Paradise

Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson's Slipping Into Paradise: Why I Live In New Zealand, was a quick and interesting read. My feeling when the book ended was one of, "Huh...well...I guess that's that." I'm not sure why this is. One suspicion is, since I'm already living here and experiencing some of what the author experiences, it takes some of the "wow" out of it. Whatever the case, it made parts of the book sound like something that would come from me, and my various ramblings. He did touch on some interesting NZ history though, and those parts I thoroughly enjoyed. There was also a brief meeting he had with the late Sir Edmund Hillary that was enjoyable. Overall, I found this one kind of a mixed bag. Your own mileage may vary.