StandingWater Creations

Saturday proved to be an interesting day for Erin and I. We woke up, showered, dressed (me in jeans and a nice shirt and Erin in a dress), and then headed out to a wedding/reception in Salt Lake City for a family friend. We were, sort of, crashing the party. The reason was because a family friend was in town who has cancer and he is someone I wanted Erin to meet because of what he has done for me in my life. Not too many people out there that are that special to me, but this man is absolutely one of them.

After we got done there we headed back to Provo (hung out with my parents for a while before that) and changed clothes before proceeding to decide what to do with ourselves. Our choice, go to the movies.

For a few weeks I’ve wanted (along with Erin) to go and see Across the Universe. I didn’t know, when I started to become interested in the trailers and advertisements for the movie, that it was a movie set to Beatles songs. I don’t know if I would’ve had the same level of interest (ever) had I known that in advance, but, you know, I did find out about it sooner than later and still wanted to go, so… couldn’t be that bad… right?

Actually, I really enjoyed the movie.

The movie is pretty much a statement that is anti-war. Jude is from England. He decides to go find his father thinking he is a professor at Princeton. He sings onto a freighter to shovel coal and ends up in America. Finds his father and they, amicably, decide to have nothing to do with each other. Jude just wanted his father to know he existed.

At this point, Jude runs into Max. A upper-middle-class man who is wasting his time at Princeton. Jude helps him escape from some other fraternity guys that are trying to capture and beat him up. They strike up a fast friendship and before you know it, Jude is going home for Thanksgiving with Max where he meets Lucy, Max’s sister, who is in love with a boy who has joined the army and is being shipped off to Vietnam.

He dies. Lucy is sad. Max and Jude end up in New York City in the Village with a singer who is also looking for a guitarist, the apartment becoming the center for a lot of activity. During this Jude starts to draw and, allegedly, pays his way through his art even though he is an illegal alien, Lucy mourns the loss of her boyfriend, and Max is Max.

All sorts of lives criss and cross into each other from familiar figures of the 60’s to songs and events that took place. The movie is set to the songs of the Beatles sung by the actors and cut together in a rather interesting way to bring dialogue out of the various characters making the transition from scene to scene and from character to character relatively seamless.

The point of the movie, I think, is to show the protests of the antiwar movement of the 60’s and early 70’s with the way relatively passive people were drawn into the fighting, were sent off to war, and were made to become radicals, little by little, as loved ones were sent to Vietnam and, eventually, injured in ways that medicine and doctors could not cure. Specifically, Max, as a focal character (though not the protagonist, that role falls to Jude) is drafted into the Army because he chose to drop out of Princeton, and is sent to fight in the war. He is injured, his mind is messed up, giving Lucy more of a reason to fight the battles she chooses to fight; specifically, Lucy begins to work with a student organization for radical democratic reform.

The outcome of the movie is that all of the main characters finally return to New York, Jude from England after being deported because he was trying to get to Lucy after a riot and was beaten (senseless) by the police; Max from Vietnam after being wounded; and Lucy from wherever Lucy ended up after leaving Jude because she felt more about the movement she was a part of and could not see what was happening as a result of it, along with the singer, the guitarist, and Prudence, and girl of Asian decent.

Admittedly, the movie is pretty trippy. There is a lot of drug use throughout and a (in my opinion) extended scene where Lucy shows one of her breasts. Most of the background to the story is the rampant drug use of the era (which in comparison to another movie we were watching this weekend, was handled a lot better) along with the radicalism of the youth who were being shipped off to war. When Max found himself in the recruitment station, the view of the soldiers was very blocky and weird; with the message, in my opinion, that the army created carbon copies of itself in its recruits. The majority of scenes dealing with the army are actually rather anti-military and anti-establishment which, in truth, is not comfortable for me, but appropriate given the era the movie is set in. There are extended scenes where Jude, Max, Lucy and crew are clearly meant to be on an extended drug trip – the most notorious of which ends when they visit a circus where Prudence is performing; but, again, is appropriate within the context of what it is.

The movie could be a little disturbing and, like the extended breast scene, might be construed as offensive. It deals not only with war, but sex and sexuality which, in this area, can cause some problems. Erin pointed out, as we watched, that it was interesting to see about six different people get up and leave at the breast scene. I caught the sexuality message almost from the beginning and I think Erin was pretty much there with me throughout most of the movie, but there gets to be a point where it becomes extremely clear what is happening – though never overtly shown, which, also, could cause some people to get squirmish at the movie.

Across the Universe actually comes off more as an anti-establishment movie toward today’s administration and today’s push for war in Iraq than it probably needs to be; but, at the same time, I think it is interesting to see movies that are like this being made. The last time we explored topics like this was, really, Vietnam where M*A*S*H and Catch-22 and other movies were popular more for their anti-war stance than because of the quality of the movie. The difference here, I think, is that Across the Universe is a musical along the same lines as Moulin Rouge, but chooses to explore boundaries and approaches its topics (war, love, sex, drug use, friendship, family) from an artistic perspective that seemed to really resonate with me.

However, I can see how this movie can (will) cause problems among people and remember a time in my life where I would’ve gotten up and walked out of the movie – and not because of extended breast scenes, nudity, or sexuality; but because the movie, itself, did not fit within what I thought or believed about country, politics, etc. The outcome is that you have to want to watch a movie like this, you have to be patient toward the message, and you have to realize that the material can be offensive, but is meant to share a message that you might not agree with.

From a personal perspective, I think a lot of what went on during the movie and during the era is wrong and bad; but, that doesn’t change the fact that the movie, on its own, is an amazingly told story with great acting and an engaging storyline. If you can handle all of that and want to have you opinion (pro or con) of the war challenged, then you should watch the movie.

I intend to own a copy as it was enjoyable to watch, caused some deeply felt emotions to come pretty close to the surface, and caused me to start thinking about a writing project that is way, way, way down the road. I liked the movie.

John Hattaway | smokingpen | Alicia Grey | Clockwork Princess | Cassandra West

Real Heroes Fly

Posted by smokingpen at 7:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Erin and I, last Saturday, went to see Stardust at the Provo Towncenter (I think) mall at the Cinemark movie theater there. We were in the mall, primarily, to find something for Erin and decided to pick up tickets only to discover that the movie was starting in ten minutes. On a whim, we went. We were not disappointed.

Generally speaking, Stardust is a fantasy epic with touches on steampunk and a nod to movies like The Princess Bride without actually touching on either element. It was an amazing movie that deserves to be watched; moreover, it is a movie that makes you wonder how Hollywood does not catch a clue and make more movies like this. Both Erin and I, amazingly, enjoyed the movie – a lot.

Stardust is a movie based off of a Neil Gaiman work. Basically, a young man sees a star fall as he is spending time with a girl he thinks he is in love with. She is about to marry a rival and, as a result, the young man promises to cross a wall in to another land and retrieve the falling star for her. She agrees that if in a week he can bring back the fallen star she will marry him. So off he goes on his adventure to retrieve the falling star.

Enter Stormhold a land that sits alongside England… or… well… a land you get to through a small town called Wall in England. It is a magical land that does not follow the same rules as our world. There are witches and ghosts, flying ships that collect lightning, there are merchants, princesses, princes, sword fights, and all sorts of things not to forget unicorns and magical chains that grow and shrink and keep the person chained, well… chained.

From what I understand as I’ve not read the book there is a battle between some kind of a large cat and the unicorn, but, truth told, it was kind of cool to see the unicorn and to have the protagonist lose the star and… oh, did I mention the star was really a girl.

Anyway, as the protagonist, Tristen, takes the star, who is also a girl, back to the town of Wall, they have adventures like running in to a witch (Michelle Pfeiffer) who is obsessed with eternal youth and who wants to kill the star to get her heart which will, also, allow her to maintain her youth. They run in to a group of pirates who sail on a ship (that also floats) through the sky under a large balloon with a captain (Robert De Niro) who is a little weird and also very fun to watch.

The whole movie is really a love story. It is an adventure in a strange land where almost everything turns out the way it is supposed to be and the evil princes who are trying to change a ruby from clear back to red (you have to either read the book or see the movie as to why) all end up dying and hanging around until the end, seemingly haunting each other until Tristan succeeds in destroying the witches and discovering what it means to grow up, be an adult, fall in love, and do what is necessary to get what he really wants out of life.

In the end, Erin and I both felt like the movie was totally one that was worth watching. It was worth the cost of the ticket, it may be one we purchase when it comes out on DVD and it is a movie that makes you feel better about yourself having watched it. Not all movies do that. In this case, we liked the movie that when her brother started talking about what he was going to do with the girl he has started dating, is dating (I really don’t know what is going on there as she has a countdown on her myspace page for when her missionary comes home and yet they’ve spent their free time together the last few days), that he take her to the movie because, well, it is that kind of a movie. You want to take your sweetheart to it because… well… think Return of the Jedi and the Ewoks or The Princess Bride where the mere presence of the movie is enough to make her all touchy feely and yadda. Anyway, great, GREAT, date movie.

The point is that I really enjoyed this movie. I liked how it was acted. I enjoyed the adventure. It spoke to a lot of things that I enjoy in fiction and stories and enjoy when they are done in movies. In the end, I highly recommend this movie if you just want to go and see a movie.

John Hattaway | smokingpen | Alicia Grey | Clockwork Princess | Bond. James Bond

Posted by smokingpen at 11:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Erin, her brother, and I went to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix last night. I was, initially, planning on waiting for weeks to see it (this was the opening week for the movie). What I didn’t want was to be surrounded by a lot of prepubescent children who were Harry Potter fans. We bought tickets more than twenty-four hours in advance for a later showing.

Anyway, we’ve realized that if we want decent seats at a local movie theater you pretty much have to show up an hour (or more) in advance of the show time. So, we got to the mall an hour and a half early so Erin could exchange something she’d purchased the night before, and then to sit in a line forever listening to a couple of girls that looked all of 23 or 24 talking about their vast experience with their children and how their respective daughters had no desire to play with dolls and wanted to play sports and do boy type things instead of traditional girl things.

That lasted forever. After a while I stood up because sitting is pretty uncomfortable of late, I am thinking it is bed problems. Erin and her brother stood with me and kept asking why I was standing, and then they let us in to the theater. I didn’t know this, before, but I apparently race through the hall and in to the theater to get the seat I want when they let us in. I was only informed of this when I realized we were moving semi-quickly and didn’t want to move faster than Erin or her brother were prepared to move.

Conversely, I have a tendency to not leave the theater, or, for that matter, any large public gathering until the majority of the people have left. I don’t like the fight crowds, which only makes my Fourth of July story that much more of a tragedy, for me, as thousands of people, all thinking they have a right to be in the spot you’re occupying, and then proceeding to stick their metal noses in to that spot because YOU WILL get out of their way being good Mormon-folk and all.

So, the movie starts. Like the last one, very dark. Very nice. Harry is walking up a hill. He sits on a swing. The family playing in the playground gather and leave. His cousin, Dudley, or Dumbley, or whatever walks up with his group of friends. They start to make fun of Harry. The weather changes, Harry threatens his cousin. They race off to find shelter. Death Eaters come and attack them. Harry defends his cousin and then drags the boy home as Harry is expelled from Hogwarts. So starts Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

I have to say, as a dating, engaged, wanna be writing books, movies, television, fiction in all forms, stories, I have a tendency to go to movies with Erin or Jordan or just by myself. I watch TV and movies at home. It’s a part of my life. Reading, watching things, writing. Going to work, school, living my life, and working in the directions I want to be going. S

With that out of the way, though, watching this movie was a completely enjoyable experience. In previous incarnations of the Harry Potter franchise Harry has been a long-haired boy, the long hair designed to cover his forehead and the lightning bolt shaped scar. In this movie, Harry has taken a radical turn. He is depressed. As Erin’s brother said, EMO (highly emotional), because he watched a classmate die the previous year. On top of which, Dumbledore is ignoring and avoiding Harry throughout the movie/book. Harry has found himself, since coming to Hogwarts, alone from his mentor and guide, Dumbledore. As a result, he is forced to rely more upon his friends rather than the guidance of someone who has become a father figure for him.

After the movie, Erin indicated she’d always seen Dumbledore as being more of a Christ figure within the series of books (and movies) and what this had done is remove him from the all-powerful, nice character he’s been in the past and made him more human and down to earth.

I don’t know that I agree with the assessment of Dumbledore as being a type of Christ, rather, I think he holds the same spot that Gandolf holds in The Lord of the Rings where he guides and directs, where he can die, but he’s not the one who has to travel through death and return the other side as victor. To me, Harry is the protagonist AND, if a connection is to be made, the Christ figure.

It was, absolutely, the best movie I’ve seen so far this year. I think one of the reasons this is such a good movie is the change in director. After the first two movies, Christopher Columbus, a director of mostly children’s movies, got tired of doing the Harry Potter movies and moved on. The producers have hired different directors for the past three movies. Each one has a different tone and flavor to it. The movies, themselves, have grown up with the audience watching the movies. The outcome, the movies, like the books, are darker, more adult, dealing with complex and unpleasant themes.

The book, which was very long, was gutted and worked so that the story was shared without showing too much of the Easter eggs or odd-bits that the first few movies seemed to have to have. With that said, though, there were a lot of little bits and pieces all throughout the film that helped carry the muggle audience in to the world of sorcery and magic. Even though there are fewer examples of random magic, the ones that do exist are there to help the audience feel as though they exist within the world of Harry Potter.

Couple all of that with an amazing movie score (the music) and I really, really enjoyed the movie. I think I could just sit and listen to the music without having to see the movie. It was not overbearing, it was fun to listen to, and when the credits were rolling (I was partially waiting in case the producers/director put in an egg for the next movie) I just sat there and enjoyed the Celtic themed movie.

In summation, if you are looking for a good movie that makes you think, puts you on the edge of your seat, and is an overall enjoyable experience, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is definitely one that is worth the insane cost of the ticket and the time spent waiting in line to see the movie – though it is probably not worth the hassle of going early in the day when all of the principle audience (children and teens) are out of school and are dragging their parents to see it.

The movie was fun.

John Hattaway | smokingpen | Alicia Grey | Clockwork Princess | Bond. James Bond

Posted by smokingpen at 3:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

They are more than meets the eye.

Erin and I went to see the Transformers movie on Saturday evening. We bought tickets about an hour early, and then wandered over to a modest clothing store so Erin could check out dresses and t-shirts. I’d passed out sometime after noon, when I got back to the married apartment and planned to do some writing; and then woke up and still felt like I should be asleep. The result was that I was not really hip on standing in this store with weird smells (to me).

After the store we wandered around the mall for a bit, ended up in Radio Shack, which always makes me wonder why I ever bother going in there, and then down to Victoria’s Secret for their semi-annual sale – or something of the sort, before heading back to the movie theater. As we walked in, they were already in the process of seating people so we, pretty much, walked straight in to the show.

Then we got to wait. Thirty minutes. Which is where my gripe, about this theater, comes in: they play these little trivia things before the movie starts. One of them reads something like, “A family of rebel fighters trying to escape from the Nazi’s during WWII.” The answer is, “The Sound of Music.” Which is not about a family of freedom fighters. A family of singers? Yes. Rebel fighters? No. Not even close.

Beyond the annoyance of that trivia at the beginning of the movie, I have to say I liked the movie. It was a fun romp. Of course, before going, I read a few reviews and what the various reviewers had to say about the movie was pretty accurate. For example, it was a large car advertisement; the acting was wooden; Shia Lebouf carried the move. I think all of these are very accurate. The acting was wooden; the movie was a big advertisement; Shia Lebouf did carry the movie and, in all, I think that all three things worked together in a way that allowed the movie to really work.

Normally, given two of those three things, I’d’ve thought the movie just sucked. And, normally, it would have. But, really, 30 foot tall giant sentient robots landing on earth and looking for a giant cube is not about to be a super-serious movie that is meant to be taken seriously. I mean, come on, it is a property based off of two things: first, a series of toys that, in the 80’s, were made of metal and good quality and really were the coolest toys on the planet, at that time; and second, a cartoon series that (kind of) ended in a movie where you learn the origin of the Transformer characters and why they made it to earth.

With that in mind, and knowing that I REALLY liked the Transformer toys, cartoons, and the movie (that according to current reviewers really sucked), I thought this was an honest and sincere adaptation of the toys/cartoons and allowed the viewer in to a world that, you have to believe, will continue to exist and live. They will make more movies, we will see more of Shia Lebouf and the giant robots fighting for dominance of Earth and of each other.

That said, I think there were also problems with the movie, and reviews. First, one reviewer said there was a neat “B” story with the computer analyst and her hacker boyfriend. Granted, there may (at one point) been a “B” story there, but I didn’t see anything romantic between hot, blonde, South African chick and geeky, overweight, African-America hacker dude. They clearly had a relationship; that relationship was also, clearly, not romantic. They are what is presented to the audience, a couple of computer programmers, professionals, that get in over their heads and have a good relationship that is not, necessarily, a romantic relationship. These two offer some, though not all, comedic relief.

Second is the wooden nature of the robots. I mean, come on. When you can’t have facial expressions, and the robots have to do a lot of the carrying of the acting, come on. This isn’t a cartoon. I was, however, impressed with the transformations from vehicle to standing/fighting robot and especially loved, LOVED, the introduction of Bumblebee. I thought it was insightful in that robots character and in its mission with Sam (Shia Lebouf).

Third, the military aspect of the show brought your straight in to the action. Stuff is happening. Something wicked is taking charge, and the outcome is, literally, that the military gets their collective butts kicked; and, at the same time, a special forces team survives and ends up fighting all the way to the end. Favorite line, paraphrased, “Trust me son, these boys are not accustomed to losing.”

Fourth, Shia Lebouf (as Sam) does carry the movie. He appears to get the girl. He assists the Autobots in saving the world from Megatron (who, as I recall, used to look like a gun but ended up being some kind of a weird looking fighter plane) and ends up realizing that to save the world he had to sacrifice someone and Optimus Prime was not the candidate; Megatron was.

The thing that I am looking forward to, given the returns on this movie, is a second movie where the audience gets to explore more of the world, more of the Autobots and Decepticons and their battle, and see more of Shia Lebouf’s acting and his ability to carry a movie. I have to say, as a guilty pleasure, the best scene in the movie was when Sam’s parents come in to his room, the girl is hiding, the Autobots are outside trying to be inconspicuous, and his mom accuses him of doing something we don’t often talk about. It is, quite possibly, the best discussion on that subject I have heard hear/seen in my life – and was, quite possibly, the funniest scene in the movie and was handled very well.

This was a good, fun movie that doesn’t try to be more than it really is and, as such, succeeds in being exactly what it was meant to be – a live action version of Transformers for a modern audience.

John Hattaway | smokingpen | Alicia Grey | Clockwork Princess | Bond. James Bond

Posted by smokingpen at 3:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is the second installment in what is looking to be a Silver Surfer franchise. What I am trying to decide, with all of this is whether or not it is a good thing. You see, there are very few times in my life where I am confused by the choices that people make. I rarely agree with them, I frequently disagree with corporate America or the movie conglomerates; but that doesn't mean that I can't see the numbers that are reported and see why the sequel is made.

Yet, when you create a sequel, and you hire the original writers to create that sequel, and you have them build upon the premise and mythology of the first movie; well, the thought, in my head, is that maybe you are abso-freakin-stupid to have parked your car in the same spot that it got hit by a series of golf balls. In this case, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer is a case in bad decision followed by bad decision followed by bad decision. It's classic.

Several years ago the Radio Shack corporation decided to expand its operation and opened up a series of big box electronics stores. This was, in the vein of the Wal-Marts and Sam's Clubs and Costco's. In theory, people were trying to consolidate their spending and the locations of where they bought things; and as a result, the idea of what Radio Shack was trying to do made some sense. It was an almost immediate blunder that the company has tried to recover from. I guarantee you the CEO of the company and the brains behind that idea were canned pretty quickly.

In recent years, with the success of movies like The X-Men trilogy, Marvel Entertainment (previously Marvel Comics) has been shopping and making superhero movies. Sure, Superman and the ancillary movies, is more popular and better known for a lot longer with a host of TV shows, but in the case of the super-team dramas, Marvel has a better handle on the genre. Marvel Entertainment, seeing advances in technology, filming techniques, and special effects has come to a point where their properties, the comic book characters, come to life. This is a good thing; but in situations like The Fantastic Four I don't believe that Marvel Entertainment is doing the property justice.

There are some reasons for this.

But first, the movie. In the first movie you have to slog through how the team gets their super-powers. You have to realize that Reid Richards, Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman, Sue Storm, are in love and have tried to get married - however, Reid Richards is a genius, he is obsessed with his experiments and can't set aside work long enough to actually follow through on getting married to Sue Storm. As a result of this, he drives Sue Storm away. Then they go in to outer space with a friend/rival of Reid Richards - Victor Von Doom - the ruler of a fictional country and a very wealthy man.

In this movie the bad guy is really Galactus, the eater of worlds. He sends his forerunner to Earth to prepare the world to be consumer. This is the Silver Surfer. The Silver Surfer made an agreement with Galactus to save his planet and the woman he loves. As a result of that, he goes from world to world eight days prior to Galactus and then the world is destroyed.

This becomes your "A" story. The "A" story is the main plot line of a movie or book that you follow. The "B" story is the story that runs parallel to the "A" story and compliments what is happening with it. There can be multiple "B" stories, but there is only, ever, one "A" story. For the Fantastic Four movies, the produces and writers want you to believe that between the first and second movies, the "A" story remains that Reid Richards and Sue Storm are trying to get married and that this is the main reason they are having problems. And yet, that's not the "A" story - it is, at best, a "B" story that should've stayed in the background, not be the primary source of conflict between the characters. And yet, you watch two hours (give or take) of a movie and deal with a wedding that, you JUST know, is only going to happen in the last scene of the movie.

It was painful.

The thing that makes a team movie a good movie is that you focus on one person. Sure, there is a team and you have to deal with the origin of the team, and in many cases the origin story of individual members of the team. Take X-Men as a good example of what I am talking about. When you start the movie you have two characters you are going to follow: one, Rogue, she discovers her powers and she becomes a focal character for the movie; but not the character we are going to follow - Rogue leads us to Canada where we are introduced to Wolverine. Over the course of all three movies, we slowly discover the origins of Wolverine's powers and what makes him the bad-a that he is.

The X-Men movies focus on one character even though you get to see in to the lives and, in a smaller way, their heads. But, you always follow one central character. It is a team movie that allows Wolverine to be the center of attention. This is important when you deal with a story. You can have a million-and-one characters in the story, but you have to follow the story from a central perspective. In the case of The X-Men that perspective is how Wolverine views a) the world he is entering; and b) the team environment as a long-time loner. You, as a member of the audience, get to explore that with him.

Fantastic Four doesn't do this. You, as a member of the movie franchises audience don't get to view this new world through the eyes of a central character. You don't identify with Sue Storm, Reid Richards, or anyone else. You don't get to experience the change in life that has taken place as a result of this fantastic change and the adaptation of powers. The problem you as the audience feels is that you don't really relate to Mr. Fantastic, you can't get inside of his head, and you don't care on wit what the man does because the mythos of the movie doesn't allow you to relate to someone who is, inherently, smarter and more of a genius than you and as a result, outside of your realm of understand/experience.

Instead of focusing attention, clearly, in one area where you get to watch everything unfold, and discover new things, from a central perspective you are bounced from one character to another as things happen/change. Where Reid Richards is asked by the Army to help them discover what is causing a lot of changes in the world and the potentiality of an alien being; at the same time you watch as Sue Storm prepares for her wedding and has massive jitters about having and raising a family when the eyes of New York City and the world are on your family.

Really, from a storytelling perspective, this was probably the worst choice in storytelling. People have fears about having children and raising a family without having to deal with super-powers. They get scared; they wonder whether or not they even should in a world that is in a greater degree of turmoil today than it was back when. This is scary. Add to that mix the idea of super powers, and the outcome is a slightly larger pile of doggie-doo-doo than is believable in this story.

And then you have the Silver Surfer.

Correct me here, please, but when you place in the title of a movie the name of the obstacle, it doesn't make sense to make that obstacle a "B" story in the movie. Really, with all of the time and effort spent on the wedding everything else was relegated to the land of "B" story. The Silver Surfer is launched in to the realm of the "B" story.

In order for the audience to get to the wedding, though, they have to wade through the world of the Silver Surfer and his coming to terms with what it is - exactly - that he does for Galactus. He has to see Sue Storm and interact with her. He has to realize that she reminds him of the woman he loves and left behind. He has to see the world through the eyes of the people he is trying to destroy and have his power taken away by - - dum dum dum - - Victor Von Doom, and in the end, he has to agree to confront this world eating bad guy who looks like a giant cloud that is about to surround the Earth. And yet, all of this is subservient to the "A" story of Sue and Reid getting married and their primary "B" story of what to do about children, when they are married, in a dangerous world made more dangerous with the addition of super-powers and super-responsibilities.

What you end up seeing is a movie that follows a movie about two people getting married. You see a movie that doesn't follow a believable central character. You see a movie that follows all four characters. You see a movie that doesn't focus on building to a climax. In the end, The Fantastic Four movies almost totally miss the point of story telling and story theory. Granted, you can break convention and be successful at it; but before you can do that you have to recognize that there are conventions that are being broken. What the writers, producers, and director of the movie don't grasp is that they are not allowing the audience to be a part of the movie. They make the audience apart from the movie.

In my estimation, The Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer is not worth watching. The movie is something that breaks so many conventions that it is very painful to watch. It was not worth the $8.50 per ticket it cost plus popcorn and drinks. Really, going to a movie like this is all the harder when you realize you're being taken every which way to Sunday and back again so that a studio and a theatre can continue to report record ticket sales.

John Hattaway | smokingpen | Alicia Grey | Clockwork Princess | Denny Crane | Bond. James Bond

Posted by smokingpen at 7:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On Friday, last week, Jordan, Erin and I went to see Ghost Rider. It sucked. I mean, when Erin and I saw Love’s Abiding Joy I thought, “Nothing can be this bad,” and I was right. Ghost Rider wasn’t that bad, but it still really, really, really, really, really sucked. Love’s Abiding Joy is still my watermark for bad movies (can’t get worse, yet) but man did Ghost Rider really suck.

The movie started with the back story, the origin. I think this was a really bad way to start the movie. The reason this was bad was because you forced too much exposition on the viewer before the viewer was ready for the information. For two reasons I am going to pretty much share everything. The first reason, because the movie was really bad; the second reason, I pray that no one makes the same mistake in going and seeing it.

With that said, the movie begins with the origin story of how Blaze becomes the Ghost Rider. In short, he makes a deal with the devil to save the life of his father; who, in turn, is dying from lung cancer. The devil allegedly heals his father, and then his father dies in a motorcycle accident. The most immediate outcome is that Johnny Blaze rides off into the sunset leaving his girlfriend under the tree where they were supposed to meet and leave town together before she is sent off to school back east. (Everything is back east.)

As Johnny rides off he hits a crossroads and ditches his bike rather than hit Mesostopheles. The outcome is that Mesostopheles tells him that someday he will come and use Mr. Johnny Blaze for what he will.

Jump forward in time and Johnny Blaze is now jumping his motorcycle for thousands of fans. The problem, every time he jumps the bike, he crashes. And every time he crashes, he should be dead. Every time he should be dead, he isn’t. Instead, he gets up and walks away from the crash.

At the same time the viewer is introduced to some nuances of character. For starters Johnny doesn’t drink alcohol because it gives him nightmares. He reads a lot of books about religion and the devil. He lives in a loft that doubles as his shop. And he’s never gotten over the girl he rode away from that fateful, rainy, day. Oh, and Nicholas Cage sucks as a choice for this character.

Among those of us that watched the movie, the consensus was that the actor playing the young Johnny Blaze (in this role) was a much better actor than Nicholas Cage (in this role) and as such, Nick cage brought down the movie.

Further, the movie basically covers the first ride of the Ghost Rider. Meaning, Mesostopheles comes and tells him that he now has to fight three of the four demons that possess the elements; specifically: air, water, and earth. (Fire is withheld as the Ghost Rider is the embodiment.)

With Mesostopheles return, Johnny Blaze turns into a skeleton on fire and embued with powers. The difference, though, between this Ghost Rider and the ones in the past is that this one made a deal with the devil that was for a moral purpose. The moral purpose, that his father not be killed. This is important because it gives Johnny Blaze control outside of the influence of the devil and allows him to retain the mantle of the Ghost Rider when the end comes.

So, the three of us also decided that the movie needed to decide to be really violent and graphic or it needed to be a moral tale. It, however, could not be both. In this case, it tried to be both. Which meant that when the Ghost Rider fought the three other elements, he won; but the fighting didn’t come off effectively and they were beat like… like… like… well, pretty easily. It didn’t take any effort, whatsoever, to destroy the three elements.

When the Ghost Rider went up against the main baddie (not Mesostopheles) at first he goes up against him and attempts to use the soul searing power of eyesight. (Apparently, looking into the Ghost Riders eyes causes those who have done evil to have their souls seared.) However, since the main baddie didn’t have a soul, he can’t be destroyed that way.

The solution: give the main baddie a soul… or a thousand souls. They just happen to be the thousand souls that the movie started out with, that the backstory indicated were Mesostopheles’ greatest achievement and a thousand souls that could turn the tide of power in Hell. This resulted in the previous Ghost Rider, a Texas Ranger who’d gone bad and made a deal with the devil not to hang for his crimes, from giving it to Mesostopheles.

Because of that, the main baddie got the souls. The Ghost Rider was able to use his eyesight to sear the souls, and in the end wins.

Every piece of that, from actors to acting to graphics to the violence, is what is wrong with the movie.

Here’s what might have made it better. First, Nicholas Cage was not the best choice for the role. I think he took it because he wanted something that could, potentially, turn into a lucrative action movie franchise. Comic book movies, done right, are money-makers… in perpetuity. The X-Men movies, the Superman movies, the Batman movies are ones that pay dividends to the studios, to the actors, to the writers for years to come. In my mind I am thinking Nicholas Cage took one look at the script, thought, “Moneymaker,” and then signed on the dotted line. He claims he’s a fan. He claims he’s always wanted to see this made into a move. And yet, the outcome isn’t that this was made into a movie or that it should have been, but rather that the studio making it was hoping to reproduce success where it was undeserved.

You see, they started with the origin story. Not enough people, in the world, know who the Ghost Rider is to care whether or not he has an origin. In my estimation they should’ve cut out the first twenty minutes of the movie and having Mesostopheles return and just introduced the character as already existing. Who cares whether or not you understand that this movie is about the consequences of making a deal with the devil. You can get that from character choices, through dialogue, through interactions with the various bad guys you interact with (as well as love interests), the audience didn’t need the backstory. Moreover, this isn’t Batman or Superman; because it’s neither of these franchises, the backstory obfuscates the story, in general, and as a result, the viewer is left with more information than is necessary or wanted.

Watching Batman, you kinda like to see what the mythology of the Dark Knight is. You want the backstory. So, taking Christian Bale, cast him as Bruce Wayne/Batman, and introduce how he is created to include the steps he takes, as an adult, to become this fighting machine. The audience was introduced to Batman a thousand different ways from comic books to a campy 70’s TV show to movies to cartoons. People know who Batman is, they wanted more and are willing to sit through the early exposition to get to the end.

Superman, pretty much the same way.

With the X-Men, Brian Singer pretty much left out the details in the first movie and allowed the only story that needed to be told as Wolverines because, this may shock people, an inordinate number of people, for some really strange reason, know who Wolverine is and, as a fan and non-fan favorite, want to see how he joins the X-Men. Truth told, he is the one who we follow through the three movies. He is, in essence, the POV character and that is a good thing. We get introduced to characters, the cast grows, we learn a lot about the man and in the end, things just happen.

Even Spiderman has had a pervious life on TV, in comic books, and (I believe) in movies. People knew who Peter Parker was and were willing to sit through the tedium of the origin story in part because Sam Raimi is good at making things like the flow well.

For Ghost Rider the origin story was too much, it was unnecessary, and it would’ve been better to make the story more like the first Tim Burton Batman movie where the movies starts with Batman already being the Dark Knight, already patrolling Gotham, and the police already aware of his existence. For Ghost Rider he should’ve already had his powers, was already nomadic, and, really, was already a good guy, from a bad situation, looking for redemption of soul and lost loves. Then, during the main storytelling, you can introduce some of how he got his start without boring the audience.

The movie really did need to decide whether or not it was going to be violent or not. If violent, then it needed to be really violent; if not violent (e.g. love story) then it needed to be something else entirely. I think the one interlude, where Johnny learns some of the extent of his powers when he judges a thug trying to rob a fat chick, more of this would’ve been appropriate as he built to fighting what is inside of him, the deal he made with the devil.

Instead, you are left wishing for the good parts (the thug) and hating the bad parts (nearly everything else). Erin made a comment, during the movie, that I thought was rather good, “What, you turn him into a flaming skeleton and all he can do is grunt with one word answers?” That’s pretty much the extent of the movie. Nicholas Cage isn’t good for the part, the script was really bad, the direction was substandard (which is why writers should direct and produce (and certainly not act) all at the same time). There was a lot of potential for storytelling and Marvel, who owns the franchise, failed to deliver here. They are so desperate to have a successful franchise that they are forgetting that the audience will become less and less enthused about forthcoming comic book movies if they continue to produce crap. In this case, the movie was bad enough that I am surprised I didn’t start suggested, from the first crash, that we leave and do something else.

If you want my advise, go watch something good, like… I don’t know… something with Kevin Costner in it, than to suffer through this movie.

One final thought, in High Fidelity Jack Black’s character asks a questions, I paraphrase, “Should a once great artist be condemned for his latter day sins; is it better to burn out or fade away?” In this case, Nicholas Cage is fading away and, gotta be honest, he’s doing it in the worst possibly way. This was a bad choice for a movie.

John Hattaway | smokingpen | Alicia Grey | Denny Crane | Bond. James Bond

Posted by smokingpen at 6:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yesterday was Saturday. I started to feel better. With that said, I spent most of last week (all of last week) feeling pretty stinkin’ sick. Truth told, I was either way too hot or way too cold and wanting to sleep the majority of every day. That was pretty much over Friday (sometime) though I did spend a portion of the day yesterday (and again today) wanting and actually sleeping. ‘Twas fun. Not really. It’s probably bad (the sleeping) when I feel like I’ve been sleeping way too much. I feel like I’ve been sleeping way too much.

Anyway, Erin and I went and saw Pan’s Labyrinth on Friday. It was written and direction by Guillermo del Torro. He directed (in the States) Hellboy and the forthcoming Hellboy 2. As I recall there wasn’t a lot of public support for the first Hellboy; but it must’ve done well enough to justify a second movie. Actually, most movies make their money off of DVD sales. So… you know, if it sells well enough in DVD you can pretty much bet it will get a reprieve from obscurity and be made into something more.

Actually, Family Guy was brought back from having been cancelled after DVD sales (and rebroadcasts) pulled a lot of fan support. Actually, Fox allowed Futurama a reprieve on Comedy Central after that show showed better-than-average DVD sales and fan support. So, sell enough DVD’s and the studios and networks will greenlight new production for (even) cancelled shows. S’probably why Babylon Five has survived mostly intact and in movie formats since it’s initial five-year broadcast run.

So, with all of that, we went to Pan’s Labyrinth on Friday night. I become interested in the film because Neil Gaiman (and his children and their friends) were shown a special screening of it and he actually gave it some pretty positive reviews. Why this is important is that Neil Gaiman reviews things and, when I am (sometimes) gutsy enough to take the plunge and read/listen to/watch something that he’s reviewed I find that for whatever (mostly unexplainable) reason I also tend to like it. Actually, I find that my tastes seem to mirror my brother Jack’s more than other siblings; so, with all that said, I found myself absolutely fascintated with and by Pan’s Labrynth as we sat in a relatively packed theatre and watched the movie.

It is not for the squeamish or for those who do not like (or can tolerate) violent imagery. It is also important to note that it is rated R. The movie deserves the rating. Neil Gaiman was shown the movie because he is friends with Guillermo del Torro and the writer/director wanted Gaiman’s opinion of the movie. It was positive. If you were to Google the movies website and do some searching you can see del Torro’s sketches and concept designs for the movie and the characters.

In review, the movie was good. It was excellent. It was absolutely amazing. It was a visual festival of eye-candy that you don’t see in American Cinema, at least not as often as I would like to. Movies like What Dreams May Come starring Robin Williams are hailed for their visual imagery (and granted they are not the same kind of visuals), they pale (in my opinion) when being compared to the landscape, the abject beauty, and the masterful use of visual for storytelling that this movie presents. It was amazing.

The story is about a young girl, Ofelia, who is interested in fairy tales (my catch) and who is accompanying her mother to “The Mill” to live with her step-father. Immediately we are drawn into the world as is (fascist revolutionary Spain) where The Captain (her step-father) is commanding a garrison of soldiers who are fighting the fascists. He is not a nice man. The revolutionaries are simple. The workers in The Mill are scared. And we pretty much follow the story through Ofelia’s eyes.

As the story opens they are riding through the woods in cars. Her mother is sick. She asks that the cars be pulled over. Ofelia gets out and walks some distance ahead of the cars. She finds a carved piece of stone (from another carved stone) and replaces it as an eye. As she does so, an insect crawls out of the statues mouth and Ofelia feels that she has seen a fairy.

What happens next is that she is introduced into a dual world. In one sense she is a child in a garrison with an abusive step-father who is only interested in two things: 1) Having a son to carry on his name; and 2) beating the fascists by destroying the resistance. For both The Captain uses strong-handed techniques and makes everyone cowtow to his whims.

In the other sense, Ofelia is also introduced to a fantasy world where a little girl is separated from her real father who is the king of a fairy kingdom beneath the earth. Ofelia may be that girl but to prove her worth, she has to perform three tasks that prove she still has a mostly magical spirit before she can be accepted back into her father’s house. Enter a faun.

The faun is her guide on her quest to return home; while, in parallel, Mercedes (the lady in-charge of the house and kitchen) is her guide through the real world.

The story revolves around multiple conspiracies in both the real and fantasy worlds. It is an interesting romp and the farther into the movie you get the more you come to like Ofelia and Mercedes, wonder about the faun, and absolutely HATE The Captain. All at the same time. By the time the movie over you hope that Ofelia is a magical creature; you hope that Mercedes survives; and you hope that The Captain dies. All at the same time.

To juxtapose this, Erin and I eventually made our way to my house where we watched The Illusionists. As we watched that I could see that, compared to most American Cinema, it is better cinematography, it was really good. However, I turned to Erin and said, “This isn’t as good as Pan’s Labrynth.”

She said, “Of course it’s not.”

Granted, The Illusionist is pretty much a long con told in the 19th century and about a magician and about a stage show and about a royal conspiracy. Erin said, “It’s good and then it’s really bad and then it’s really good again.” She slept through most of it. My roommates (who were at home) sat and watched it with us. They seemed to agree and the part that was “really bad” was actually not so good.

I share this because, watching Pan’s Labyrinth - even with the subtitles, was a real pleasure. It was fun. The imagery was amazing. Erin and I talked about it for about an hour just because it affected us in a way that neither of us thought it would. The movie was what cinema is supposed to be; what it can be; and yet, we get The Illusionist which is not a bad movie and yet it becomes bad when placed (in comparison) next to something that is really so much better there is no comparison between the movies.

Seriously, Pan’s Labyrinth is an absolutely amazing movie and, at the same time, I can’t suggest it to anyone I am related to (outside of Jack) or to most of the people I associate with. However, given the storytelling I think it is one of the best things I’ve seen in a really, really, really, really long time. If they make a DVD and the special features even remotely talk about the visuals from this movie and how they did some of the special effects (SFX) I will buy the movie just for that.

After all was said and done, Erin and I were talking about never wanting to see the entirety of the movie again (some of it is really kind of disturbing) but, at the same time, we are both VERY fascinated with the movie in general and, I think, when it is released on DVD I want to see if it will tell me how they did some of what they did from creatures to SFX to makeup to the monsters.

The movie was amazing.

Amazing.

One more: Amazing.

Anyway, that’s really it. We didn’t watch any movies yesterday. We did watch the Pilot episode of Bones so that I could get Erin addicted to it (in perpetuity) so that it makes sense when I talk about some of the TV I enjoy and why I purchase some of the DVD sets I buy. She enjoyed it. Said, “If I watch enough of these shows I am going to want to become a forensic anthropologist.” I smiled.

Really, I was interested in her watching the show because the principle protagonist, Temperance Brennan, is all about woman power, standing up for herself, she’s take charge, kick-butt, and in the end, something I thought Erin would enjoy outside of the CSI-esque qualities of the show in general. She appeared to, though, for most things, we are pausing her catching up to me in TV shows until May when her housing situation changes, school is out, and we are a mere three months away from the whole wedding day.

That’s really it, for now.

John Hattaway | Alicia Grey | smokingpen | Denny Crane | Bond. James Bond

Posted by smokingpen at 9:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Jordan and I hung out tonight. By that I mean that he and I went to see a movie. The movie: Happily N’Ever After. I think out critiques were: 1) It was good; and 2) the CG was too close to what you’d see with claymation to make it really good; and 3) the Evil Step Mother needed some sort of real conclusion to her storyline and not the cheap, candy-arse, way the writers and animators decided to have her end up. Jordan’s suggestion was that she needed to hook up with the Wizard and come back happy; which, I think, would’ve been an appropriate ending as her complaint throughout the movie was that Cinderella was the one who always had a happy ending and she always got nothing. She was just the STEPMOTHER.

I’m not sure if this was my choice or Jordan’s. Regardless, we were in the theatre all alone. Just he and I. So, as a result we had this verbal commentary running on the movie, on what we thought about the movie, and lots of things. It was actually very nice to be able to sit there and just talk about the various elements.

With that said, Cinderella (or Ella… can we say, Rip off Gail Carson Levine and her Ella Enchanted stories???) looks all of fifteen, has short hair, and might be construed (except for the dresses she wears) to be a rather effeminate boy. She is voiced by Sarah Michelle Gellar while the underdog and sculleryboy (don’t really know what to call him) is voiced by Freddie Prince Jr. which, in itself, led me to ask, “When are they going to get a divorce so Hollywood can move on?”

The real story was about the Stepmother and yet, we were inundated with poor voice-overs and voices that don’t really match the characters on the screen. However, we both agreed that we enjoyed the wicked stepmother character and the way she looked. She was just so evil and bad and … other stuff.

With all that said, I don’t think it is very kid friend and I really don’t think that the movie will be one that a lot of people will want to watch. I may end up buying it when it comes out on DVD as much for the special features as to explore the conceits used in the movie, the magical elements, the fact that a wizard and his assistants were charged with balancing good and evil, and the idea that sometimes a (relatively) omniscient wizard needs a vacation and has to leave the world of Fairy Tales in the capable (???) hands of the assistants.

What the movie really did, though, was to add some fodder in my mind for a series of stories I’ve been considering and drafting; which is really the reason to go and see the movie to being with. Granted, I think the Ella short form for Cinderella is not very good, but that is my opinion and, apparently, it is catching on. What really caught me, though, was the focus on the two syllables in that name Cinder and Ella. Cinder, being a partially or mostly burned piece of wood and Ella being a short form of the name (and the name Cinderella was called throughout the story). Cinder. Cinder. Cinder.

Granted, that means nothing to most people as I am not (on the blog) sharing what this all is working toward for me; but I find the idea of Cinder being an element to the name Cinderella, that she is, in effect, a scullery maid, and that she is kept low by the man in the form of her wicked stepmother, the word is just really harmonizing in my head.

Now, with that said, I put Jordan on the quest to concept a Pirates story for me a couple of weeks ago. He returned, tonight, having thought about it and after I said, “Crap!” at his initial concept statement (think scifi) I listened. I have to admit that I will have to flesh out a lot of the details, but he’s come up with another idea that can meld into my “working on” folder of things to write.

Back in the day Stephen King (author) used to write and publish a couple of books a year. What made him, according to him, a proliferate author was that he always had something sitting on the backburner waiting to be written. This is where the pirate story is going, the fairy tale stories, the space comedy stories, Backwards and others. I mean, I know that I can write them and I know that I want to write them and I know that I am beginning to see the motivation to write them; the issue is finding the ones that need to be worked on when. In the end I don’t want to be a scifi or fantasy writer and I don’t want to find myself stuck in a particular genre or field because that’s what I’ve always done and, for me, it is easier to remain there than explore and experiment.

Now, with all that said, the speed with which one writes I think is determined upon the need to produce and how producing written work affects the outcome financially. If you are paid to write and your pay comes as a result of what you produce then you learn to write quickly and think less about the minutiae of how words fit together realizing that you can revise or edit once you get the ideas and concepts down (NOTE: this blog is primarily one draft writing). I write quickly. On occasion people point this out. My only response is, “Get paid to write and have your pay be determined on how much you produce and how quickly. You will write faster.”

What I think this means, just for those interested in the speed of writing (and add to the dialogue within the interwebbyblogospherethingagrouping) is not determined by skill or ability but by what brought you to professional writing. Take someone who is not paid to write, an academic, where you know, generally, that most items you are going to work on you have weeks and months to come up with a finished product. Whereas, writing for a corporation (say, technology) where turnaround in manuals and releases is as time sensitive as the actual product, you learn to produce quickly.

Various authors come from a variety of backgrounds. What I am really seeing (from my quick finger perspective) is that the backgrounds that lend themselves to quick writing are the ones where turnaround is, initially, more important than what is produced. Whereas, if you are required to just produce and have some pretty open-ended deadlines (academics being a prime example) than what is produced is far more important than turnaround. With that said, both paths lead to quick writing, some authors just choose to take longer to think about how things are worded than others on the front-end, while other authors get concepts down and choose to change word choice on the back-end.

Done, for now.

John Hattaway | Alicia Grey | Denny Crane | Bond. James Bond | Jack Bristow

Posted by smokingpen at 12:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've been thinking of going to see a movie for several days. What I landed on, mentally, was a viewing of Monster House a CG animated movie about a house and monsters and three little kids and… uhm… okay, I don't really know what it's about, I just recall really liking the trailers I've seen for the movie when I've gone to see other movies over the past couple of months. So, when I went to see a movie, I was thinking I'd see that one.

The problem came not in going to see a movie, but rather in the cost of seeing Monster House last night. They wanted to charge nine bucks to watch the movie in 3D. Now, I am all for various retro-advancements in the cinema attending experience. I mean, come on, it's not as though 3D is some new technology… but to charge nine dollars for one movie seemed quite out of hand and out of place to me. So, I went to be backup movie, My Super Ex-Girlfriend and paid less money to watch that movie.

Truth told, I wasn't expecting much. For some reason when I watch trailers I just get this weird notion of what movies will make money and which ones won't. That doesn't mean that a flop at the boxoffice isn't going to be something that I end up enjoying… but more that people just aren't interested in watching that movie. The theatre I watched it in last night was not full, nor even close to being full, so there was plenty of seats and lots of boys and girls and girls and girls sitting around.

Continue reading "My Super Ex-Girlfriend - a review" »

Posted by smokingpen at 3:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I hated this movie. Let me state that differently. The only reason I watched this movie is because I had a copy sitting around, had been lying in bed for about two hours without going to sleep, and knew I wasn’t going to for at least another hour, and decided to get it out of the way so I didn’t have to have it sitting around anymore.

The premise of the movie is that some secret government agency has tried to turn a bad virus into a good virus that will turn an ordinary person into a super soldier. This seems to be a premise that Hollywood and comic books go back to, a lot. Not necessarily the virus part, but the notion that science will create a super soldier and here’s what happens if they succeed/fail. The movie starts out with images right out of a comic book. I don’t know if Ultraviolet is a movie adaptation of a comic book, but that’s how it starts. Pages from a comic book where dialogue is turned into “direct by” and “starring” credits – not exactly something that catches my attention, especially these days.

Continue reading "Ultraviolet – a review" »

Posted by smokingpen at 4:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

So, I watched Annie Hall this weekend. It was probably Friday night. It seems to me that was the last time I was really cognizant of anything going on that I could remember what I watched or did and actually be able to offer an opinion.

Annie Hall is one of Woody Allen’s movies. Meaning, he wrote it, he directed it, and he starred in it. So, the movie pretty much smacks of Woody Allen, Woody Allen, and Woody Allen. I wonder if he didn’t decide to follow that tact because he is not, and has never been, an attractive enough of an individual to get directors and casting directors to take him seriously enough that he could make a career out of acting. Granted, he can direct, and I’ve read recently that a director is a lot like a general, having to direct everything that is going on and not just what is happening in front of the camera… gah, I don’t really know where to go with that. I am actually hot/cold with a lot of Woody Allen’s movies. Seems like I really liked Curse of the Jade Scorpion but it was more the style and content that he filmed it in and not because he wrote and directed it. It also seems that I’ve read repeated articles over the years about him being able to get funding for pretty much any movie project because his name is billable enough that the studios know they will almost always make money off of the project.

Continue reading "Annie Hall or Woody Allen’s Pygmalion – a review" »

Posted by smokingpen at 3:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yes. I went and saw Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest last night. And yes, I enjoyed the movie, rather thoroughly, even though it did run a tad too long. And yes, I am sitting here writing about it because… well, I think you ought to know.

Last week, before the movie opened, I went to news.yahoo.com or CNN.com and found an early review of Pirates of the Caribbean. The reviewer prefaced his review by stating something like, “It takes a big man to admit when he’s wrong,” and then he proceeded to admit that he might have been wrong, and was not actually wrong, about his review of the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie. With that out of the way, he proceeded to lambaste and roast the new Pirates movie because it was too long, too boring, and too much like the namesake ride the movie’s are, loosely, based on.

Well, great. Glad that you, the professional critic, have the gall to admit that you might’ve been wrong about the first Pirates movie. I can’t wait until total box office receipts and DVD sales come back so you can admit how wrong you were when the next movie comes out and how right you are about how bad the third installment is. Because, and here’s the kick in the shins, the second movie is a good movie; not great, it doesn’t reach the level of the first movie, but dogonit, I liked it.

Continue reading "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest – a review in words" »

Posted by smokingpen at 3:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Over the past four or five days I’ve had the opportunity to watch three movies: Pirates of the Caribbean, Annie Hall, and Ultraviolet. Seems like I should sit down and write something more interesting than I watched these three movies and I will. I am just warning you that I will be attempting to do that today as I try to focus on work and getting caught up with my life in underdrive. Oh, and last week I purcahsed and read, A Fistful of Charms by Kim Harrison another thing that I need to write about. So… watch out.

Posted by smokingpen at 1:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have this friend who said, “You have to watch Donnie Darko.” So, I promptly put acquiring a copy in motion and once acquired spent part of the day, today, watching it. It was, perchance, one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen. I was told that it was a defining movie of that decade (I am guessing early 90’s since, according to IMDB.com it came out in ’91, and yet, unlike movies of the 80’s that people still watch and still remember that helped define what it meant to grow up in that era), Donnie Darko is not a movie that defines anything in my life or one that I am certain I want to watch again. I haven’t discarded it yet, but man, I gotta tell you, it was possibly one of the worst experiences I’ve ever gone through.

There are people that, I would imagine, see something in that movie. It was made. Some group or company put a lot of money into it. The actors did as good a job as they could with the material that they had. But the acting was stifled. The dialogue was forced. And, above everything else, it had Patrick Swayze in it which, regardless of anything else, he pulls down the movie to just underneath a “B” level movie. Which is kind of sad because you can’t get beneath a “B” grade outside of “home video – it was better than home video. According to IMDB.com Patrick Swayze has about 45 screen credits to his name and has worked semi-regularly since 1979, hitting his stride in the 80’s. Like many other actors of his era, he is a pretty boy that ain’t so pretty no more.

Regardless, Donnie Darko is a disturbing romp through who knows what. The only vocabulary that is coming to mind is all blue and negative. I would’ve walked out had I watched in the theater and I, personally, wouldn’t suggest it to anyone else to watch or experience. Bad, bad, bad movie. Bad movie. It was a bad move. Bad movie. BAD! Bad movie. I’d say it another way, but truth told, it was just a bad movie.

Posted by smokingpen at 6:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I went and saw X-Men: The Last Stand last night. I’d meant to see it Friday night but didn’t because I didn’t buy the ticket when I thought I should’ve so had to settle for Saturday night.

Saturday was pretty much spent doing what I should’ve done on Friday – meaning I should’ve packed all my books Friday and did clean-up Saturday and instead did very little constructive Friday (you should be reading into that, “nothing constructive,”) which meant that I had to do the work Saturday. So, most of the morning and into the afternoon was spent listening to music and packing books into boxes and moving boxes to a staging area in my room before showering and then going to an audition for a short film some BYU students have already sunk some money into making.

The short film, which I did not try out for, was a (let me see if I get this right) coming of age story about a kid who discovers he has super-human powers. The powers, making food appear out of nowhere. The problem, he doesn’t know how to control them. My problem, the concept and the script both sucked.

Since walking out of those auditions yesterday I’ve put some thought into the idea of what those guys were presenting. I could audition for a part where food, and lots of it, was a major factor. The ick factor. The comedic ick factor. Pretty much we’re talking about a high school story where some kid makes lots and lots of food out of nothingness and there is a big mess.

Continue reading "X-Men: The Last Stand" »

Posted by smokingpen at 3:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I went from a very passive mood, this morning, to very hot in a matter of two seconds. Kind of strange that something like a news headline can change my mood so quickly. Which leads me to my rant:

Today, when I turned on my work computer and sent it to one of the sites I check news on I came across this news article. In short, so you don’t have to read it unless you want to, George Lucas is now going to sell the original Star Wars trilogy in the original theatrical versions on DVD.

It should be no surprise to anyone that I think the man is a phony and an idiot. I don’t think he could direct his way out of an open box that came to the top of his calves, but I did like the original Star Wars trilogy as they were seen in the movie theatres. However, when he decided to finally release the original trilogy on DVD the only way fans would EVER be able to get a legal copy on DVD was his altered and updated versions of the film. I didn’t want those, I don’t like them, but I bought them anyway because, regardless of what I feel about Lucas, they are good movies. Even with his fiddling with something that was good, great even, the way it was.

Continue reading "Morning Rants and How George Lucas is a big fat dumb head" »

Posted by smokingpen at 1:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I guess, before I get started on whatever it is that I need to get started on (I am sitting in the library at school on a Saturday with the intent of writing a final paper for my Lit 251 class), I want to write about what is currently on my mind.

Specifically, I want to talk about the movie Hook compared to the book and play Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie. A book I’ve read, an adapted movie I’ve seen, I may have even seen the play. There is a magic to J.M. Barrie’s work that … interestingly, isn’t translatable to the kinds of things we do today with our movies, our literature, and, in many cases, even our plays.

The reason for this entry is that I decided to turn on the T.V. downstairs when I got up and was finished talking to Rebecca about the combinations of flower that I purchased and mixed last night. More on this later. It was expensive.

Anyway, the T.V. went on and I spent a few minutes surfing the channels to see if anything was on worth listening to, and barring that, to leave something on that wasn’t worth listening to but, at the same time, didn’t entirely offend my senses and cause me to want to take J.D.’s T.V. and throw it through the front window.

Continue reading "Peter Pan vs Hook " »

Posted by smokingpen at 3:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Theres something about a movie that covers the best, or worst, of sports that I like. I dont like to sit and watch sporting events (well, most... I do enjoy volleyball), and Im not the person who will jump into a pick-up game or will join a team. I dont join things. Joining is not my style and I find it nearly impossible to justify the act of joining a group or team. This makes for some interesting interchanges between me and others.

Regardless, I do enjoy a good movie that revolves around sporting events. Take boxing as an example. When Million Dollar Baby came out on DVD I bought it and really enjoyed it. I wanted to see, at about the same time, Cinderella Man in the theatres but didnt immediately get around to it and when I finally decided to go to a showing it had left the area I was in (Concord, NH). So, I had to wait an extra six months for Cinderella Man to come out on DVD and I gotta tell you, it was worth the wait.

Continue reading "Cinderella Man - movie review" »

Posted by smokingpen at 12:31 PM | Permalink

Last Saturday I went to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Number four's significant other got tickets through her employer for four people to go so she invited me, number seven, and (duh??) number four. That morning I got up to go do a church cleaning assignment and then raced over to number sevens house to pick him up and ferry him up to the theater where the movie was being shown. We were told to be there as close to 11 a.m. for a 12:25 showing.

After finding food, standing in line, and waiting amidst a group of people I didn't know to get into the theater, we were seated and got to wait about thirty minutes for the movie to actually begin. There are things that bother me about movies, these days, and part of the problem is shoving as many trailers and as much crap in front of a movie as possible. With that said, I got to see, for the second time, the trailer for the new Superman movie, Superman Returns. There was nothing there that made me want to go and watch the movie outside of Superman being one of those movie franchises I enjoyed as a child and would like to see the follow-up on. The trailer was not good. There were others, as well, but for the most part, they are not worth mentioning - with the exception of an CG animated penguins movie that is being released next year and sounds like it has the voice of Robin Williams.

Then the Harry Potter movie begins. I have to tell you, this one was my favorite of the lot. Love the books, hate the movies. For the most part, I feel that they spend way too much energy on being too true to the books and lose the plot and the elemements of the books that made the story great. In a book you can add a lot of easter eggs and extras because the written word does not require a direct translation to physical imagery and pace. You can add easter eggs into a movie to enhance the movie, the moving pictures in the Harry Potter movies is a good example of that kind of an easter egg; however, to take the nuances of writing and put them directly on the screen. There are differences between story and plot and both are necessary to good storytelling, one is more important to writing than the other, while the other is more important to movie making. (Hint: plot is key to movie making.)

The movie follows what I remember about the books rather well. It drops a lot of the extras the fanatics want, and makes the plot of the book central to the flow of the movie. What this means is that you add elements to a movie that are not, necessarilly, in the books. In Prisoner of Azkaban the talking shrunken heads were an addition that J.K. Rowling wished she would've come up with.

So, the movie dealt with friendship troubles, burgeoning relationships, crushes, and high adventure with the mix of darker elements growing and the whole tembre of the movie being much darker than any of the previous. This is the movie where Voldemort returns. He is back, the whole movie is getting him back, and by the end Harry has struggled with the process of competing for the coveted Goblet of Fire. Dangerous, we are told, with dragons and merfolk and a maze that maliciously changes as the competitors wandered through.

I've got to say that the director did a superb job of reimagining the imagery of the story and directed the action rather admirably. He told Goblet of Fire without including the entire story. The movie was dark and the imagery, I felt, was appropriate to the nature of the book. J.K. Rowling stopped writing children's stories at about book three and the change in movie making is definitely suggestive of the realization that these books aren't all meant for 12 year olds. Hence the PG-13 rating the movie got. I would imagine that this will be the hardest rating any of these movies get.

On top of the directing being right on, I also felt that the actors were definitely growing into themselves as actors. There were scenes where, according to the emotional intensity within the film, I felt that I could react to the movie as the character was reacting to the action in the scenes. I don't feel that way very often. This movie moved me.

Granted, I am very picky about books, movies, music, talent shows, people in general and the movie had its flaws, I won't go into them, but at the same time suspension of belief set in and I enjoyed the romp. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was worth watching and, for the first time in a while, I am willing to go and watch it again.

Posted by smokingpen at 9:22 AM | Permalink

Another day in Paradise. That?s a song isn?t it? Guns and Roses. Like, twenty years ago. Maybe the title is wrong, and I often mistake one artist or band for another, so I wouldn?t go around quoting me on that being a song title. I?m sure that someone who knows more about ?it? will correct me when they get around to it. I am not defining ?it?.

Not really certain what the point of updating today is. There is really nothing going on except that I am really tired. This getting up to ride the bus and going to bed, or trying to, at a decent hour isn?t working super well for me. Mostly because I am not going to be at that ?decent? hour. Last night I needed to make a call and passed out before I got around to it. I was pretty tired. Sleep for the dead, I say. Problem is, get little enough sleep and you may end up dead. Exciting. Eh?

Apparently when I reviewed ?Knife of Dreams? seemed to be unclear as to author source. Mostly because I wrote it differently than I normally do. Normally, I write reviews based off of stand-alone books and wasn?t sure how best to approach the review for that book. It?s book 11 of a 12 book series, I?ve been reading them since I was 14, and the outcome is that there is far more to the story than JUST what took place in the book. I probably did a poor job at it and that?s my fault. We can shoot one of my siblings later for my infraction.

Outside of that I was planning on seeing a movie this evening. Not sure that is going to happen, now. The movie I wanted to see, ?Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang? does not open in Utah. Apparently the studio is doing a limited release. They did the same thing with ?Pretty Persuasion? another movie I wanted to see and have to wait until it comes out on DVD. The later must not have done exceptionally well because it never went into wide release.

Another movie I wanted to see, and ended up seeing, was ?The Boys and Girl from County Clare.? It?s an Irish Indie. That?s independent movie. Apparently Ireland has a burgeoning movie industry and their own version of Hollywood. I?ve heard their take on the ?wood name, like Bollywood out of India, but I have no recollection as to what it is. Regardless, I heard about the movie, liked the premise, waited until it was released on DVD because it never went into wide release, and then bought and watched it. Of course, the fact that it had Andrea Corr in the movie certainly helped. Andrea Corr is the lead singer from The Corrs, an Irish pop band that has achieved some level of notoriety in the United States. She?s hot.

Still, the outcome is that many of the movies I want to see are not being widely released. The latest example of this was Neil Gaimon?s ?Mirrormask.? Good movie that I thought was well done given a very small budget. The images were meant to be surreal, the story more Alice in Wonderland, the outcome slightly ambiguous, and the movie fulfilled what it advertised. Great movie that will never go into wide release. I was actually surprised that Salt Lake City got it. Of course, I live in Springville and had to drive to Salt Lake City, but that?s another issue for another day. At least I got to see the movie.

Movies are not, and should not, the most important thing. It?s just that the visual stimulation that a movie provides is sufficient to help bring about ideas and emotions that can lead to creative sprees. There are other modes to doing this. Take, for example, books. I love reading books. Reading books helps to engender creativity. I would like to believe I am a relatively creative person. I like to read books. I want to write books. It all works together. However, movies are not the principle factor involved in my life. They do hold a place of prominence as I proceed to find out where I will end up and what I will do for the rest of my life. I like movies. It?s another form of storytelling and I like stories.

Anyway, I?ve wandered over enough territory. More later. ? and no, I am not going to define ?later? either -

Posted by smokingpen at 12:51 PM | Permalink

Its Monday evening and I've spent the bulk of the day in bed sleeping. When I got up this morning my gut was on fire and… well, the disgusting details don't need to be shared. Truth told, this was an extension of something I've been going through since last Friday.

When I finally woke up, and decided to stay awake for a while, I called around to see if financial aid had been taken care of, at the school I am currently attending, and a few other odds and ends. I even went online and started looking up possible apartments that I might get into when I move out to Utah in the very near future. It's about a month away. If number 8 ever gets back to me about his getting the time off (and now ability to get to the airport) I might breathe a little easier. The whole trip is going to be a little nerve racking regardless of what he does.

Beyond that I've not really done a whole lot today. Tried to avoid everyone I live with because what I've got is pretty nasty and tried to sleep a lot. When two p.m. rolled around and I was just waking up I was a little surprised. I didn't think I'd slept that soundly for that long. I must really not be feeling well (I already knew that part).

I did watch Notorious the other night. It was good. It was really good. An old black and white movie shot mostly on rear projection screens so that Hitchcock didn't have to find a way to shoot the movie from South America - even though a unit had been sent to South America to do the shots for the rear projection work.

I'm not really certain how to describe the movie. I liked it and at the same time felt that it was one of those movies I would need to watch again, and possible again, in order to get the full gist of what I'd seen. Ingrid Bergman played a part that, at one and the same time, I'd never seen before and felt as though I'd been through portions of this movie. After the movie was through I rather methodically went through the special features and there was an alternate ending, to the movie, that I thought I'd read before. It basically ended with three secretaries annotating a card for Ingrid Bergman's character stating she'd been married again, this time to her handler. They comment on it and suggest that if she gets married one more time they will have to start another card for her. Like I said, the whole thing felt way to familiar especially since I know I've never sat down and watched that movie before. This Alfred Hitchcock thing is somewhat new, to me, and the movies I first purchased were all the ones I'd seen and liked of his from the past.

Regardless, the movie follows a rather loose woman from Miami, where her father is convicted of treason and sentenced to twenty years in prison, to South America where the U.S. Government, in conjunction with the South American governments, are trying to weed out the old Nazi party members who are hiding and working to start a new Nazi movement. Her role is to get in good with the Nazi's and find out their secrets. Eventually, she marries one who's had a crush on her for several years.

The film ends, pretty much how most of Hitchcock's films end, the hero, or heroine, gets away, the bad guy gets it, and the couple ride off into the metaphorical sunset in love and ready to start a new adventure that doesn't include mistaken identity, intrigue, or death. That is one of the reasons I like Hitchcock, he's not trying to be something other than what he is. A storyteller. And he does it remarkably well in this movie.

Admittedly, I spent a little more on the film than I was expecting. It is a Criterion Collection copy of the movie that is digitally remastered from original or early film and recreated in such a way as to stand up for the directors original vision. Audio is kept in the format it was originally intended and everything is maintained in a way that would stand up to what, in this case, Hitchcock intended the film to be. ,

Hopefully, this will be my most expensive Hitchcock for a while. I plan to go back and purchase the less expensive, Signature Collection, versions of his films. They are good. He was good at what he did. Therefore, the outcome is, what many have said, what second rate directors strive for in their careers even with a movie that is considered a bust. They are all good.

Granted, I haven't seen any of his original movies, but I understand that come October, they will be re-released in a DVD collectors set and I may need to step in and get them then.

Posted by smokingpen at 6:05 PM | Permalink