vagueidea

6 months, and no posts. For shame.

I recently saw this Harrison Ford film, and found it to be better than I had anticipated. It’s moderately predictable, and the acting is only moderately okay. The two reasons to see the movie are as follows:

1) Mary Lynn Rajskub. She plays Ford’s secretary, and her performance is awesome. The character is perfect for her, as it’s almost like Chloe in 24, but not quite so awkward. I always had issues with guys fawning over Chloe in the show, as the character isn’t all that warm, but this character/performance breaks that mold just enough that it’s good stuff. There’s also a level of irony in her playing the secretary to the IT guy.

2) A talk with the director and Ford in the Special Features. I was doen with the movie, and wasn’t ready for bed, so I gave the features a look. As it turns out, this part was better than the movie in a few ways. It becomes apparent early on that while the director technically made this movie, he was Ford’s tool, and he knew it. They even admitted that the fight scene at the end was designed by Ford, and the set for that scene was adjusted to Ford’s wishes. Ford talks about the intention in scenes, and truly trying to get the most out of it (almost like he’s worked with Spielberg or something…) and the director admits to waking up and just going out there and doing it. Ford tries to point out that there is a school of thinking that believes in this method, but it’s obvious that he thinks the guy is a hack. HILARIOUS.

I don’t go to the theater much these days, and as such try to make my visits as meaningful as possible. Milca and I went to see V for Vendetta Saturday night, and we were not disappointed at all.

I knew nothing about the movie going in to the theater. This was a good thing, with one exception. I needed a little history lesson that the movie did an okay job of explaining, but I’d say that you should read that if you don’t know abything about Guy Fawkes. They cover it pretty early in the movie, so there aren’t any spoilers. Hell, this all happened 400 years ago, so I’d say it’s fair game at this point. Oh, and King Kong dies at the end of his movie, as does Mozart. Sorry.

Natalie Portman puts forth her best work, in my opinion. She was pretty good in Closer, but I had a hard time relating to or caring about her character in that movie. In V, she’s simply awesome. Her development is excellent, and her acting is superb. Apart from her, there are sporadic appearances by British actors you may have seen here and there, and then of course there is V himself, a “terrorist” to some, a revolutionary to others, who was played brilliantly by… I’m not going to say. Why? Well, because I didn’t know until I watched the credits roll, at which point I exclaimed, “Are you fucking kidding me?! It was him?! He’s such the bomb!” I wouldn’t want to deprive you the same reaction, so if you don’t know already, don’t go trying to find out.

The script was excellent, as was the cinematography. All around this was one of the better movies I’ve seen in a long time. I will buy it when it comes out on DVD, and I don’t regret seeing it in the theater, not even for a moment. Two thumbs way up.

I am a Peter Jackson Fanboy. This should be known before we proceed.

I had seen the original King Kong many years ago, and couldn’t get around the crazy effects. I suppose the man in the ape suit was just so enthralling that I didn’t have time to pay attention to what the story was about. The effects in this version are much more believable, what with Weta’s mad skillz, and allow you to forget that there aren’t really 25 foot gorillas, tyrannosaurus rexes, and bloodthirsty native peoples armed with spears trying to kill invaders. Well, that last one might exist somewhere, but I’m fairly certain these were manufactured natives.

The story was the classic beauty and the beast story. Jackson spent a lot of time on this, and did a great job. My only criticism is that he spent a lot of time on several other things, some not necessary, which made the movie drag. All of the action, even just Kong swinging around, was awesome, it was just the side stories that bogged down the movie. 3 hours wasn’t necessary.

Overall, I had a good time. I’ll probably end up buying it. It’s no LotR, but then what can be? When you hit a Grand Slam like that, your next at bat, no matter how good, won’t be as good.

Peter Jackson Fanboys(girls): Keep an eye out for a certain cage on the boat. They couldn’t possibly have a “Sumatran Rat Monkey” on board, could they? :)

I heard Val Kilmer and Robert Downey, Jr. on the radio a few days ago, and it seemed as though their mutual energy would be really fun, so Milca and I went to see Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang with high expectations. We weren’t disappointed. Val Kilmer belongs in comedy, period. Robert Downey, Jr. is a natural, and hits his role perfectly.

Downey plays an excon turned actor, and Kilmer plays the gay private detective that will teach him the trade for an upcoming role. In their time together they become entangled in murder, mishief, and mayhem. It’s a great little mystery movie, which is a genre long forgotten by mainstream Hollywood.

The pacing was all over the place here and there, but overall I’d say that it’s worth seeing. If you’re on the fence, it is absolutely worth the rental fee.

Christian Bale is rapidly apporaching Johnny Depp status in the eyes of The Loop. Not all of his movies are great, but I have yet to see him in anything that I didn’t come out saying, “Damn, that guy is awesome!” Recently I rewatched Batman Begins, which was freakin’ sweet, but even more recently I picked up a little jewel known as Reign of Fire.

This is the tale of a Post-Apocalyptic society after an outbreak of dragons take over the world. This sounds hokey, but it is pulled off well enough. Everything is sufficiently covered in ash and dirt, and the fact that a group of people have taken a castle in England as their home makes it that much cooler, especially since they don’t really bring any attention to this fact. The story starts out with Christian Bale’s mother being killed by a dragon, which brings about that little bit of bitterness that you know will ultimately lead to said dragon’s destruction. He later grows up to lead this group of people.

The dragons were really, really realistic. I bought it. They moved, flew, and blew fire like I would imagine a dragon would do so. They even rationalized the fire breathing, and that made sense. Best dragon in a movie ever? Possibly, but I haven’t seen Goblet of Fire yet, so we’ll see, but from what I’ve seen, they’re better than GoF.

So, there they are, minding their own business in this castle, on the brink of possible starvation, when the Americans show up, led by Matthew McConaughey, in tanks and a helicopter. They are US Military, and, you guessed it, are Dragon Slayers. There are people that jump out of helicopters and shoot nets at dragons. These scenes are bad ass.

I won’t lie to you, the dialogue is not always the best. There is even a point where someone jumps the shark, except they jumped the dragon. I wish that I were just being clever here, but that’s what actually happens. It’s pretty bad.

Overall it was fun to watch, it was believable, and Christian Bale was awesome.

The scene where he and a friend recreate scenes from the Empire Strikes Back for the children of the castle that have never seen a TV, let alone Star Wars is hilarious.

Go watch it.