Slowly Learning...

First, a quick note to advertisers: Tony Bennett may be 80 years old, and he may be a decent muscian, but I cannot celebrate "80 years of fantastic music" from him with the people at Target. First, fantastic might be a stretch. But in any case I highly doubt he was making music straight out of the womb.

But onto the movie. The other day I went to see Confetti, a respectable Britisih mockumentary. They really did do their best, and the characters are creatively British, but the style just didn't flow perfectly. Maybe I've been too spoiled by movies such as Best in Show, This is Spinal Tap, etc. but this wasn't quite up to those levels. I give them credit though. They did try their best. And I do love Jessica Stevenson and it is nice to see her again (new Spaced? Please?). I also felt like the ending fell a little flat. It was almost so predictable that it was a twist, but not quite. And it didn't have the clever "follow-ups" that are present in the other films. True we get to check in on the three couples, but a five second blrub isn't good enough for me. All in all, it was an average film. Not terrible, but not great.

RATING: Seeing as how it's probably no longer in most theatres you're probably a little late there, but feel free to catach it on video. It is good for some laughs on a rainy day.

Posted by Thom at 11:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So as I sit watching Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl on USA, I am reminded about how good things once were, and how bad they became. The first was such a clever, well done film, and the second was, well shit. It's sad that this happens ever so often. Another perfect example, the movies playing on TNT. The Matrix parts one and two. Great movie in number one, then shit in the second. So if history continues, the third Pirates movie should be slightly better than the second, but still bad. Oh well, at least we'll always have the first one.

Which brings me to another movie point. Well it doesn't really bring me there, but I'm gonna jump to it anyway. When I review movies it might seem like I'm all over the place sometimes. And I know that I am. The thing you have to consider though is how you rate movies. In my mind you can't really compare a good drama to a good action flick. They are similar, but two different beasts. That is why I appreciate the MTV Movie awards more. They understand that the best movie of the year can be something other than a intense drama. Then again, I still think that idea of "movie of the year" is a bad category to begin with. It's far too subjective. That's like naming "food of the year!" It just doesn't work. So taking that into consideration, let's look at my latest viewing.

Only Human is a nice, but played out story, of a girl bringing her new boy friend home to her family, who will undoubtablly hate him. This time she's Jewish, and he's Palestinian. Nice twist, and a nicely funny family with some comic moments, but I've come to expect much more from foreign/indie films. The family may be disfunctional in many ways, but I've already seen that this summer (Sunshine), and it was done much better in that film. And the story, while having its moments, isn't unique enough to make it stick out. Plus, with a movie focused so strongly on a family unit, I never felt like I got to know any of them. Maybe it would work if there was some sort of previous backstory, but seeing as how this movie wasn't that engrossing to begin with, I doubt I'd want to really watch the back story.

Basically the movie boils down to the "family pet", the small wounded duck. He's kind of oddly funny and cute, but we never really get to know him. Plus, he sort of wanders off at one point, there's a small comotion about him being missing, but then he's sort of forgotten about. Very much like the film as a whole. It's cute and funny, but we don't get to know the people very well, and in the end it's very forgettable.

RATING: Worth a really cheap ticket, with a Netflix rental when most of your list is up.

Posted by Thom at 8:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

To quote OK Go, here it goes again, with more thoughts and observations...

- CLAMBAKE! First and foremost, there will be yet another clambake this October. I know it's a little later than usual, but hey better late than never. The official date is the 7th, so it's coming soon. And although my mother hasn't said it, I'm inviting you all to come party with us! If you want to come/need directions/etc just let me know.

- Triping over my own feet. Well not exactly my feet, but the flat ground under my feet. I think I just don't step high enough and my feet scrape against ground, get caught, and I stumble over like an idiot.

- More personal oddities... I also can't go out in the sun without squinting, which I know isn't too weird. However, the strange part is that I have to completely close my right eye (which I have found is already slightly more closed to begin with), and only partially close my left eye. I guess my right eye is just that much more sensitive.

- Startrek and SVU don't mix. I had a very disturbing dream the other night what combined a plotline from Startrek TNG and Law and Order SVU. I'm almost glad that I've forgotten most of that one.

- In 2058 there will be 52,318 students who study bio-psychology. Ok, that's not the exact quote from class, but the point is still there. How can you possiblly try to convince us that you can predict how many people there will be in a certain group over fifty years away down to the nearest person? I'm betting that you can't accurately tell me that info down to the nearest whole person right now.

- Franco-Chinese, the language of the future! Yes, it has happened. I have managed to thank my French teacher in Chinese. Way to screw up languages that I know hardly any of! Go me!

- What do deaf voices say? I think in english, French people think in french, etc. But what do deaf people's thoughts sound like? Do they think in symbols?

- Jenny, I've got your number. I saw that cingular ad about keeping your cell phone number again. In the commercial the woman wants to keep her number cause it's famous (867-5309), but is that what you really want people to think of when they think of you? I mean it is a song about finding a number in a bathroom that you should call "for a good time."

- Oh, there they are! I spent like five minutes the other day searching for my keys in my car, until I realized that the car was running, and the keys were in the ignition.

- I know how to be rejected. My last three rejections have been as follows:
1. I get a girl's number, wait a day to give her a call, and get turned down because she got back together with her ex in the day I waited.
2. I went on two dates with a girl, but then had to cut it off after she decided to run off and join a traveling carnivel.
3. I went to ask out the new girl at work, found out she was single (good), but also found out she was four months pregnant (not so good). So I sort of cut off my efforts there. To quote my fellow co-worker, "you don't want to be no baby's daddy, if it ain't your baby."

- Weekends no longer exists for me. I have classes 4 days a week and work 5 days a week, leaving me -2 days a week free. So according to my math, not only have I lost my weekeds, but I have also managed to cram 9 days of activities into 7 days.

- If you drive an SUV, drive your SUV! I've grown to dislike SUV's since they are over sized and pointless, but I can tolerate them. However, if you're driving a 4x4, can't you drive a little faster than 5 mph over some partially loose stones? I mean come on!

- And some nice quotes from the weeks at school:

"The Quebec accent is beautiful" - French Teacher, completely contradicting what every native French speaker has told me.

"[When in French class] you're going to have to let go of reality." - French Teacher

"I was recently married 5 years ago." - Student in Psych course

"Research shows that resources are limited the more children you have." - Psych Prof. You need research to show that? I call it common sense. Yet another reason to hate Psych.

So that settles most of the minor things for now. If I get up the motivation to write more I have plenty of other things I have to talk about. And I even have another movie to post about! Look for the movie tomorrow, and other posts soon after.

Posted by Thom at 10:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

To quote OK Go, here it goes again, with more thoughts and observations...

- CLAMBAKE! First and foremost, there will be yet another clambake this October. I know it's a little later than usual, but hey better late than never. The official date is the 7th, so it's coming soon. And although my mother hasn't said it, I'm inviting you all to come party with us! If you want to come/need directions/etc just let me know.

- Triping over my own feet. Well not exactly my feet, but the flat ground under my feet. I think I just don't step high enough and my feet scrape against ground, get caught, and I stumble over like an idiot.

- More personal oddities... I also can't go out in the sun without squinting, which I know isn't too weird. However, the strange part is that I have to completely close my right eye (which I have found is already slightly more closed to begin with), and only partially close my left eye. I guess my right eye is just that much more sensitive.

- Startrek and SVU don't mix. I had a very disturbing dream the other night what combined a plotline from Startrek TNG and Law and Order SVU. I'm almost glad that I've forgotten most of that one.

- In 2058 there will be 52,318 students who study bio-psychology. Ok, that's not the exact quote from class, but the point is still there. How can you possiblly try to convince us that you can predict how many people there will be in a certain group over fifty years away down to the nearest person? I'm betting that you can't accurately tell me that info down to the nearest whole person right now.

- Franco-Chinese, the language of the future! Yes, it has happened. I have managed to thank my French teacher in Chinese. Way to screw up languages that I know hardly any of! Go me!

- What do deaf voices say? I think in english, French people think in french, etc. But what do deaf people's thoughts sound like? Do they think in symbols?

- Jenny, I've got your number. I saw that cingular ad about keeping your cell phone number again. In the commercial the woman wants to keep her number cause it's famous (867-5309), but is that what you really want people to think of when they think of you? I mean it is a song about finding a number in a bathroom that you should call "for a good time."

- Oh, there they are! I spent like five minutes the other day searching for my keys in my car, until I realized that the car was running, and the keys were in the ignition.

- I know how to be rejected. My last three rejections have been as follows:
1. I get a girl's number, wait a day to give her a call, and get turned down because she got back together with her ex in the day I waited.
2. I went on two dates with a girl, but then had to cut it off after she decided to run off and join a traveling carnivel.
3. I went to ask out the new girl at work, found out she was single (good), but also found out she was four months pregnant (not so good). So I sort of cut off my efforts there. To quote my fellow co-worker, "you don't want to be no baby's daddy, if it ain't your baby."

- Weekends no longer exists for me. I have classes 4 days a week and work 5 days a week, leaving me -2 days a week free. So according to my math, not only have I lost my weekeds, but I have also managed to cram 9 days of activities into 7 days.

- If you drive an SUV, drive your SUV! I've grown to dislike SUV's since they are over sized and pointless, but I can tolerate them. However, if you're driving a 4x4, can't you drive a little faster than 5 mph over some partially loose stones? I mean come on!

- And some nice quotes from the weeks at school:

"The Quebec accent is beautiful" - French Teacher, completely contradicting what every native French speaker has told me.

"[When in French class] you're going to have to let go of reality." - French Teacher

"I was recently married 5 years ago." - Student in Psych course

"Research shows that resources are limited the more children you have." - Psych Prof. You need research to show that? I call it common sense. Yet another reason to hate Psych.

So that settles most of the minor things for now. If I get up the motivation to write more I have plenty of other things I have to talk about. And I even have another movie to post about! Look for the movie tomorrow, and other posts soon after.

Posted by Thom at 10:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So I don't have time for a full post, but just thought I'd share a few musical thoughts with you all...

- Young Joc's It's Goin' Down bothers me. It's not that the song is terrible (well, it is terrible, but that's not the main problem). The problem is that it doesn't go anywhere. It all feels like a lead-in into something else...but nothing comes. And his "style" is quite possibly one of the worst I've ever heard. How did this become popular? Which leads me to...

- Justin Timberlake. How did he ever become popular on his own? And how can the rap community take him seriously at all? I know he makes them money, but still. There's always that line there that you shouldn't be willing to cross just for a buck. True story, I heard his song on the radio a while back, not knowing who it was, and thought to myself, "hmmm, who is this woman?" Then I saw the video, and realized the woman was JT. You go boy!

- And talking about bad women, Nelly Furtado. What happened to you woman? You had your own sound. It was giving you hits. It was making you money. And you still sold out?!? Why? I can understand selling out if you need to make money, but if you're already popular and selling records, why do you need to sell out?

- And speaking of selling out, Audioslave. Sellouts to begin with, now have a song that sounds like it's a combination of a truck commercial and a bad radio ad. Did I really expect anything more from these people though? Anyone who would abandon Rage to team up with Chris Cornell are just wrong in the head.

- In more stupid radio news, Prodigy on the rock station! Why of course! Oh wait, no. I've said it before (in relation to Beastie Boys), and I'll say it again, white does not equal rock.

- Pop Mash-ups are no longer impressive. After listening to way too much pop radio (trying to hear the new Gym Class Heros song), I've found that it all sounds so fucking similar that mashups just don't impress me with these songs. All you have to do is put one song ontop of another and they'll more than likely synch up perfectly.

- And last, but not least, I've rediscovered why I love Boulder Coffee. I was in there the other week, and not only did they play The District Sleeps Alone Tonight (off of the Postal Service album, my favorite album of all time), but then right after it they played Gravel (off of Ani Difranco's Little Plastic Castle, my second favorite album). With a great atmosphere (even with after getting hit by a truck), great people, and music like that what's not to like?

Posted by Thom at 11:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"This is as detestable a hard-R offense (equal-opportunity offender though it may be) as has ever been released to theaters." - Keith Uhlich, Slant Magazine

Keith, you are so right, and that's what makes Crank so good. Unlike Trust the Man, this movie pretty well tells you what it's going for, and delivers. If you've seen the previews, you know what you'll be getting. It isn't brainy; it isn't all that deep; hell, most of the time it's totally off the wall and unbelievable, but it does deliver. It is a high paced, gratuitously violent film. Basically this is what Running Scared was striving to be, except this movie actually accomplishes it (oh and replaces the dreadful Paul Walker with the always entertaining Jason Statham). It's pretty much non-stop movement and action, and all done in a good way. It was unique camera angles, techniques, layerings, etc. It's not the standard Hollywood action shots left and right.

In a lot of ways this film seems to be everything that conservatives seem to have problems with in games and movies. It's violent for the sake of being violent. It's grusome without apology. It's got blatant sex (in public none the less!). There was swearing left and right. And it rarely shows any consequences of the actions the characters take. Maybe that's what I really loved about it. It was everything "wrong" with our culture wrapped up in a neat little package.

To quote Geoff Pevere, of the Toronto Star, "Crank qualifies as a superior piece of slick, shallow-souled trash. And I mean that in the best sense of the term."

RATING: Worth a Full Price Ticket (if you're looking for pure action), Worth a Rental/High Netflix Place

Posted by Thom at 6:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So Trust the Man has been panned in the local paper (of course that means nothing), as well as on Rottentomatoes.com (that holds a little more water), and after seeing it I have to agree, and disagree. This isn't a 3 out of 10 movie (like Jack gave it), and probably is better than the 26% it's gotten on RT, but then again, if I had to give it a thumbs up or down I'd proabably have to go with down.

The cast isn't all that bad either. Duchovny actually does a good job in a comedic role, and I thought Maggie Gyllenhaal was good as well. But in the end, the movie just seems to be trying to play too many roles, and doesn't really seem to get any of them right. It's a comedy, without enough laughs, a "real-life" style drama that's too far fetched and unbelievable to be realistic at all, etc... I just can't feel for any of the characters, or care too much about them in the end. And the overly obvious ending (oh my, they all get together and live happily ever after?!?) was just too much when lumped with the rest of the film. Sure it did have some very good and whitty moments, but they couldn't hold together all the rest. And for a movie centered around four characters, I never felt I really got to know any of them beyond the superficial surface level.

I don't want to make it all sound like it was terrible, because it wasn't. I did enjoy myself through the majority of film, while in the theatre. But after I left, I just wasn't satisfied. And as I walked around and thought about it more, that feeling just grew. So it was good about about 2 hours of entertainment, but nothing past that.

RATING: Maybe Worth a Cheap Night, Maybe a Mid to Low Ranked Netflix Rental (not much more than that in either case though)

Posted by Thom at 6:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)