Slowly Learning...

I apologize for not posting in a while, but I do have a very good excuse! I couldn't log on. However, that seems to have been finally fixed (thank you Dan), so I'm back! Unfortunately, I have to work at 6 am tomorrow, so I don't have time tonight to post all the back-logged entries. That will have to wait until tomorrow.

So check back in soon, and hopefully I'll have everything updated.

Coming Soon:
- Fantastic Four Review
- Day Watch Review
- Annoying Movie Commercials/Trailers/Etc.
- Love Life Revelation
- Other News Updates

Posted by Thom at 11:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've already done three other reviews today (my fault for putting them off), so this one is gonna be short.
Great Acting:
- Nathan Fillion with a slight depature from his normal style (with enough of the old style still there to make him charming and funny)
- Great work from Keri Russell (kind of sad that I haven't seen her in more stuff)
- Andy Griffith as a cranky old man. 81 years old and still going strong.
- And a good job by the rest of the supporting cast.

Great Story:
- Depressing and funny all in one. There seriously parts to make you laugh and cry.
- Haven't seen too many other films about making pies in a diner, so I have to give points for originality.
- Even the awkward funny parts worked for me in this film (I'm still up in the air over Napoleon Dynamite because of the constant awkwardness of the whole film).

Intangibles:
- Indi films always seem to have a certain charm to them, and this one is no exception.
- There are some very strange pies developed in the film, yet they all sound like they'd be quite good.
- Does have a strong chance of making you crave pie after you leave the theatre. This isn't always a good thing at 11:30 at night when most places aren't open anymore. So be warned, and plan in advance.

RATING: Go See It. It's Good.

Posted by Thom at 2:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Now I know this doesn't seem like my typical movie outting, but there was very little left out there to see, I had heard very good things (dispite the fact that it was yet another movie about penguins), and it made for the perfect outting with my animation friend before she skips town. So how did it all turn out? Quite well I'd say.

The story is nothing new: young hotshot shooting for the top of his sport (Cars), bad-ass jerk of a champion/competitor to beat (Cars), dopey stoner friend/sidekick (Cars), young hotshot trained by a reluctant old-time champ (Cars), love interest who is closely connected to the old champ (Cars), young hotshot learns valuable lesson as he fails to win the big event but manages to win the hearts of everyone (Cars), and cameos by animal versions of real life athletes in the sport (Cars).

So basically it was Cars, but with surfing penguins. And normally such a blatant "remake" doesn't work out, but this one stands above Cars in enough ways to distance itself and work. The voice acting was better (John Heder, Jeff Bridges, Zooey Deschanel, James Woods, Diedrich Bader, and Brian Posehn as opposed to Owen Wilson, Paul Newman, Bonny Hunt and Larry the Cable Guy), the minor tweeks of the story seemed to work better, and I could connect better with penguins over cars (as odd as that might sound). This wasn't a Madagascar vs. The Wild thing. Partially because both of those films sucked, and both would have sucked even if the other didn't exist, but mainly because Surf's Up still shined through depsite the fact that Cars came first. Also, the documentary/reality show angle of the movie gave it that extra umph.

RATING: Worth at least a matinee (perhaps more if you enjoy animated films), Worth a Netflix

Posted by Thom at 2:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I had heard almost nothing about this film going in. Maybe I don't watch enough TV, maybe I don't go to the right movies to see trailers for it. I don't know what it is, but I hadn't seen any preview. The only way I even knew it existed was searching through what was playing at the local theatres. And I'm glad that I did that. This was a very high quality psychological thriller. I don't want to give too much of it away, but it was well acted (even by Dane Cook, who thought I'd ever say that!), well written, and well directed. And it didn't fall prey to the trap of most thrillers where they throw in so many twists at the end that they are just hoping you will get too confused to realize that with all the twists, the first 90 mins of the film no longer make any sense. And to top it all off, while it is still just a movie, it is one of the more realistically plausable thrillers I've seen. All in all it was one of the higher highlights of my mass collection of movies I've seen recently.

RATING: Worth Full Price At Just About Any Theatre, Worth a High Netflix Rental

Posted by Thom at 1:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The majority of the cast returns (minus the female leads), and delivers a respectable performance, but it's not quite all there. It's nice that they've returned to Vegas for this one (Europe just didn't seem quite right in the second film), but even with the return to familiar territory (or perhaps because of it) this installment just doesn't have the same spark. The con's in the other two films are out there and rather unbelievable, but this time they seem to take it to a new level. True Terry Benedict assumed that Danny Ocean had robbed his casino, but Ocean at least had a minor alibi. This time, Ocean all but admits to it. That's not a con. That's just stupid. Plus there seems to be way too many schemes going on in this one.

The nice ironic twist was when Benedict suggests they use the same scheme as before, and there's a big no, because you don't use the same con twice. Then, the movie itself turns around and uses the same twist as the second film. Not sure if that was intentional, but I'm hoping it was.

Overall it's a respectable entry to the series, but doesn't compare to the original. If you really want to see an Ocean's movie, go rewatch the original. Sure you may have seen it before (and if you haven't I suggest you do), but then again there isn't all that much new in this one.

RATING: Worth a Cheaper Ticket, Worth a Rental

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

So the semester is over for me, and at first I had no idea what to do with myself. I mean I had been working about 30 hours a week while attending classes and doing homework, and now...nothing. Well I still have work. And in fact I managed to log 38 hours last week and about another 44 hours this week (yay overtime!). In a weird twist of things I also managed to go out about 4 times this week and wasn't even that tired! So I now know that I can successfully work full-time and have a social life. And in perhaps the most ironic twist, I'm sure that next week (when I only have 27 hours), I'll probably end up just sitting around doing nothing. But here's hoping that it doesn't turn out like that.

As a brief update of what has happened lately for everyone interested:

- I finished my second grad semester at Brockport (Still maintaining a 4.0 in my Math courses, no big surprise there). And now I only have 2 more to go (assuming everything goes as planned). After that, it's off to more grad school to get my PhD. However I'm not exactly sure where that will be just yet.

- The majority of my friends that I have made back in Rochester are start to move off (once again). Some graduating, some going on/back to school, some moving away for career opportunities. It's sad to see them leave, but that is life, and I will be leaving relatively soon as well.

- I have still yet to find a coffee shop that truely suits me. Although, going to the two that I frequent the most often to watch/laugh at people is still fun.

- Still single.

- Finally made friends at work to hang out with outside of work. Went to a bar with two of them Tuesday night, and then to a different pub with another one Wed night (I know, two bars in two nights for me? Crazy). And I also have non-definite plans to go golfing with one of them this week. If/when that happens it should be quite a sight since I haven't been out on a course in years.

- Still trying to figure out a way to have a place of my own.

- Still having no luck with that yet.

- Have an end of summer trip planned to Minnesota. I'm going out to the lake house out there for about a week, to spend some time with my Mom's family, before heading back into Minneapolis for the Cross/Kishel wedding at the end of August.

- Also trying to plan trips down to both NYC and Boston. I just need to find some free time off from work and such. When I get something more concrete in the works for either place I will let you all know (because I need to find a way to visit the handful of people I need to see in both places).

- I've gone from Deli to Prepared Foods to Subs and back to Prepared Foods at work (still Wegmans), and I am finally happy with my job. Well relatively happy. I actually enjoy going into work for the most part, but won't be happy if I'm still there in 5 years. Hell I'm hoping to get out of there in about another year. I guess it does help that I really enjoy the people I'm now working with (especially the cute girls) and I enjoy being left alone for the most part to do my work and sing and dance around like an idiot while doing it (trust me, that does actually happen, I'm not just using a common expression). Some of it might also have to do with the fact that I have my life headed in the right direction and feel relatively stable (apart from the living at home(s) and not knowing where I'll get my phd).

- I have gotten back into the swing of seeing movies. As you may or may not have noticed from my other posts from the day, I've found the time to actually get out and see films! In fact there are a couple others that I've seen lately that I haven't written about yet (mostly old stuff though, such as the 1960's French film I saw, or Super Mario Brothers/Karate Kid, both of which I rented recently).

I know that there are many other things that I wanted to share, but they're mostly on my computer, which is all but dead at this point (the batteries on my laptop hold a charge for aproximately 4 mins before draining completely, thus turning my laptop into a portable desktop), so that will all have to wait.

Posted by Thom at 2:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I didn't catch this one until it hit the dollar theatre, and I'm almost sad that I waited that long, because it rocked! So let's do this one in bullet pointed Pros and Cons!

Pros
- Is a continuation of the earlier live action films (sort of), basically telling veiwers that if you don't know who April O'Neil, Casey Jones, or any of the other characters are, too bad. I love the balls of that.

- Looks very nice. Not the most visually awe-imspiring breakthrough, but solid all around and still impressive at times.

- Patrick Stewart. I guess he was trying to make up for X3 by lending his voice to this one. Unless he's a TMNT fan at heart, in which case he completely solidifies his place as the best captain of the Enterprise, ever.\

- Buffy and Ziyi. While my infatuation with Sarah Michelle has faded, it's still nice to see her working. And I highly approve of casting an actual Asian person (although wrong country, oh well) to play an Asian character (rather than have someone fake an Asian accent). Plus how can you go wrong with Zhang Ziyi? Even when it's just her voice she's still ass-kickingly hot.

- Splinter Fighting. Unlike Yoda's fight in Ep. II, Splinters fighting actually worked for me (I know, people love the little hopping Yoda, but it was just too out of character in my book. Especially when he just goes right back to limping around. Come on Lucas!).

- Turtles all the way. It wasn't an outstanding in any area, but it delivered a true TMNT performance. It was so solidly done that I was nostalgic enough to back and rent the first two movies (Go Ninja, Go Ninja, Go!). By the way, for those who don't fully remember, Turtles 2 is hillariously bad. If you haven't seen it in a while (or ever) you have to go out and rent it.

Cons
- No Shredder. But they still had the Foot.

- 13 Becomes 2? They have 13 monsters, and we only get to see like 2 or 3 of them in action? Plus there are some inconsistences on the monsters too. But the story telling in a Turtles film is never the important part.

- Lame Humour. But what do you expect from TMNT? It just wouldn't be right without it.

RATING: Worth a Full Price Ticket, Worth a Netflix Rental (along with Turtles 1 and 2).

Posted by Thom at 2:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I knew that I would see this movie eventually (no matte how much I knew that I shouldn't), so I stopped by for a matinee the other day, and got about what I expected. Just to review, the first film was great (funny, witty, not overly serious), the second film sucked (I don't think I can say anything good about it), and the third film fell in the middle (but more towards the second).

All the same cast returns in this one (for better or worse), along with a slew of new people who aren't really developed since we already have too many characters involved. The acting is rather uninspiring apart from Johnny Depp who, unlike Tobey Maguire in Spiderman 3, gives another great performance and tries to singlehandedly save this doomed movie. He doesn't, however.

The problems are deep and numerous. First off, as the series progressesd, the films started to take themselves way too seriously. The beauty of the first one was that it was almost an Aciton/Comedy, not the Action/Drama that we're force fed here. It still has its funny moments, but almost all of them are due to Depp. The story itself is just terrible too. There is so much trickery and backstabbing and sideswitching that I just lost interest in any part of the story that might have been remotely interesting. Other parts of the plot seemed to just come and then disappear without much explanation (See: Calipso and/or Raising the Dead).

That isn't to say that it was all bad. The action was quite good, and the effects were very well done, however when both were put together it was completely over-done and turned into yet another rock-em sock-em CGI fest. What ever happened to good old fashion action? Or to a good old R-rated action film? (Yes I have seen the trailers for the new Rambo, and yes maybe that will save that oft ignored sub-genre). Some may like it (many will/do I'm sure), but I'm sick of all the CGI. I can handle wires, but let's at least see some stunts in a movie!

In the end this wasn't as bad as it could have been. It had its moments, and it was better than the second (while still 168 mins, at least this one had an ending). If you enjoyed the second film (God help your soul), you'll most likely enjoy this one as well. In fact, even if you didn't like number two, there's still a chance that you'll like number three. But I still can't reccomend it, it'd be too much of a burden on my conscience.

RATING: Worth Waiting Until Rental (If you feel the need to finish off the trilogy)

Posted by Thom at 2:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)