Mission Impossible 3 and Saiyuki
I must confess a guilty secret: I like Tom Cruise. Sure, the guy is crazy, be he is so hot nontheless.
Anyway, this is a very short intro to the fact that I, Husband, and BFF went and saw Mission Impossible 3. And it was very good. If you like action movies, I really recommend. Just bring ear-plugs (though if you hate explosions, stay far far away). It has the three ingredients I like in my summer flicks: action, hot guys (if Cruise is not your thing, there is Jonathan Rhys-Myers and Billy Crudup to ogle), and angst. In fact, action movies most often fail on the latter, but MI3 delivers. Gloriously. There is SO MUCH lovely angst in the movie. In fact, the mission (not impossible) of the film-makers seems to be 'just how much can we torture Tom Cruise, physically and emotionally, throughout?' And the delightful answer is 'A heck of a lot.' So Tom Cruise angsts and desperately tries to save his wife from the clutches of deliciously evil Philip Seymour Hoffman (a clever marketing strategy, to get both genders as an audience. Guys: "explosions. Tom Cruise blows stuff up." Girls: "And he does it all for luuuuuv.") Heck, this movie hits all my kinks right from its delicious intro. As PSH is pointing the gun at a bound and gagged OTP, demanding the whereabouts of the thing he had Tom Cruise get for him, and counting down to 10 before he shoots the girl, Tom Cruise can do nothing, as he is also tied up and helpless, and is desperately pleading and telling him what he got is the real thing (which it is) and crying. Thank you, J.J. Abrams. You rule. The moral of the movie? Don't mess with Truman Capote. Go see it, if you can stand Tom Cruise.
Husband's summary? "Tom Cruise is projecting a bit much. The whole movie is basically Cruise trying to overcome the forces of evil that are preventing him from settling down with a younger, naive, brunette." Heh.
In other news, I am continuing my watch of Saiyuki. The heavens of this story are a nasty place, aren't they? The gods are uncaring: Merciful Goddess (talk about a misnomer) allows all the horrors to go on because she is having fun. The gods are indecisive and beaurocratic: we see Konzen doing boring paperwork, and Merciful Goddess talks how Jade Emperor, who is a divine ruler, won't do anything to stop the War Prince from wreaking havoc because he is so hidebound. The gods make others do their dirty work, even though it wrecks them in the process: case in point, Homura himself). The gods are capricious: they come up with bizarre taboos about cross-breeding. The gods are cruel: the way they chain the found Goku, the way they kill Zenon's mortal wife because OMG a god fell for a human. And the gods are very very bored. I don't blame Homura for rising against them in the least.
So, Sanzo was a divine being. Well, he is certainly arrogant like one :)
Anyway, this is a very short intro to the fact that I, Husband, and BFF went and saw Mission Impossible 3. And it was very good. If you like action movies, I really recommend. Just bring ear-plugs (though if you hate explosions, stay far far away). It has the three ingredients I like in my summer flicks: action, hot guys (if Cruise is not your thing, there is Jonathan Rhys-Myers and Billy Crudup to ogle), and angst. In fact, action movies most often fail on the latter, but MI3 delivers. Gloriously. There is SO MUCH lovely angst in the movie. In fact, the mission (not impossible) of the film-makers seems to be 'just how much can we torture Tom Cruise, physically and emotionally, throughout?' And the delightful answer is 'A heck of a lot.' So Tom Cruise angsts and desperately tries to save his wife from the clutches of deliciously evil Philip Seymour Hoffman (a clever marketing strategy, to get both genders as an audience. Guys: "explosions. Tom Cruise blows stuff up." Girls: "And he does it all for luuuuuv.") Heck, this movie hits all my kinks right from its delicious intro. As PSH is pointing the gun at a bound and gagged OTP, demanding the whereabouts of the thing he had Tom Cruise get for him, and counting down to 10 before he shoots the girl, Tom Cruise can do nothing, as he is also tied up and helpless, and is desperately pleading and telling him what he got is the real thing (which it is) and crying. Thank you, J.J. Abrams. You rule. The moral of the movie? Don't mess with Truman Capote. Go see it, if you can stand Tom Cruise.
Husband's summary? "Tom Cruise is projecting a bit much. The whole movie is basically Cruise trying to overcome the forces of evil that are preventing him from settling down with a younger, naive, brunette." Heh.
In other news, I am continuing my watch of Saiyuki. The heavens of this story are a nasty place, aren't they? The gods are uncaring: Merciful Goddess (talk about a misnomer) allows all the horrors to go on because she is having fun. The gods are indecisive and beaurocratic: we see Konzen doing boring paperwork, and Merciful Goddess talks how Jade Emperor, who is a divine ruler, won't do anything to stop the War Prince from wreaking havoc because he is so hidebound. The gods make others do their dirty work, even though it wrecks them in the process: case in point, Homura himself). The gods are capricious: they come up with bizarre taboos about cross-breeding. The gods are cruel: the way they chain the found Goku, the way they kill Zenon's mortal wife because OMG a god fell for a human. And the gods are very very bored. I don't blame Homura for rising against them in the least.
So, Sanzo was a divine being. Well, he is certainly arrogant like one :)