(no subject)
It turns out that 'The Dresden Files' is actually kinda fun. Not as good as my other Sci-Fi babies, it doesn't have the same spark, but it's still quite ok. Somewhat repetitive and a bit blander than I would wish for, but I'm a sucker for urban fantasy and Paul Blackthorne oozes charm by gallons, so I basically just gave in eventually, without even putting that much resistance. Oh, and the hockey stick is just plain awesome.
I'm pretty baffled at how little I care that 'The Black Donnellys' got themselves canceled. The show hit off with a mighty bang a few weeks ago and then it just, well, got stuck. And, even though my love for one Kevin Donnelly ran undeterred, the rest of the bunch, one after the other, started to irritate the crap out of me, so perhaps the mercy killing wasn't such a bad idea.
Danny Boyle's 'Sunshine'
So it might be one of those movies that put story drama way ahead of plot logic. So the science part of science fiction might have been, to put it nicely, a bit, uhm, preposterous. So perhaps Danny Boyle couldn't quite leave his '28 Days Later' behind and he decided to put a bit of it into his newest project, regardless to the fact that his new project isn't, in fact, another zombie flick. Shame he didn't also put in a bit of 'Trainspotting' when he was at it. I'm fairly sure any motion picture would only benefit from having a bit a 'Trainspotting' in it.
Anyway, my point is, the movie has its flaws. The further we go, the more flaws we see. However, it doesn't stop it at all from being a mind-blowing, jaw-dropping, simply spectacular movie experience. I kid you not. With the visuals, the cinematography, the performances, the soundtrack and, first of all, the terrific pacing and tension build-up 'Sunshine' has - bravo, Danny Boyle - you are sitting there transfixed and gaping at the screen, overwhelmed with this feeling of sheer wonder. Or at least I was. I don't know if the rest of the audience were too, because, this being a 1 pm work-day screening, the rest of the audience - that is the two other people - were sitting too far way to get any audible reaction (bless you, 1 pm work-day screenings). And even if they weren't, I probably wouldn't have noticed anyway, because I was busy getting amazed and astounded.
Paul Weitz's 'American Dreamz'
The movie is shooting blatantly for scathing sarcasm. And it does more or less hit home - even though it certainly could go a little further with some punches - but, on the other hand, it targets mainly 1. the whole 'American Idol' craziness and 2. the general incompetence of the President of the United States when it comes to basic facts, and, let's be frank, since these two subjects are producing tons of prime ridicule material every day, taking shots at them is so easy, it's just uncool. It's like kicking a lying man. Which would actually be fine if the movie was witty enough to pull it off (sufficient wittiness makes up for almost everything), but, alas it wasn't. Not nearly enough.
Still, it's always a pleasure to see Hugh Grant onscreen, especially as a narcissistic, arrogant, cynical jerk, because that part he does like magic. And that Mandy Moore girl is actually pretty good. Ok, I give, and the President part was actually genuinely funny for the most part, mainly because of the Dennis Quaid, Marcia Gay Harden, Willem Dafoe play off each other with quite a flair. So, on the whole, an ok movie, but could have been much much more.
Movie quotes quizzes are fun. Unless, of course, when I don't know the answer and I'm very much aware that I should know the answer, because then they are just frustrating. Anyway, in the spirit of giving, I decided not to selfishly hoard the fun to myself, but actually share it with a wider population. So I made a quiz myself. Now, some of these puppies are probably pathetically obvious, some are perhaps unnecessarily obscure, but all of them caught my interest at one time. So much that I actually made an effort and wrote them down for future amusement. Because they are all flat-out neat.
1. - 'I've never heard of half of these guys and the ones I do know are way past their prime.'
- 'Most of these guys never had a prime.'
2. 'What's so great about the truth? Try lying for a change. It's the currency of the world.'
3. 'There are only two times you know you're real - pleasure and pain. The rest is just breathing.'
4. - 'Battlefield doctors decide who lives and dies. It's called triage.'
- 'Kept calling it murder when I did it.'
5. - 'Why?'
- 'I don't interest myself in "why". I think more in terms of "when". Sometimes "where". Always "how much".'
6. 'I liked her so much better when she was an alcoholic crack addict. She gets in one little car wreck and suddenly she's Little Miss Perfect.' 'Ghost World', guessed by strifechaos
7. 'Seeing death, really seeing it, making dreaming about it fucking ridiculous'. 'Girl Interrupted', guessed by roguem
8. 'You seem somewhat familiar. Have I threatened you before?' 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl', guessed by romine
9. 'It would be nice working with proper villains again.' 'Ocean's Eleven', guessed by sockich
10. 'All you had to do was call me and talk to me. I'm understanding. I'd have said no, but you'd have felt honest.'
11. 'I said NO camels. That's FIVE camels. Can't you count?' 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade', guessed by roguem
12. 'Generally speaking, things have gone about as far as they can possibly go, when things have got about as bad as they can reasonably get.'
13. - 'If you play your cards right, you could have my body.'
- 'Wouldn't you rather leave it to science?'
14. 'You want money? What kind of terrorists are you?' 'Die Hard', guessed by roguem
15. - 'Are you trying to look unattractive?'
- 'Yes.'
- 'Well, congratulations. You've succeeded admirably.' 'American Beauty', guessed by twolefts
.
I'm pretty baffled at how little I care that 'The Black Donnellys' got themselves canceled. The show hit off with a mighty bang a few weeks ago and then it just, well, got stuck. And, even though my love for one Kevin Donnelly ran undeterred, the rest of the bunch, one after the other, started to irritate the crap out of me, so perhaps the mercy killing wasn't such a bad idea.
Danny Boyle's 'Sunshine'
So it might be one of those movies that put story drama way ahead of plot logic. So the science part of science fiction might have been, to put it nicely, a bit, uhm, preposterous. So perhaps Danny Boyle couldn't quite leave his '28 Days Later' behind and he decided to put a bit of it into his newest project, regardless to the fact that his new project isn't, in fact, another zombie flick. Shame he didn't also put in a bit of 'Trainspotting' when he was at it. I'm fairly sure any motion picture would only benefit from having a bit a 'Trainspotting' in it.
Anyway, my point is, the movie has its flaws. The further we go, the more flaws we see. However, it doesn't stop it at all from being a mind-blowing, jaw-dropping, simply spectacular movie experience. I kid you not. With the visuals, the cinematography, the performances, the soundtrack and, first of all, the terrific pacing and tension build-up 'Sunshine' has - bravo, Danny Boyle - you are sitting there transfixed and gaping at the screen, overwhelmed with this feeling of sheer wonder. Or at least I was. I don't know if the rest of the audience were too, because, this being a 1 pm work-day screening, the rest of the audience - that is the two other people - were sitting too far way to get any audible reaction (bless you, 1 pm work-day screenings). And even if they weren't, I probably wouldn't have noticed anyway, because I was busy getting amazed and astounded.
Paul Weitz's 'American Dreamz'
The movie is shooting blatantly for scathing sarcasm. And it does more or less hit home - even though it certainly could go a little further with some punches - but, on the other hand, it targets mainly 1. the whole 'American Idol' craziness and 2. the general incompetence of the President of the United States when it comes to basic facts, and, let's be frank, since these two subjects are producing tons of prime ridicule material every day, taking shots at them is so easy, it's just uncool. It's like kicking a lying man. Which would actually be fine if the movie was witty enough to pull it off (sufficient wittiness makes up for almost everything), but, alas it wasn't. Not nearly enough.
Still, it's always a pleasure to see Hugh Grant onscreen, especially as a narcissistic, arrogant, cynical jerk, because that part he does like magic. And that Mandy Moore girl is actually pretty good. Ok, I give, and the President part was actually genuinely funny for the most part, mainly because of the Dennis Quaid, Marcia Gay Harden, Willem Dafoe play off each other with quite a flair. So, on the whole, an ok movie, but could have been much much more.
Movie quotes quizzes are fun. Unless, of course, when I don't know the answer and I'm very much aware that I should know the answer, because then they are just frustrating. Anyway, in the spirit of giving, I decided not to selfishly hoard the fun to myself, but actually share it with a wider population. So I made a quiz myself. Now, some of these puppies are probably pathetically obvious, some are perhaps unnecessarily obscure, but all of them caught my interest at one time. So much that I actually made an effort and wrote them down for future amusement. Because they are all flat-out neat.
1. - 'I've never heard of half of these guys and the ones I do know are way past their prime.'
- 'Most of these guys never had a prime.'
2. 'What's so great about the truth? Try lying for a change. It's the currency of the world.'
3. 'There are only two times you know you're real - pleasure and pain. The rest is just breathing.'
4. - 'Battlefield doctors decide who lives and dies. It's called triage.'
- 'Kept calling it murder when I did it.'
5. - 'Why?'
- 'I don't interest myself in "why". I think more in terms of "when". Sometimes "where". Always "how much".'
6. 'I liked her so much better when she was an alcoholic crack addict. She gets in one little car wreck and suddenly she's Little Miss Perfect.' 'Ghost World', guessed by strifechaos
7. 'Seeing death, really seeing it, making dreaming about it fucking ridiculous'. 'Girl Interrupted', guessed by roguem
8. 'You seem somewhat familiar. Have I threatened you before?' 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl', guessed by romine
9. 'It would be nice working with proper villains again.' 'Ocean's Eleven', guessed by sockich
10. 'All you had to do was call me and talk to me. I'm understanding. I'd have said no, but you'd have felt honest.'
11. 'I said NO camels. That's FIVE camels. Can't you count?' 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade', guessed by roguem
12. 'Generally speaking, things have gone about as far as they can possibly go, when things have got about as bad as they can reasonably get.'
13. - 'If you play your cards right, you could have my body.'
- 'Wouldn't you rather leave it to science?'
14. 'You want money? What kind of terrorists are you?' 'Die Hard', guessed by roguem
15. - 'Are you trying to look unattractive?'
- 'Yes.'
- 'Well, congratulations. You've succeeded admirably.' 'American Beauty', guessed by twolefts
.