(no subject)
I basically spent the last three days reading X-Men comics. Which wasn't supposed to happen. The result is that I have an exam in about four hours and I haven't even started on the studying. Well, better late than never, right?
But first:
Steven Soderbergh's 'Ocean's Thirteen'
That was fun. Lots and lots and lots of fun. Very clever, wildly entertaining and utterly cool, but without actually being too cool for its own good like the regrettable part two. Ok, so the line was dangerously close a few times, but mostly they managed to steer clear.
The gleeful details? Danny and Rusty exercising heavily their trademark psychic mind-meld. Virgil and Turk causing a riot at a dice factory in Mexico. Turk clearly being the firm supporter of 'one, two, three, many' counting method (Virgil: 'I'm making you taller. Don't you want to be taller? You're a midget in 34 states', Turk: 'Yeah, well... what about the other 34?' Virgil: *stares*, Turk: '24. 22.'). The Chinese guy posing for a big fish with Linus as his oily assistant. Oh, and babbling happily in Mandarin, Cantonese or possibly even gibberish and everyone understanding him just fine. Linus going all method acting. Basher bringing Reuben back with letters of love. Ellen Barkin being one damn hot lady and the first really enjoyable female presence in the whole series so far (take that Julia Roberts and Catherine Zeta-Jones). Julia Roberts and Catherine Zeta-Jones not being there at all. The team having to ask Terry Benedic for help and him visibly eager to be part of the cool kids' club (George Clooney: 'Are you ready?', Andy Garcia: 'I was born ready', George Clooney: *eyeroll*, me: chokes on laughing too hard*). The Oprah moments. And many many more.
What I didn't like was how they duped Andy Garcia and Vincent Cassell again. I like Andy Garcia and Vincent Cassell. And I'm pretty sure the whole con plan was way over-sophisticated and completely non-applicable in real world, but otherwise it was pretty much just awesome, so it's not like I cared that much. On the whole, a decidedly fun ride.
Tim Story's 'Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer'
That was not fun at all. In fact it was very painful 90 minutes of Not Fun. Damn, the comics adaptations are not allowed to be boring. There should be a law or something.
I'm not even all that peeved that the plot didn't make sense. Like, if the Silver Surfer had actual means to destroy the Evil Cloud Guy and has been miserable with this whole Destroyer of Worlds thing for years - centuries? - why did he oppose him only now? Because Jessica Alba is pretty? And shouldn't six days of vigorous Earth destruction have very grave impact on the life of the whole planet? Serious climatic changes are not undone just like that. And shouldn't the Evil Cloud Guy-- ok, as I was saying, the plot absurdities don't matter much. Comics adaptations have their rights, one of them being that they don't have to make logical sense story-wise.
What I actually am peeved about is that the movie was not amusing at all and, if comics adaptation have any requirements, minimum five minutes of at least passable funniness is certainly one of them. Come on, even 'Spider-Man 3' did that and that movie was crap. I doubt 'Fantastic Four 2' even managed to clock in two minutes (and all that thanks to Chris Evans, who was the only one who didn't come off completely lifeless). Oh, and the first powers switcheroo scene with Human Torch and Invisible Woman was funny, but that still way under the expected quota.
Practically the only thing working in FF2 favor (other than Chris Evans being awesome enough to break through mediocre script) is CGI effects. The Silver Surfer looked veritably spectacular at times and the Silver Surfer/Human Torch chase through New York was downright exhilarating. On the other hand, the Fantastic Man again looked somewhat not right, but I still think he's totally unsuitable for live-actors productions and they at least made good effort with him. I appreciate that.
All in all, the first 'Fantastic Four' from two years ago was nothing special either, but at least it had some charm to it. This one is just flat. Don't bother with the movie. Watch the trailer, all the good bits are already there.
Ronny Yu's 'Huo Yuan Jia'
The more Jet Li movies I watch, the more I'm sure that the man isn't actually human. It's like he has his own low gravity bubble and an inbuilt fast forward feature. And I'm quite certain that's not standard human male equipment.
Anyway, let's leave the alien awesomeness of Jet Li aside. What the movie actually pleasantly surprised me with was a truly engaging story. Including, mind you, the bits with no perfectly choreographed violence at all. I'm normally a very shallow martial arts movies fan - perfectly choreographed violence is my sole and only requirement, the rest is totally optional (which explains why I enjoyed 'Tom yum goong' so much, even though it basically consisted of pretty Thai boxing and Tony Jaa yelling that he wants his elephant back). Here however I was pulled into the actual drama. The story is nothing new. It's a journey of a man who is forced to leave arrogance behind and who slowly learns humility and finds out that it's a source of far greater strength. Nothing new, but told with enchanting earnestness and very nicely acted.
Yes, there was also a lot of perfectly choreographed violence and it is always a great joy to see Jet Li defy the law of common physics, but it's certainly not all that this movie has to offer. Definitely worth your time.
Also, 'Rescue Me' is finally back. So far I only watched one episode (because then I started reading the damn comics and couldn't stop) but since there are only twelve episodes ahead, it's probably better to pace myself anyway. Now, shortly, I still hate Janet with unbridled passion (come on, even her own baby hates her), I'm very very glad that Tommy is still more or less a stupid asshole, I looks like Sheila is going to be loads of fun this season, I miss Johnny, I started to like Maggie in earnest (yes, it was the porn that finally won me over), Kenny's affair with an ex-nun will most probably end badly but so far it's all good, Sean is still my favorite and the firefighter lady seems to be ok, even though she's no Diane Farr.
The Polish volleyball team continues to glide through the World League with delightful ease. Ten wins, no losses, which puts us on a par with Brazil (who, I'm pretty sure, are robots). Still two games before the final phase, but since the Bulgarians proved this weekend to be less of a threat than I feared, I'm relatively calm about the whole affair. Go, us.
.
But first:
Steven Soderbergh's 'Ocean's Thirteen'
That was fun. Lots and lots and lots of fun. Very clever, wildly entertaining and utterly cool, but without actually being too cool for its own good like the regrettable part two. Ok, so the line was dangerously close a few times, but mostly they managed to steer clear.
The gleeful details? Danny and Rusty exercising heavily their trademark psychic mind-meld. Virgil and Turk causing a riot at a dice factory in Mexico. Turk clearly being the firm supporter of 'one, two, three, many' counting method (Virgil: 'I'm making you taller. Don't you want to be taller? You're a midget in 34 states', Turk: 'Yeah, well... what about the other 34?' Virgil: *stares*, Turk: '24. 22.'). The Chinese guy posing for a big fish with Linus as his oily assistant. Oh, and babbling happily in Mandarin, Cantonese or possibly even gibberish and everyone understanding him just fine. Linus going all method acting. Basher bringing Reuben back with letters of love. Ellen Barkin being one damn hot lady and the first really enjoyable female presence in the whole series so far (take that Julia Roberts and Catherine Zeta-Jones). Julia Roberts and Catherine Zeta-Jones not being there at all. The team having to ask Terry Benedic for help and him visibly eager to be part of the cool kids' club (George Clooney: 'Are you ready?', Andy Garcia: 'I was born ready', George Clooney: *eyeroll*, me: chokes on laughing too hard*). The Oprah moments. And many many more.
What I didn't like was how they duped Andy Garcia and Vincent Cassell again. I like Andy Garcia and Vincent Cassell. And I'm pretty sure the whole con plan was way over-sophisticated and completely non-applicable in real world, but otherwise it was pretty much just awesome, so it's not like I cared that much. On the whole, a decidedly fun ride.
Tim Story's 'Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer'
That was not fun at all. In fact it was very painful 90 minutes of Not Fun. Damn, the comics adaptations are not allowed to be boring. There should be a law or something.
I'm not even all that peeved that the plot didn't make sense. Like, if the Silver Surfer had actual means to destroy the Evil Cloud Guy and has been miserable with this whole Destroyer of Worlds thing for years - centuries? - why did he oppose him only now? Because Jessica Alba is pretty? And shouldn't six days of vigorous Earth destruction have very grave impact on the life of the whole planet? Serious climatic changes are not undone just like that. And shouldn't the Evil Cloud Guy-- ok, as I was saying, the plot absurdities don't matter much. Comics adaptations have their rights, one of them being that they don't have to make logical sense story-wise.
What I actually am peeved about is that the movie was not amusing at all and, if comics adaptation have any requirements, minimum five minutes of at least passable funniness is certainly one of them. Come on, even 'Spider-Man 3' did that and that movie was crap. I doubt 'Fantastic Four 2' even managed to clock in two minutes (and all that thanks to Chris Evans, who was the only one who didn't come off completely lifeless). Oh, and the first powers switcheroo scene with Human Torch and Invisible Woman was funny, but that still way under the expected quota.
Practically the only thing working in FF2 favor (other than Chris Evans being awesome enough to break through mediocre script) is CGI effects. The Silver Surfer looked veritably spectacular at times and the Silver Surfer/Human Torch chase through New York was downright exhilarating. On the other hand, the Fantastic Man again looked somewhat not right, but I still think he's totally unsuitable for live-actors productions and they at least made good effort with him. I appreciate that.
All in all, the first 'Fantastic Four' from two years ago was nothing special either, but at least it had some charm to it. This one is just flat. Don't bother with the movie. Watch the trailer, all the good bits are already there.
Ronny Yu's 'Huo Yuan Jia'
The more Jet Li movies I watch, the more I'm sure that the man isn't actually human. It's like he has his own low gravity bubble and an inbuilt fast forward feature. And I'm quite certain that's not standard human male equipment.
Anyway, let's leave the alien awesomeness of Jet Li aside. What the movie actually pleasantly surprised me with was a truly engaging story. Including, mind you, the bits with no perfectly choreographed violence at all. I'm normally a very shallow martial arts movies fan - perfectly choreographed violence is my sole and only requirement, the rest is totally optional (which explains why I enjoyed 'Tom yum goong' so much, even though it basically consisted of pretty Thai boxing and Tony Jaa yelling that he wants his elephant back). Here however I was pulled into the actual drama. The story is nothing new. It's a journey of a man who is forced to leave arrogance behind and who slowly learns humility and finds out that it's a source of far greater strength. Nothing new, but told with enchanting earnestness and very nicely acted.
Yes, there was also a lot of perfectly choreographed violence and it is always a great joy to see Jet Li defy the law of common physics, but it's certainly not all that this movie has to offer. Definitely worth your time.
Also, 'Rescue Me' is finally back. So far I only watched one episode (because then I started reading the damn comics and couldn't stop) but since there are only twelve episodes ahead, it's probably better to pace myself anyway. Now, shortly, I still hate Janet with unbridled passion (come on, even her own baby hates her), I'm very very glad that Tommy is still more or less a stupid asshole, I looks like Sheila is going to be loads of fun this season, I miss Johnny, I started to like Maggie in earnest (yes, it was the porn that finally won me over), Kenny's affair with an ex-nun will most probably end badly but so far it's all good, Sean is still my favorite and the firefighter lady seems to be ok, even though she's no Diane Farr.
The Polish volleyball team continues to glide through the World League with delightful ease. Ten wins, no losses, which puts us on a par with Brazil (who, I'm pretty sure, are robots). Still two games before the final phase, but since the Bulgarians proved this weekend to be less of a threat than I feared, I'm relatively calm about the whole affair. Go, us.
.