Halloween, RL/Home Stuff, Moonlight, America's Most Smartest Model, Iron Chef, Weekend Movies
I decided to completely reorganize my kitchen on Saturday and spent Sunday visiting with family, thus I missed most of the squee and wank over Dumbledore’s outing. I think the time for squee has mostly passed, but I’m squeeing, anyway. I think she picked the perfect character, I think the subtext and hints are there throughout the books and I love the way it was tossed out as a such a casual aside, like someone’s sexual orientation really shouldn’t be a big deal. Because it shouldn’t. Plus I love her for stirring up a hornets’ nest. Hee!
Dad and his wife and I went to a party store after lunch at Ozona on Sunday afternoon. I picked up a few fun things to wear on the 31 st . Not a full-fledged costume, though. We also found ... well, it’s hard to describe but they’re props that are plastic and look like shrink wrapped meat from the butcher’s section of the grocery, except they’re severed limbs. And brains. And I wanted to buy some and stick them in the fridge here, but I’m concerned someone would chase me down with the construction guys’ power tools. Plus they were kind of expensive for a Halloween joke.
Moonlight
Yet another episode I really enjoyed. I happen to like the Mick/Beth interaction and shippiness, so this episode was very appealing to me. I did think Leni (I think that was her name) was not very bright, but that was okay. I was focusing more on poor sick Mick and hoping Beth would get to him in time. Which of course happened. Fun fun! Thank you Friday show for being such a fun little guilty pleasure for me!
America’s Most Smartest Model
Oh, Mandy Lynn, you were screwed the second you refused to eat that cake. But I did like your new hair color, and good for you for doing it yourself. That should have been Jesse’s exit, and Mandy Lynn saved him. I wish I could slip a note to Ben and Mary Alice and tell them not to ask Andre to tone it down. He’s the funnest thing on the show!
Aussie Rachel won that challenge and I am displeased on her behalf. Maybe trainer dude thought Brett was cuter?
Next Iron Chef
No, not Morou! He was my favorite! *wah*
I don’t like Aaron Sanchez. :(
Michael Symons food looked scrumptious and John Besh is funny, but yeah his southern boy schtick is getting a little old.
By the way, if you’ve been meaning to watch this but missed it, Food Network does have at the very least episode 3 (the most recent) online.
Weekend Movies
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
Oh, dear. I’m actually a Wes Anderson fan. I love Rushmore and really liked The Royal Tennenbaums. I had very high hopes for this movie.
And it seriously let me down.
There are good things - Anjelica Huston and Willem Dafoe are absolutely perfect. Cate Blanchett’s excellent. Owen Wilson didn’t bother me at all. I loved the red hats. I loved Pele singing Bowie in Portuguese. I loved the CGI sea creatures. See, I loved a lot about it.
The concept is great, the cast is stellar, and Wes Anderson has a record of creating excellent subtle comedies. The problem is the things that are wrong with this movie are so horribly wrong they wreck everything that’s good about it
The first wrong thing is what happens to the story about halfway through. The minute the pirates attack, the movie falls apart and never comes back together again. . There was already enough going on with the journalist’s secret mission and the rivalry between Zissou and Hennessey and the tension between Steve and Eleanor and the problems with funding and the question of whether or not Ned is Steven’s son. Oh, and the search for the jaguar shark. We just really don’t need a pirate story dumped on top of all this. It was distracting and stupid.
The second wrong thing is that suicide’s just not a joking matter for most of us. Neither is cancer. The way those two themes are treated felt disrespectful.
The third wrong this is Bill Murray. I don’t understand what has happened to him. He seems to be in a horrible downward spiral with both his comedy and his acting ability. I spent so much of this movie cringing and feeling bad for him that it was difficult to enjoy the other actors’ success.
It sounds like Mr. Anderson is in a major downward spiral, as well, if critical reviews of The Darjeeling Express are to be believed. After seeing the previews and watching The Life Aquatic, I’m not sure what to think, but things don’t look good.
Overall, I was disappointed. I can look back on some of the good performances in this movie with fondness, but overall it was such a huge let down that I actually wish I hadn’t seen it. I can't say I hated it. The good was good enough that I gave it two stars at Netflix and I wish I could have given it two and a half. I feel like it's a wayward child I want to send to time out until it somehow figures out what it's doing wrong and comes back and does it right.
Event Horizon
I really, really wish I had seen this movie in a theater. Not only would the special effects and audio been so much cooler, but it would also have been a lot scarier.
It is really hard to be scared with a kitty lying on your chest, purring and occasionally blocking the screen with his tail.
Lack of foretold scariness aside, I enjoyed Event Horizon. It reminded me a lot of the original version of The Haunting, especially Sam Neill taking over the Nell role, and the thumping noises and walls/hatches bulging. Oh, and the themes of suicide. I’ll bet the writer and/or director is a big fan of The Haunting as well. It came off almost as a tribute to that movie, only in space. I also thought Laurence Fishbourne’s Miller and Joely Richardson’s Starck had some wonderful chemistry together. I don’t know if they’ve worked together again since, but they should. Jason Isaacs was wonderful. And I loved that Cooper survived!! Loved that! I don’t know if the writer and/or director was consciously mocking the fact that persons of color are so often redshirted in horror movies, but I kind of hope they were doing that intentionally, because it was truly awesome.
Overall I liked it, but yeah, wish I'd seen it in a theater.
Silent Hill
D chose to nap on his blanket during Silent Hill, so I lacked a fear-repelling feline while I was watching this movie, and it was much scarier for me than Event Horizon was. However, it was so dark (I mean the screen - visually, though the themes in it are also dark) that I was unable to see what was happening a lot of the time. As well as what it was happening to. I also ended up with a lot of questions, so maybe some of you Silent Hill fans can help me out a bit.
A word of warning - sometimes with horror movies my brain latches onto inconsistencies or little illogical things and I can’t let go of them. Years after I saw The Ring, I’m still trying to figure out the timeline behind the original tape. I’m having some issues like that with Silent Hill and hoping maybe that talking it out will stop me from fixating on it too much.
My issue is with the scale of the town. From reading comments both on imdb and netflix, it sounds like the film was very true to the game in this respect. But I had the impression before watching that the town had very narrow streets and lots of buildings crammed into a small space. The movie made it seem like the town was pretty spread out. Those streets were seriously wide. Also, the size in population, even pre-fire when the town was still populated, doesn’t seem to fit the size of the buildings. I can believe the enormous church. I’m from north Texas after all and we do have small towns with ginormous churches the whole town and its pets and farm animals and even vehicles could fit into. But both the school and especially the hospital seemed far too big for a town that size. Mostly I’m going by the lack of tall buildings, the look of what appeared to be a main street/central business district and the lack of both multi-family housing and sprawling suburbs. There just weren’t enough homes to create enough people to justify the size of either the school or the hospital.
The second thing isn’t something I’ll fixate on, but it’s still something I’m wondering about and hope people who have played the game can help me with. The nurses seem to be a special attack force guarding Alessa. That’s cool. But why? They seem to be the only “people” in the town on her side. At some point during the game does it explain how she recruited them? I realize they’re Zombie!Nurses (even though the one that seemed to be directly guarding her looked human and alive - just messed up). Were they recruited before Alessa was originally taken to the hospital or afterwards? Was there ever a battle for the hospital? Where the hell are the doctors, orderlies and techs?
My issues with the scale of the town and concerns about the hospital aside, I thought this was a fun, creepy movie. The acting is a little so-so, and Sean Bean is completely wasted in that tiny role. It would have been much better if his role were expanded (and I understand it is the father who is searching in the game). But the imagery and the ashes falling and spooky abandoned buildings are awesome. It’s exactly the kind of town I’d love to explore, but maybe without all the mutated vermin. That was ... *shudder* ewwww! I enjoyed Silent Hill, and I think it’s a good choice for this time of year.
Princess Mononoke
First of all, thank you to everyone who recommended this movie to me. It really is that good!
There’s almost too much good about it for me to summarize in a review. The artwork was stunning. The story and script are wonderful. I loved that most of the characters were shown to have both flaws and virtues. I loved that there were so many complex, well-written female characters. The forest spirit was very cool. So was the open-ended ending. Actually, I liked everything about Princess Mononoke. It’s definitely one to add to my collection and watch many times.
I realize I’m not as gushy with praise as I am with explaining why I don’t like things. I wish I had words to go on and on about why this movie is so good. But basically, it just is.
Is anyone else who’s been watching Bravo weirded out by seeing televison ads for Television without Pity?
Dad and his wife and I went to a party store after lunch at Ozona on Sunday afternoon. I picked up a few fun things to wear on the 31 st . Not a full-fledged costume, though. We also found ... well, it’s hard to describe but they’re props that are plastic and look like shrink wrapped meat from the butcher’s section of the grocery, except they’re severed limbs. And brains. And I wanted to buy some and stick them in the fridge here, but I’m concerned someone would chase me down with the construction guys’ power tools. Plus they were kind of expensive for a Halloween joke.
Moonlight
Yet another episode I really enjoyed. I happen to like the Mick/Beth interaction and shippiness, so this episode was very appealing to me. I did think Leni (I think that was her name) was not very bright, but that was okay. I was focusing more on poor sick Mick and hoping Beth would get to him in time. Which of course happened. Fun fun! Thank you Friday show for being such a fun little guilty pleasure for me!
America’s Most Smartest Model
Oh, Mandy Lynn, you were screwed the second you refused to eat that cake. But I did like your new hair color, and good for you for doing it yourself. That should have been Jesse’s exit, and Mandy Lynn saved him. I wish I could slip a note to Ben and Mary Alice and tell them not to ask Andre to tone it down. He’s the funnest thing on the show!
Aussie Rachel won that challenge and I am displeased on her behalf. Maybe trainer dude thought Brett was cuter?
Next Iron Chef
No, not Morou! He was my favorite! *wah*
I don’t like Aaron Sanchez. :(
Michael Symons food looked scrumptious and John Besh is funny, but yeah his southern boy schtick is getting a little old.
By the way, if you’ve been meaning to watch this but missed it, Food Network does have at the very least episode 3 (the most recent) online.
Weekend Movies
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
Oh, dear. I’m actually a Wes Anderson fan. I love Rushmore and really liked The Royal Tennenbaums. I had very high hopes for this movie.
And it seriously let me down.
There are good things - Anjelica Huston and Willem Dafoe are absolutely perfect. Cate Blanchett’s excellent. Owen Wilson didn’t bother me at all. I loved the red hats. I loved Pele singing Bowie in Portuguese. I loved the CGI sea creatures. See, I loved a lot about it.
The concept is great, the cast is stellar, and Wes Anderson has a record of creating excellent subtle comedies. The problem is the things that are wrong with this movie are so horribly wrong they wreck everything that’s good about it
The first wrong thing is what happens to the story about halfway through. The minute the pirates attack, the movie falls apart and never comes back together again. . There was already enough going on with the journalist’s secret mission and the rivalry between Zissou and Hennessey and the tension between Steve and Eleanor and the problems with funding and the question of whether or not Ned is Steven’s son. Oh, and the search for the jaguar shark. We just really don’t need a pirate story dumped on top of all this. It was distracting and stupid.
The second wrong thing is that suicide’s just not a joking matter for most of us. Neither is cancer. The way those two themes are treated felt disrespectful.
The third wrong this is Bill Murray. I don’t understand what has happened to him. He seems to be in a horrible downward spiral with both his comedy and his acting ability. I spent so much of this movie cringing and feeling bad for him that it was difficult to enjoy the other actors’ success.
It sounds like Mr. Anderson is in a major downward spiral, as well, if critical reviews of The Darjeeling Express are to be believed. After seeing the previews and watching The Life Aquatic, I’m not sure what to think, but things don’t look good.
Overall, I was disappointed. I can look back on some of the good performances in this movie with fondness, but overall it was such a huge let down that I actually wish I hadn’t seen it. I can't say I hated it. The good was good enough that I gave it two stars at Netflix and I wish I could have given it two and a half. I feel like it's a wayward child I want to send to time out until it somehow figures out what it's doing wrong and comes back and does it right.
Event Horizon
I really, really wish I had seen this movie in a theater. Not only would the special effects and audio been so much cooler, but it would also have been a lot scarier.
It is really hard to be scared with a kitty lying on your chest, purring and occasionally blocking the screen with his tail.
Lack of foretold scariness aside, I enjoyed Event Horizon. It reminded me a lot of the original version of The Haunting, especially Sam Neill taking over the Nell role, and the thumping noises and walls/hatches bulging. Oh, and the themes of suicide. I’ll bet the writer and/or director is a big fan of The Haunting as well. It came off almost as a tribute to that movie, only in space. I also thought Laurence Fishbourne’s Miller and Joely Richardson’s Starck had some wonderful chemistry together. I don’t know if they’ve worked together again since, but they should. Jason Isaacs was wonderful. And I loved that Cooper survived!! Loved that! I don’t know if the writer and/or director was consciously mocking the fact that persons of color are so often redshirted in horror movies, but I kind of hope they were doing that intentionally, because it was truly awesome.
Overall I liked it, but yeah, wish I'd seen it in a theater.
Silent Hill
D chose to nap on his blanket during Silent Hill, so I lacked a fear-repelling feline while I was watching this movie, and it was much scarier for me than Event Horizon was. However, it was so dark (I mean the screen - visually, though the themes in it are also dark) that I was unable to see what was happening a lot of the time. As well as what it was happening to. I also ended up with a lot of questions, so maybe some of you Silent Hill fans can help me out a bit.
A word of warning - sometimes with horror movies my brain latches onto inconsistencies or little illogical things and I can’t let go of them. Years after I saw The Ring, I’m still trying to figure out the timeline behind the original tape. I’m having some issues like that with Silent Hill and hoping maybe that talking it out will stop me from fixating on it too much.
My issue is with the scale of the town. From reading comments both on imdb and netflix, it sounds like the film was very true to the game in this respect. But I had the impression before watching that the town had very narrow streets and lots of buildings crammed into a small space. The movie made it seem like the town was pretty spread out. Those streets were seriously wide. Also, the size in population, even pre-fire when the town was still populated, doesn’t seem to fit the size of the buildings. I can believe the enormous church. I’m from north Texas after all and we do have small towns with ginormous churches the whole town and its pets and farm animals and even vehicles could fit into. But both the school and especially the hospital seemed far too big for a town that size. Mostly I’m going by the lack of tall buildings, the look of what appeared to be a main street/central business district and the lack of both multi-family housing and sprawling suburbs. There just weren’t enough homes to create enough people to justify the size of either the school or the hospital.
The second thing isn’t something I’ll fixate on, but it’s still something I’m wondering about and hope people who have played the game can help me with. The nurses seem to be a special attack force guarding Alessa. That’s cool. But why? They seem to be the only “people” in the town on her side. At some point during the game does it explain how she recruited them? I realize they’re Zombie!Nurses (even though the one that seemed to be directly guarding her looked human and alive - just messed up). Were they recruited before Alessa was originally taken to the hospital or afterwards? Was there ever a battle for the hospital? Where the hell are the doctors, orderlies and techs?
My issues with the scale of the town and concerns about the hospital aside, I thought this was a fun, creepy movie. The acting is a little so-so, and Sean Bean is completely wasted in that tiny role. It would have been much better if his role were expanded (and I understand it is the father who is searching in the game). But the imagery and the ashes falling and spooky abandoned buildings are awesome. It’s exactly the kind of town I’d love to explore, but maybe without all the mutated vermin. That was ... *shudder* ewwww! I enjoyed Silent Hill, and I think it’s a good choice for this time of year.
Princess Mononoke
First of all, thank you to everyone who recommended this movie to me. It really is that good!
There’s almost too much good about it for me to summarize in a review. The artwork was stunning. The story and script are wonderful. I loved that most of the characters were shown to have both flaws and virtues. I loved that there were so many complex, well-written female characters. The forest spirit was very cool. So was the open-ended ending. Actually, I liked everything about Princess Mononoke. It’s definitely one to add to my collection and watch many times.
I realize I’m not as gushy with praise as I am with explaining why I don’t like things. I wish I had words to go on and on about why this movie is so good. But basically, it just is.
Is anyone else who’s been watching Bravo weirded out by seeing televison ads for Television without Pity?