I really have no life...
...but that's okay...
...maybe.
9:01 PM 8/19/06 · Other than Saturday, where I went to a BBQ with BayCon convention folks, I didn't do much of anything this weekend. When my schedule was a bit mixed up and I thought that was actually on Sunday I had more of something going for me.
Raven had invited me to goto an event with her, sponsored or held by Playboy Magazine, but that kinda went out the window when I got the actual times for stuff going on.
I went to a BBQ and had a blast, laughing my ass off and eating good food.
Could've spent the day with
Raven, whom I'm deeply in like with and lust for more than a little bit, while surrounded by Playboy bunnies.
Clearly I have issues.
Friday I'd picked up 4 movies from the corner Blockbuster and figured I'd watch them between things. Been through one already and I got it into my head to write a brief review for the lot of them...except one. A slightly geekier one about V for Vendetta which by some miracle wasn't out of stock.
Dawn of the Dead (2004): While wandering the aisles it dawned on me, no pun intended, that there's been a lot of zombie films out since 2000 but I couldn't remember any of their names. This one I'd seen a bit of the beginning of before and when I saw it on the shelf I hoped it was that film; lucky me! Right off, these zombies are a hell of a lot faster than in any other film I've seen before...usually it's the slow shuffle you get. This made them much more fun to watch cuz slow ones there's really no challenge unless you're surrounded. Also nice as this film is one of those I love the most: the "good guys" do not win; film continues into the end credits to follow up on that point. DVD extras were great...including a video journal from Andy (gun store guy), a news broadcast stretching from the 1st outbreak till the very end, some more undead fight scenes that didn't make the film, and the behind the scenes stuff. Two of the zombies in the film that are missing limbs, a running guy missing his right arm and a guy in the parking garage missing both legs, turns out weren't as made up as you'd usually suspect: they actually were missing those limbs. Highly recommend for the extras if you've already saw this movie in theaters. Good to see anyway if you're fond of this genre.
Final Fantasy VII · Advent Children (2006): Since BAGG moved back to its original location, one of the little features it added was a massive screen over the dance floor...though you can't so much hear stuff over the music they play there obviously. Having seen Spirits Within and being vaguely familiar with the characters from the games (never played myself but I've watched many of my friends do it), I recognized enough of this to figure out what it was. Just a matter of remembering it well enough to rent it someday. Basically takes place sometime after the end of the game it's named for, I'm assuming the same number. Animation's better than the previous film, I think, and although it's more than a bit too surreal for me the action sequences more than made up for that. Had it all setup for subtitles, hate dubbing with an unholy passion, when I found out it was in English. Might actually've been in Japanese originally but I was sleepy when I started it so leave me be. Definitely worth watching if you loved the games with Cloud & Sephiroth in them...I'm assuming it was more than just VII. The fights are some of the best examples of beautiful violence I've ever seen. It's a 2 disc set but I'm not so much interested to checkout the bonus features this time around. Although there are deleted scenes on Disc 2.
Pulse · Kairo (2005): Even though I long ago concluded that Hollywood had run out of original ideas, it still bothers me when I see trailers for an upcoming movie that looks really entertaining to me...only to find out that it's a remake of another movie. I'm referring to Pulse, which either came out this last weekend or will be coming out this upcoming one, that stars that girl from Veronica Mars. I may've already been aware of it being a remake, I'm not sure, but seeing the Japanese original on the shelf really brought the point home. The Americanized version (so far as the trailers show) gives the impression that the dead are coming back because they're jealous of the living and want back into the world. The original Japanese version is more along the lines that the Realm of the Dead has been filling up since prehistoric times and has finally hit maximum capacity, thus it's beginning to leak into the World of the Living. This movie is chilling and cold, strangley meaning different things there, but was apparently put together by the same people (Toho) that made the Godzilla films which brightened me up from the start. Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, hailed as the master of Japanese horror, this movie blew me away. Was very creeped that the eerie music they used at points was almost identical to that from the Tomie series. Not sure what to make of that the boat used to escape at the end had keys identical to those for the boat used to escape at the end of Dawn of the Dead; same movie reviewed in this post. Little things from this, despite the apparant differences, that I'll be looking for in the Americanized version which I wanted to see already but want to see more now to contrast it: red tape (something in actual occult literature about red as a binding ward I vaguely recall) used to lock up rooms where breaches between the two realms occured, a simple yet harsh computer model of how life supposedly is, & a website that the ghosts have apparently setup to hack back into the real world. One difference I've seen already is in the ghosts themselves: Japanese version has them as looking very much like normal people, clothes and all, but faded and indistinct...moving as though not entirely in touch with their surroundings. Americanized version seems to have them looking subhuman and zombie·like and very very fast. Saw in the trailers people being sucked into black oozing walls, presumedly grabbed by the dead, while the Japanese version has the black splotches where people have either died or having been exposed to a ghost it just marks where they faded away. One thing I truly love in foreign films is they tend to put emphasis on things American films do not...or just differently. Specifically with Japanese ones...which may just account for why I've yet to see one on DVD that had any deleted scenes included.
V for Vendetta (2006): I'd like to say it was a decade or more back when I read the graphic novel, or collected edition depending, but I didn't particularly like it. It was well written, had an interesting storyline, and compelling characters but it just didn't do anything for me. I'm not so much sure if that had more to do with me as I was then or if the original work would still suck as much to me today. In any case, I went into seeing this film with the decided opinion I wasn't going to like it; couldn't have been more wrong! My memories of the original tale are a bit hazy on points but this film seemed to follow what little I recall quite well. Possible exception on the ending because I could've sworn Natalie Portman's character put on the mask and costume and continued the fight as V in his name. Regarding the actor, I heard the criticizm that her English accent was not well received though I found no flaw in it. I've never actually heard her speak outside of a movie and I know from having seen Xena, and a number of other shows, that many actors we are familiar speaking American English actually don't. This may very well be her normal accent in the film but if it's not then she did a great job taking it on. I enjoyed the performance of V a great deal and even though I knew who the actor under the mask was it hardly mattered to me; not actually seeing his face probably helped. However, similar to some other movies I've seen, I'm not sure if I'd ever want to see it again. There are films that I can only really ever watch once and as much as I enjoyed them I have the strong feeling that to watch them again would take something away from the experience. To name another: The Dead Poets Society.
What does it say about me that after starting a new community I posted my thoughts on suicide, however goofy a conclusion I was going towards, and the very next weekend I rented two movies where the world comes to an end?
...maybe.
9:01 PM 8/19/06 · Other than Saturday, where I went to a BBQ with BayCon convention folks, I didn't do much of anything this weekend. When my schedule was a bit mixed up and I thought that was actually on Sunday I had more of something going for me.
Raven had invited me to goto an event with her, sponsored or held by Playboy Magazine, but that kinda went out the window when I got the actual times for stuff going on.
I went to a BBQ and had a blast, laughing my ass off and eating good food.
Could've spent the day with
Raven, whom I'm deeply in like with and lust for more than a little bit, while surrounded by Playboy bunnies.
Clearly I have issues.
Friday I'd picked up 4 movies from the corner Blockbuster and figured I'd watch them between things. Been through one already and I got it into my head to write a brief review for the lot of them...except one. A slightly geekier one about V for Vendetta which by some miracle wasn't out of stock.
Dawn of the Dead (2004): While wandering the aisles it dawned on me, no pun intended, that there's been a lot of zombie films out since 2000 but I couldn't remember any of their names. This one I'd seen a bit of the beginning of before and when I saw it on the shelf I hoped it was that film; lucky me! Right off, these zombies are a hell of a lot faster than in any other film I've seen before...usually it's the slow shuffle you get. This made them much more fun to watch cuz slow ones there's really no challenge unless you're surrounded. Also nice as this film is one of those I love the most: the "good guys" do not win; film continues into the end credits to follow up on that point. DVD extras were great...including a video journal from Andy (gun store guy), a news broadcast stretching from the 1st outbreak till the very end, some more undead fight scenes that didn't make the film, and the behind the scenes stuff. Two of the zombies in the film that are missing limbs, a running guy missing his right arm and a guy in the parking garage missing both legs, turns out weren't as made up as you'd usually suspect: they actually were missing those limbs. Highly recommend for the extras if you've already saw this movie in theaters. Good to see anyway if you're fond of this genre.
Final Fantasy VII · Advent Children (2006): Since BAGG moved back to its original location, one of the little features it added was a massive screen over the dance floor...though you can't so much hear stuff over the music they play there obviously. Having seen Spirits Within and being vaguely familiar with the characters from the games (never played myself but I've watched many of my friends do it), I recognized enough of this to figure out what it was. Just a matter of remembering it well enough to rent it someday. Basically takes place sometime after the end of the game it's named for, I'm assuming the same number. Animation's better than the previous film, I think, and although it's more than a bit too surreal for me the action sequences more than made up for that. Had it all setup for subtitles, hate dubbing with an unholy passion, when I found out it was in English. Might actually've been in Japanese originally but I was sleepy when I started it so leave me be. Definitely worth watching if you loved the games with Cloud & Sephiroth in them...I'm assuming it was more than just VII. The fights are some of the best examples of beautiful violence I've ever seen. It's a 2 disc set but I'm not so much interested to checkout the bonus features this time around. Although there are deleted scenes on Disc 2.
Pulse · Kairo (2005): Even though I long ago concluded that Hollywood had run out of original ideas, it still bothers me when I see trailers for an upcoming movie that looks really entertaining to me...only to find out that it's a remake of another movie. I'm referring to Pulse, which either came out this last weekend or will be coming out this upcoming one, that stars that girl from Veronica Mars. I may've already been aware of it being a remake, I'm not sure, but seeing the Japanese original on the shelf really brought the point home. The Americanized version (so far as the trailers show) gives the impression that the dead are coming back because they're jealous of the living and want back into the world. The original Japanese version is more along the lines that the Realm of the Dead has been filling up since prehistoric times and has finally hit maximum capacity, thus it's beginning to leak into the World of the Living. This movie is chilling and cold, strangley meaning different things there, but was apparently put together by the same people (Toho) that made the Godzilla films which brightened me up from the start. Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, hailed as the master of Japanese horror, this movie blew me away. Was very creeped that the eerie music they used at points was almost identical to that from the Tomie series. Not sure what to make of that the boat used to escape at the end had keys identical to those for the boat used to escape at the end of Dawn of the Dead; same movie reviewed in this post. Little things from this, despite the apparant differences, that I'll be looking for in the Americanized version which I wanted to see already but want to see more now to contrast it: red tape (something in actual occult literature about red as a binding ward I vaguely recall) used to lock up rooms where breaches between the two realms occured, a simple yet harsh computer model of how life supposedly is, & a website that the ghosts have apparently setup to hack back into the real world. One difference I've seen already is in the ghosts themselves: Japanese version has them as looking very much like normal people, clothes and all, but faded and indistinct...moving as though not entirely in touch with their surroundings. Americanized version seems to have them looking subhuman and zombie·like and very very fast. Saw in the trailers people being sucked into black oozing walls, presumedly grabbed by the dead, while the Japanese version has the black splotches where people have either died or having been exposed to a ghost it just marks where they faded away. One thing I truly love in foreign films is they tend to put emphasis on things American films do not...or just differently. Specifically with Japanese ones...which may just account for why I've yet to see one on DVD that had any deleted scenes included.
V for Vendetta (2006): I'd like to say it was a decade or more back when I read the graphic novel, or collected edition depending, but I didn't particularly like it. It was well written, had an interesting storyline, and compelling characters but it just didn't do anything for me. I'm not so much sure if that had more to do with me as I was then or if the original work would still suck as much to me today. In any case, I went into seeing this film with the decided opinion I wasn't going to like it; couldn't have been more wrong! My memories of the original tale are a bit hazy on points but this film seemed to follow what little I recall quite well. Possible exception on the ending because I could've sworn Natalie Portman's character put on the mask and costume and continued the fight as V in his name. Regarding the actor, I heard the criticizm that her English accent was not well received though I found no flaw in it. I've never actually heard her speak outside of a movie and I know from having seen Xena, and a number of other shows, that many actors we are familiar speaking American English actually don't. This may very well be her normal accent in the film but if it's not then she did a great job taking it on. I enjoyed the performance of V a great deal and even though I knew who the actor under the mask was it hardly mattered to me; not actually seeing his face probably helped. However, similar to some other movies I've seen, I'm not sure if I'd ever want to see it again. There are films that I can only really ever watch once and as much as I enjoyed them I have the strong feeling that to watch them again would take something away from the experience. To name another: The Dead Poets Society.
What does it say about me that after starting a new community I posted my thoughts on suicide, however goofy a conclusion I was going towards, and the very next weekend I rented two movies where the world comes to an end?