Jarhead and X3 and more fun stuff...
I've been wanting to do all sorts of posts on different stuff and it keeps getting postponed on and on and so argh! *throws up hands* I'll just do a bit of everything here in one post. Potpourri of Shriney madness for you to make of what you will!
Firstly, I finally saw Jarhead! Yes, I know, I've even had it in my possession for awhile now, but it's one of those movies I knew hubby prolly wouldn't mind seeing too so I kept waiting for when we could both watch it! He was giving me the Evil Eye when Jake's nekkidness turned up not once, but TWICE in a movie where I don't think anyone else is ever sans clothing...lol! Good gravy, I love that man. He's competing for Seanie's most-bared hiney award... :P
I thought it was a reallllly good movie with lots of excellent acting and some real cold realism. My brother-in-law was involved in the more recent madness and I know he had plenty to say about never wanting to see another freaking grain of sand in his life. All that waiting and waiting and baking in the sun and then maybe getting picked off randomly on some errand--it fucks with your head just as much as actual battle does, maybe even moreso.
I know some of the criticisms of the movie were that it was boring...which you know, it is always tricky to film scenes about boredom without, well, boring people. But all I can say is that *I* wasn't bored, and it wasn't just 'cause I was hoping for another glimpse of Jake's beautiful arse. The movie was clever and funny (field "fun"! LOL!) and heartwrenching and I was edgy and jumpy and just wanted to know what happened next. It's a movie you need to invest yourself in to get the full effect, as the quieter movies always are. Shit does blow up, just not at the rapid-fire pace some folks are used to I guess.
That said, I admire and respect and was definitely drawn into the film. Not sure how much I'll watch it again, though, because like most truthful movies about war, it leaves you with a sort of hollow feeling inside.
However, I will try to screencap it because of course, there's some nice manflesh in there! Jake is just...*drools* I really do love a man who can be all ripped and built and yet have *curves*...baby got back, that's all I'm sayin'. *G* And Peter Sarsgaard...guh...that man just has such a unique presence on film. He just gets inside of me and I don't know whether to be frightened or really turned on. Which is kinda how I felt about Viggo in the beginning, heh, so you never know, I may develop a Peter fetish at some point. And he's an Illinois boy so I have to stand by a local honey, for sure. :P
We also saw X3 on opening night, and what a hoot, we were in the UltraScreen theater with 1200 geeks...hee! It was like 85% male, traveling in packs, and after the movie they all stood around in groups and discussed every nuance at great length...hee. Sadly I'm sure most weren't discussing the shots of Wolverine's beautifully leather clad ass...I had to wait until I got home to LJ to do that...lol!
I mostly enjoyed the movie, thought there were some great sequences, and it was fun to see it with an audience full of people who were totally into it. A lot of the visual effects were stunning, and the characters that got decent screen time were engaging. Unfortunately, it was like the dialogue was written by Lucas...egads, there were some crap lines. *smacks forehead* And like the first X-men, but worse, they threw a bunch of characters at you but then didn't really have time to develop them. They even forgot about some and then suddenly these people would show up at the end looking lost. *sigh*
If you haven't seen it yet, make sure you stay after the credits!! There's an extra scene tucked in there at the end!!
And like the last Matrix, there's a melancholy air about the whole thing which I suppose isn't really uncommon in comics, with all the angst and tortured souls, but it just seemed like it dragged the momentum down here. I read a review that talked about Jean Grey's transformation and how it was supposed to be exciting and really he just found the whole thing depressing. Personally I wouldn't have minded a bit more of the whole lust thing with Wolverine...heh. But they did get the love thing good, definitely some heart-breaking angst, but I think a lot of that credit goes to Famke and Hugh. Famke's really amazing with her eyes, and has such a great powerful presence on screen. I hardly like any women on screen these days but I love to watch her work.
And of course Hughbaby's so wonderfully physical and well, animalistic, but with that tender heart beating underneath. And the pivotal scene between the two of them was just incredible, emotional, powerful and OMFG AUGH!!! Even with the incredibly resilient trousers...hee...but I'm willing to overlook small PG-13 related discrepancies from reality.
So, there were things that were fun, and I enjoyed some of the new/newly focused-on characters--Kelsey Grammer's Beast was prolly one of the most anticipated-to-be-awful characters and yet he turned out to be one of the more believable and enjoyable members of the cast. The Juggernaut/Kitty stuff was entertaining, and I really felt for Angel as a little boy. I agreed with one reviewer who said the actor who portrayed him then was far more effective than the actor who played him as an adult, but admittedly, adult Angel was little more than a prop in the film which was highly disappointing. He looked so fucking cool, it would've been nice to see him actually *do* something.
I kept waiting for some stuff to make sense or become more clear or for characters to jump into the action, but then it didn't happen. One of the pitfalls of having so many characters, but it has to be the fault of writing and editing as well. Rogue was glaringly absent from the main part of the action, and the boy who was responsible for the "cure" seemed like he might be important somehow but then, well, not really. *sigh* And clockwerkdragon made the astute observation that the actor, Cameron Bright, played an almost identical character in Ultraviolet, which explains why he looked so familiar...heh. He definitely has that whole ethereal look down, but maybe it wasn't the wisest casting choice.
And as for casting, while I've liked Halle Berry in other things, she's just not superhero material, you know? She doesn't seem to have the conviction...let's face it, even the best written superheros still can come across incredibly silly if you don't sell it. Ian and Patrick and Famke and Anna and Hugh...they sell it. Totally. Halle? Not so much. We were surprised when she didn't have much screen time in the first movie--then when we saw the edited out bits we understood why. Yeesh. *shiver* And I would've rather seen more Rogue in this one than Storm running around trying to act tough around Wolvie and not succeeding at all. Gah. I bet Tyra Banks coulda given more whoop-ass power in this role, and looked damn fine doing it, too! :P
Like Serenity, too, the character death thing was a bit hard to take. And Cyclops' demise was done so off-screen I kept waiting for him to turn up again some time later. It just sat wrong. And was it just me or did Charles' whole character seem a bit off through the movie? Maybe I've been watching too much Trek:TNG and the accent was throwing me off...heh. But that post-credits scene did help lighten the dark cloud of the movie a little. I'm glad they've kind of left it open to do more even though they claim this is the last one. I mean, crap, there're a million episodes in the series and all those characters...you could go on making them for quite some time. The problem is with them trying to make each one more epic than the last. I don't need epic, I just want to see my fave superheroes kicking ass and taking names, while looking attractive and wearing skin-tight outfits. Why is that such a difficult concept?
Well, anyway, I suppose I've rambled enough. Feel free to throw your likes and dislikes at me! And feel free to talk about Hugh's lusciousness, I'm all in for that. *G*
Also, thanks to philomel, I finally caught the clip of Dommie's unexpected appearance on Craig's show...OMG I was howling like a hyena!!! (ETA: I edited the link to megaupload...the vid on YouTube disappeared for some reason!) Heee!! Those boys work so well together, it's a riot! *smooshes them both*
In amusing news, I made a mix CD for my parents to take on their recent trip to Florida. I labeled it "WTKALT" for "What the kids are listening to"...lol...which really just means *their* kid, because what do I know about what kids are listening to these days anyway...hee. In any case, I threw on some Strokes and Rammstein and Kelly Clarkson and Dido and yes, Panic! At the Disco. Dad's always going on about whiny male singers and the sorry state of modern music so I was worried about the Panic! stuff, but turns out they really enjoyed them. I hope this doesn't ruin P!ATD's street cred and that really you all will just think my parents are cool and enlightened. *G*
But the best was my Dad saying he thought he'd seen the P!ATD boys on TV and he said "They're kind of weird looking, right?"
LOL...yes, in that 80s British band Moulin Rouge sort of way, which surprisingly was just the description he needed to confirm he had actually seen them. *G*
Well, this concludes our late late Monday night ramble. Hope you all had a lovely weekend! Ours was ridiculously hot...98 degrees at one point. We went to mini-golf on Sunday and were out maybe an hour with our friends and I got sunburned!!
*stumbles off to put on aloe and fall into bed* :P xoxoxo
Firstly, I finally saw Jarhead! Yes, I know, I've even had it in my possession for awhile now, but it's one of those movies I knew hubby prolly wouldn't mind seeing too so I kept waiting for when we could both watch it! He was giving me the Evil Eye when Jake's nekkidness turned up not once, but TWICE in a movie where I don't think anyone else is ever sans clothing...lol! Good gravy, I love that man. He's competing for Seanie's most-bared hiney award... :P
I thought it was a reallllly good movie with lots of excellent acting and some real cold realism. My brother-in-law was involved in the more recent madness and I know he had plenty to say about never wanting to see another freaking grain of sand in his life. All that waiting and waiting and baking in the sun and then maybe getting picked off randomly on some errand--it fucks with your head just as much as actual battle does, maybe even moreso.
I know some of the criticisms of the movie were that it was boring...which you know, it is always tricky to film scenes about boredom without, well, boring people. But all I can say is that *I* wasn't bored, and it wasn't just 'cause I was hoping for another glimpse of Jake's beautiful arse. The movie was clever and funny (field "fun"! LOL!) and heartwrenching and I was edgy and jumpy and just wanted to know what happened next. It's a movie you need to invest yourself in to get the full effect, as the quieter movies always are. Shit does blow up, just not at the rapid-fire pace some folks are used to I guess.
That said, I admire and respect and was definitely drawn into the film. Not sure how much I'll watch it again, though, because like most truthful movies about war, it leaves you with a sort of hollow feeling inside.
However, I will try to screencap it because of course, there's some nice manflesh in there! Jake is just...*drools* I really do love a man who can be all ripped and built and yet have *curves*...baby got back, that's all I'm sayin'. *G* And Peter Sarsgaard...guh...that man just has such a unique presence on film. He just gets inside of me and I don't know whether to be frightened or really turned on. Which is kinda how I felt about Viggo in the beginning, heh, so you never know, I may develop a Peter fetish at some point. And he's an Illinois boy so I have to stand by a local honey, for sure. :P
We also saw X3 on opening night, and what a hoot, we were in the UltraScreen theater with 1200 geeks...hee! It was like 85% male, traveling in packs, and after the movie they all stood around in groups and discussed every nuance at great length...hee. Sadly I'm sure most weren't discussing the shots of Wolverine's beautifully leather clad ass...I had to wait until I got home to LJ to do that...lol!
I mostly enjoyed the movie, thought there were some great sequences, and it was fun to see it with an audience full of people who were totally into it. A lot of the visual effects were stunning, and the characters that got decent screen time were engaging. Unfortunately, it was like the dialogue was written by Lucas...egads, there were some crap lines. *smacks forehead* And like the first X-men, but worse, they threw a bunch of characters at you but then didn't really have time to develop them. They even forgot about some and then suddenly these people would show up at the end looking lost. *sigh*
If you haven't seen it yet, make sure you stay after the credits!! There's an extra scene tucked in there at the end!!
And like the last Matrix, there's a melancholy air about the whole thing which I suppose isn't really uncommon in comics, with all the angst and tortured souls, but it just seemed like it dragged the momentum down here. I read a review that talked about Jean Grey's transformation and how it was supposed to be exciting and really he just found the whole thing depressing. Personally I wouldn't have minded a bit more of the whole lust thing with Wolverine...heh. But they did get the love thing good, definitely some heart-breaking angst, but I think a lot of that credit goes to Famke and Hugh. Famke's really amazing with her eyes, and has such a great powerful presence on screen. I hardly like any women on screen these days but I love to watch her work.
And of course Hughbaby's so wonderfully physical and well, animalistic, but with that tender heart beating underneath. And the pivotal scene between the two of them was just incredible, emotional, powerful and OMFG AUGH!!! Even with the incredibly resilient trousers...hee...but I'm willing to overlook small PG-13 related discrepancies from reality.
So, there were things that were fun, and I enjoyed some of the new/newly focused-on characters--Kelsey Grammer's Beast was prolly one of the most anticipated-to-be-awful characters and yet he turned out to be one of the more believable and enjoyable members of the cast. The Juggernaut/Kitty stuff was entertaining, and I really felt for Angel as a little boy. I agreed with one reviewer who said the actor who portrayed him then was far more effective than the actor who played him as an adult, but admittedly, adult Angel was little more than a prop in the film which was highly disappointing. He looked so fucking cool, it would've been nice to see him actually *do* something.
I kept waiting for some stuff to make sense or become more clear or for characters to jump into the action, but then it didn't happen. One of the pitfalls of having so many characters, but it has to be the fault of writing and editing as well. Rogue was glaringly absent from the main part of the action, and the boy who was responsible for the "cure" seemed like he might be important somehow but then, well, not really. *sigh* And clockwerkdragon made the astute observation that the actor, Cameron Bright, played an almost identical character in Ultraviolet, which explains why he looked so familiar...heh. He definitely has that whole ethereal look down, but maybe it wasn't the wisest casting choice.
And as for casting, while I've liked Halle Berry in other things, she's just not superhero material, you know? She doesn't seem to have the conviction...let's face it, even the best written superheros still can come across incredibly silly if you don't sell it. Ian and Patrick and Famke and Anna and Hugh...they sell it. Totally. Halle? Not so much. We were surprised when she didn't have much screen time in the first movie--then when we saw the edited out bits we understood why. Yeesh. *shiver* And I would've rather seen more Rogue in this one than Storm running around trying to act tough around Wolvie and not succeeding at all. Gah. I bet Tyra Banks coulda given more whoop-ass power in this role, and looked damn fine doing it, too! :P
Like Serenity, too, the character death thing was a bit hard to take. And Cyclops' demise was done so off-screen I kept waiting for him to turn up again some time later. It just sat wrong. And was it just me or did Charles' whole character seem a bit off through the movie? Maybe I've been watching too much Trek:TNG and the accent was throwing me off...heh. But that post-credits scene did help lighten the dark cloud of the movie a little. I'm glad they've kind of left it open to do more even though they claim this is the last one. I mean, crap, there're a million episodes in the series and all those characters...you could go on making them for quite some time. The problem is with them trying to make each one more epic than the last. I don't need epic, I just want to see my fave superheroes kicking ass and taking names, while looking attractive and wearing skin-tight outfits. Why is that such a difficult concept?
Well, anyway, I suppose I've rambled enough. Feel free to throw your likes and dislikes at me! And feel free to talk about Hugh's lusciousness, I'm all in for that. *G*
Also, thanks to philomel, I finally caught the clip of Dommie's unexpected appearance on Craig's show...OMG I was howling like a hyena!!! (ETA: I edited the link to megaupload...the vid on YouTube disappeared for some reason!) Heee!! Those boys work so well together, it's a riot! *smooshes them both*
In amusing news, I made a mix CD for my parents to take on their recent trip to Florida. I labeled it "WTKALT" for "What the kids are listening to"...lol...which really just means *their* kid, because what do I know about what kids are listening to these days anyway...hee. In any case, I threw on some Strokes and Rammstein and Kelly Clarkson and Dido and yes, Panic! At the Disco. Dad's always going on about whiny male singers and the sorry state of modern music so I was worried about the Panic! stuff, but turns out they really enjoyed them. I hope this doesn't ruin P!ATD's street cred and that really you all will just think my parents are cool and enlightened. *G*
But the best was my Dad saying he thought he'd seen the P!ATD boys on TV and he said "They're kind of weird looking, right?"
LOL...yes, in that 80s British band Moulin Rouge sort of way, which surprisingly was just the description he needed to confirm he had actually seen them. *G*
Well, this concludes our late late Monday night ramble. Hope you all had a lovely weekend! Ours was ridiculously hot...98 degrees at one point. We went to mini-golf on Sunday and were out maybe an hour with our friends and I got sunburned!!
*stumbles off to put on aloe and fall into bed* :P xoxoxo