I went to the cinema last night with the full intention of seeing V for Vendetta. It’s not the same as the graphic novel, but I think that it hit the spot in terms of what’s happening in the world today. I enjoyed it and would recommend it for other folks. A bit schmaltzy at the end, and missing the point that ‘plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose‘. Go, see, enjoy a bald Natalie Portman.
IMDB link.
Watching Kill Bill Vol. 1 for the umteenth time
And all I can think is… damn, I want to see Battle Royale again.
If I was listening to music at this time, I would be listening to Stinkarelli; I watch too much TV
Was it a shock at the Oscars?
I was looking at the results of the Oscars last night. Considering that I was unimpressed with most of the movies. My heart was warmed by Philip Seymour Hoffman winning the oscar for best actor, he was the best of the nominees in my humble opinion. The fact that Brokeback didn’t win best movie is only testamount to the fact that cheats never win 🙂
honestly, the overall quality of movies this year was terrible! Make better movies on a lower budget and don’t shove the horrible ones on us because you have the money to advertise them.
I never realized (until I saw it ono IMDB) that the full title of ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’ was ‘The Mysterious Yearning Secretive Sad Lonely Troubled Confused Loving Musical Gifted Intelligent Beautiful Tender Sensitive Haunted Passionate Talented Mr. Ripley’. What a sad title.
Besides, I got such slagging over the Marmalade pudding recipe.
War comparisons
I’ve been re-watching the new series of Battlestar Galactica, and damn, but it’s great. I’ve played several tactical games on the computer, but I’ve never encountered anything that has had the player in such an impotent position. You are dealing with an enemy that can increase it’s number by simply pressing the ‘more’ button on a console. I don’t think that anyone could play a game that ultimately, regardless of what you did, was unwinnable.
There are a few missions in games (such as the 10 minute survival ones in starcaft) that gave you a sense of just how hopeless it was, but they really don’t contribute to how awful it is.
There are few games that get close to this fact. Freespace 2 was one of them. It concludes with the baddies causing a supernova. It leaves us with a sense of hope. The only problem is that it, at some level, it allows us to feel that we can win.
I want an armageddon situation.
The Skeleton Key … An H.P. Lovecraft production
I just had the experience of watching ‘The Skeleton Key‘, a bit of a scary one. I don’t want to spoil the movie for anyone, but once you’ve seen it, and if you’re familiar with the tales of H.P. Lovecraft, then you should know what I mean when I say almost complete rip-off (cough – Thing On The Doorstep – cough). That said, the movie is quite well done, and I’ve got shivers following it.
Now I’m watching ‘Old Boy‘. Fun for all the family.
Given a choice of free DVDs what would you pick
I was in London last weekend, and I went shopping. I got to a store that sold movies. Interestingly enough, they only sold DVDs, which only goes to show how technology progresses – even HMV sells VHS tapes still.
Having purchased a DVD from them I was given an option to purchase a DVD at a really low price. The only two that stuck in my head were ‘The Punisher‘ and ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang‘. I had the unenviable benefit of seeing ‘The Punisher‘ once before on Sky Movies. All I can say is that it reminded me of the game ‘Far Cry‘, rather than the actual character of ‘The Punisher‘, as portrayed in the recent Garth Ennis punisher comic.
I chose ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang‘. Can you blame me? At the moment I’m enjoying it on the laptop as I type this entry.
If anyone cares, I’m using DVDidle Pro to watch the movie. It saves battery on my laptop, as well as allowing me to watch non region 2 DVDs, which is kind of important.
Movie choices
Well tonight I was thinking of going to see the new Wallace & Grommit movie, but instead I decided to stay in and get some programming done. To that end, I’ve been treated to Hellboy on Sky Movies. It’s a great movie, but you need to appreciate where it’s coming from.
This afternoon I was treated to my sister in the house talking about here ‘killen’. Just like issues with the pronunciation of ‘fillum’ I’d like to say for the record that I’ve stopped correcting people, I just groan inwardly. This coming from the lad who read the ‘curry’man newspaper every week 🙂
Paycheck
I saw this last night on the telly. It’s a fun action flick with a premise that could have been taken from a PKD short story. There is the mandatory dove that is part of all John Woo movies. I would not have seen this at the cinema, and I don’t think it would have lasted long enough there to have even slightly piqued my interest.
On the other hand, someone was telling me that ‘The Magic Roundabout‘ wasn’t in the cinemas here. I can’t seem to remember it, but I may have been not paying attention to the cinema at the time. Anyone else remember?
Serenity!
I went. I liked. It didn’t suck. I know why they had to do the ‘world saving‘ stuff – nobody likes a low scale movie.
Apart from that, I hope there is more to come from that universe because I find it an interesting place to see, but don’t over-do it like Buffy. Maaan I was sick of it by the end and just wanted it to be over.
For all the fanboys: Please don’t shoot me!
Serenity?
Why will I be going to see Serenity. It’s simple really. When I first saw the series I was not impressed. I think I was in a bad place personally and just didn’t appreciate it. Upon repeat viewing I will have to say that the series really made me think about what life could be like in the future, and how a system such as Traveller with it’s varied tech levels might actually come to exist.
Simple premise, simple stories, well drawn characters. Add in the frontiers of space and it works well.
Shame it didn’t last, but I think a lot of the folks never sat around to give it a second look like I did.