C'mon! It should be a simple recipe: take some sweet cars, make them fast, use them a lot, and have good choreography...BUT, the most important ingredients are: keep the story and acting to a minimum. Why can't they figure that out? I really liked the first Fast and the Furious, kinda liked Tokyo Drift, hated Too Fast Too Furious. This one falls into 3rd place.
So we go to a late show on Tuesday...they apparently have $1 popcorn on Tuesdays. My gf doesn't want to watch (I don't blame her), so she goes to watch Monsters vs Aliens. I come to find out that she was the only person in that theater! And further, she said that the movie sucked. Check it out, 2 reviews in 1.
So I haven't verified this, but apparently this story takes place between the 1st and 2nd fast and furious movies. It also ties itself into Tokyo Drift as well with a 2 minute cameo by that Han dude.
The good: There are about 2 cool racing scenes. Ummm....done with this section.
The bad: Almost everything else. Bad acting, bad story is a given. There isn't enough action. Zero comedy. The beginning part of the movie has some computer generated action...horrible! They try way to hard to make the characters internally conflicted about everything! Every single scene has someone whining about something.
And the ending... really?
Rating: 5 out of 10
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
...play Zitch Dog. (How I Met Your Mother review)
Zitch dog!
Sitcoms? Really? Do those even still exist? I thought television had been taken over by one hour shows and reality shows. At least, those are the only ones I ever hear about.
So 4 years after the debut, I started watching How I Met Your Mother. This show is hilarious! Maybe it because its about a bunch of 27/28 year olds hanging out and I can relate, but I think its much more than that.
The good: The pranks and jokes that they play are always fresh and original. The cast has a great chemistry. I love how every little detail of the show has a story--usually portrayed with an immediate flashback, but sometimes they only mention a story, which then plays out in a later episode. The humor is very smart, and when they decide not to use smart humor...they just ask for a high five and it becomes funny.
The story is oddly deep. Although you can easily watch sporadic episodes and enjoy it, watching it in sequence provides enough story to grab bigger audiences.
The bad: None. Go Doogie!
Rating: 9 out of 10
Sitcoms? Really? Do those even still exist? I thought television had been taken over by one hour shows and reality shows. At least, those are the only ones I ever hear about.
So 4 years after the debut, I started watching How I Met Your Mother. This show is hilarious! Maybe it because its about a bunch of 27/28 year olds hanging out and I can relate, but I think its much more than that.
The good: The pranks and jokes that they play are always fresh and original. The cast has a great chemistry. I love how every little detail of the show has a story--usually portrayed with an immediate flashback, but sometimes they only mention a story, which then plays out in a later episode. The humor is very smart, and when they decide not to use smart humor...they just ask for a high five and it becomes funny.
The story is oddly deep. Although you can easily watch sporadic episodes and enjoy it, watching it in sequence provides enough story to grab bigger audiences.
The bad: None. Go Doogie!
Rating: 9 out of 10
Monday, April 6, 2009
...watch baseball! Or, at least look at the box scores.
I am prepared for the wrath of actually baseball fans...
Who knew that such a boring sport to watch could produce an overwhelmingly fun experience of Fantasy Baseball. Sure, go ahead..."its no fantasy football", "it takes up too much time", "there are too many games", blah blah blah. You people are missing the point of the great joys of competition, despite the lack of interest in the subject. For example, I know someone who plays fantasy with celebrities, based on how many headlines they make...ahem.
So most recently, we did an auction draft this past weekend. This is where you actually bid for players versus just picking them snake style. And I'd like to say, ITS MUCH MORE FUN. Imagine having to pay attention to every pick and having a chance to win them. There are so many more facets of strategy. I have 2 teams, the first team was standard drafting, the 2nd team was my auction.
Standard:
C: Geovany Soto
1B: Adrian Gonzalez
2B: Chase Utly
SS: JJ Hardy
3B: Jorge Cantu
LF: Matt Holiday
CF: Lastings Milledge
RF: Ryan Ludwick
Bench: Kazuo Matsui, Ryan Theriot, Jayson Werth, JD Drew
SP: Brandon Webb, John Lackey, Gil Meche, Jair Jurrjens, Brad Penny, Ubaldo Jimenez
RP: Joe Nathan, Fernando Rodney, Brandon Morrow, Joakim Soria, Brian Wilson
Auction:
C: Victor Martinez
1B: Miguel Cabrera
2B: Brian Roberts
SS: Jimmy Rollins
3B: Kevin youkilis
IF: Chris Davis
OF: Matt Holiday
OF: Matt Kemp
OF: Carlos Quentin
OF: Jermaine Dye
Bench: Carlos Pena, Ryan Theriot
SP: Gil Meche, Paul Maholm, Wandy Rodriguez, Clayton Kershaw, Chien-Ming Wang, Johnny Cueto
RP:Brian Wilson, Fernando Rodney, Brandon Morrow, Joel Hanrahan, Kevin Gregg, George Sherrill
My strategy for the auction was to go Closer heavy and get cheap starters. And to spend all my money on offense. Lets see how that works out.
Good luck Fantasy Filipinos.
Who knew that such a boring sport to watch could produce an overwhelmingly fun experience of Fantasy Baseball. Sure, go ahead..."its no fantasy football", "it takes up too much time", "there are too many games", blah blah blah. You people are missing the point of the great joys of competition, despite the lack of interest in the subject. For example, I know someone who plays fantasy with celebrities, based on how many headlines they make...ahem.
So most recently, we did an auction draft this past weekend. This is where you actually bid for players versus just picking them snake style. And I'd like to say, ITS MUCH MORE FUN. Imagine having to pay attention to every pick and having a chance to win them. There are so many more facets of strategy. I have 2 teams, the first team was standard drafting, the 2nd team was my auction.
Standard:
C: Geovany Soto
1B: Adrian Gonzalez
2B: Chase Utly
SS: JJ Hardy
3B: Jorge Cantu
LF: Matt Holiday
CF: Lastings Milledge
RF: Ryan Ludwick
Bench: Kazuo Matsui, Ryan Theriot, Jayson Werth, JD Drew
SP: Brandon Webb, John Lackey, Gil Meche, Jair Jurrjens, Brad Penny, Ubaldo Jimenez
RP: Joe Nathan, Fernando Rodney, Brandon Morrow, Joakim Soria, Brian Wilson
Auction:
C: Victor Martinez
1B: Miguel Cabrera
2B: Brian Roberts
SS: Jimmy Rollins
3B: Kevin youkilis
IF: Chris Davis
OF: Matt Holiday
OF: Matt Kemp
OF: Carlos Quentin
OF: Jermaine Dye
Bench: Carlos Pena, Ryan Theriot
SP: Gil Meche, Paul Maholm, Wandy Rodriguez, Clayton Kershaw, Chien-Ming Wang, Johnny Cueto
RP:Brian Wilson, Fernando Rodney, Brandon Morrow, Joel Hanrahan, Kevin Gregg, George Sherrill
My strategy for the auction was to go Closer heavy and get cheap starters. And to spend all my money on offense. Lets see how that works out.
Good luck Fantasy Filipinos.
Friday, March 20, 2009
...not watch a movie just because you saw the best part. (Legend of 1900 review)
So my roommate tells me I should watch this movie. I hadn't heard much about the movie, so as usual I said "maybe" (with no intention of actually watching). But he proceeded to show me a clip on his computer. This scene included the main character have a piano duel with one of the best jazz musicians around. These scene had good music and a bit a humor. I sat and watched, completely entertained for about 7 or 8 minutes.
SOLD!
So I burned a copy and watched it in my room. The first night I tried watching it, I fell asleep after about 20 minutes. The second time I tried watching it, I made it almost all the way through, but then the ending was so boring I stopped with about 5 or 10 minutes left in the movie...there was no 3rd time being a charm for this movie.
The good: Those 7 or 8 minutes of the piano duel.
The bad: Everything else. You would think Tim Roth could bring some redeeming factors to the movie, but absolutely not. The story? Baby found on cruise liner by worker that lives on the boat. Baby never leaves boat. Baby turns out to be a phenom piano player. Still never leaves the boat. Ummm...thats about it. I don't know if he ever leaves the boat, or if he dies on the boat because I stopped watching.
Damn you, good scene, we should've left it at that.
Rating: 3 out of 10
SOLD!
So I burned a copy and watched it in my room. The first night I tried watching it, I fell asleep after about 20 minutes. The second time I tried watching it, I made it almost all the way through, but then the ending was so boring I stopped with about 5 or 10 minutes left in the movie...there was no 3rd time being a charm for this movie.
The good: Those 7 or 8 minutes of the piano duel.
The bad: Everything else. You would think Tim Roth could bring some redeeming factors to the movie, but absolutely not. The story? Baby found on cruise liner by worker that lives on the boat. Baby never leaves boat. Baby turns out to be a phenom piano player. Still never leaves the boat. Ummm...thats about it. I don't know if he ever leaves the boat, or if he dies on the boat because I stopped watching.
Damn you, good scene, we should've left it at that.
Rating: 3 out of 10
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
...read the...comic? (Watchmen review)
I love me some midnight openings. What I don't like is watching 3 hour long movies at midnight then staying up another hour just to drive to airport 2 and half hours early because it is an international flight so I can zip through check-in and and security and get to the gate with 2 hours to spare, in the meantime, having a sprained ankle. So, my view of this movie may be a bit skewed.
I never read the comic, although I had heard about it (maybe I should call it a "graphic novel" so people don't get mad). And for those of you that don't know the conspiracy, this movie almost didn't get released. I forget the movie companies in question, but apparently someone made the movie that didn't have the rights for the movie. Then AFTER they finished the movie, the company that did own the rights said they couldn't release it... but thats another story, and we can see that it worked out in the end.
The Good: The action, the direction, the characters, the story. So pretty much all of the important things were good about this. The story was a lot deeper than I had imagined it. I thought it was just going to be a superhero versus humans sorta thing, I mean, that was still sorta that, but not really--I'm not explaining myself further here. I loved the montage at the beginning of movie.
When there was action, it was really good. It had a lot of the 300 gimic of slow motion action. Its kinda funny, because all of the "heroes" are very goofy looking and not menacing at all...but when it comes to fighting, its pretty sweet.
The Bad: Did I mention this movie was almost 3 hours long? There was a lot of character development flashbacks that I thought were done well enough, but since there are like 10 characters, that took up a lot of time. But thats not the time that was wasted. WAY to much self reflection for some of the characters. I feel like they could've conveyed the same messages in about 30 to 40 less minutes.
Overall: I liked it. I like it more now after thinking about the movie than I did at 4am. I am half curious to read the comic. This is the first time that I've heard that the movie may have been as good as the book--just made a little differently to adapt to the big screen.
Rating: 7.5 out of 10 (8 if it wasn't so long)
I never read the comic, although I had heard about it (maybe I should call it a "graphic novel" so people don't get mad). And for those of you that don't know the conspiracy, this movie almost didn't get released. I forget the movie companies in question, but apparently someone made the movie that didn't have the rights for the movie. Then AFTER they finished the movie, the company that did own the rights said they couldn't release it... but thats another story, and we can see that it worked out in the end.
The Good: The action, the direction, the characters, the story. So pretty much all of the important things were good about this. The story was a lot deeper than I had imagined it. I thought it was just going to be a superhero versus humans sorta thing, I mean, that was still sorta that, but not really--I'm not explaining myself further here. I loved the montage at the beginning of movie.
When there was action, it was really good. It had a lot of the 300 gimic of slow motion action. Its kinda funny, because all of the "heroes" are very goofy looking and not menacing at all...but when it comes to fighting, its pretty sweet.
The Bad: Did I mention this movie was almost 3 hours long? There was a lot of character development flashbacks that I thought were done well enough, but since there are like 10 characters, that took up a lot of time. But thats not the time that was wasted. WAY to much self reflection for some of the characters. I feel like they could've conveyed the same messages in about 30 to 40 less minutes.
Overall: I liked it. I like it more now after thinking about the movie than I did at 4am. I am half curious to read the comic. This is the first time that I've heard that the movie may have been as good as the book--just made a little differently to adapt to the big screen.
Rating: 7.5 out of 10 (8 if it wasn't so long)
Monday, March 16, 2009
...read this blog once again!
I apologize for the blogging hiatus... Especially for those who need this blog to pass about 5 to 10 minutes of their workday--I know how important that is. I have lots of excuses, mainly busy at work and a vacation.
Anyways, this post is not going to be very long since it is just a memo stating that I'm getting back into the game. The blogging game of abysmal banter about anything and everything (of course, mainly movies as usual). I have a few movies to talk about, perhaps touch on some March Madness, Fantasy baseball....in short, you will soon learn how little I actually know about sports. Luckily, I can fake my knowledge with the best of them.
Also, take this as an opportunity to give me some other topics that I can speak to. Perhaps rock collections, the weather, or even legal advice.
Anyways, this post is not going to be very long since it is just a memo stating that I'm getting back into the game. The blogging game of abysmal banter about anything and everything (of course, mainly movies as usual). I have a few movies to talk about, perhaps touch on some March Madness, Fantasy baseball....in short, you will soon learn how little I actually know about sports. Luckily, I can fake my knowledge with the best of them.
Also, take this as an opportunity to give me some other topics that I can speak to. Perhaps rock collections, the weather, or even legal advice.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
..read the book. (Running with Scissors review).
"The book was much better." These were the words of my gf on Sunday night. How many times will I hear that? Not necessarily from her, but from anyone that reads books. I can actually say that 3 times: Congo, Rising Sun and The Da Vinci Code. But, unless they start adapting some Kurt Vonnegut books, I may never say those words again.
I am forced to think that this phenomenon only exists because of the energy put towards reading the book. Has anyone ever tried reading a book AFTER watching the movie first? If you have, I'd like to know your thoughts. I thought the book, The Da Vinci Code, was the greatest thing ever--and then I thought the movie, The Da Vinci Code, was the worst thing ever. But whats weird, is that I know some people that like the movie, but never read the book.
Whatever, despite my feelings on those 3 books, I'll take the 2 hour movie over the book any day.
Anyways, Running With Scissors. Based on a book by Augusten Burroughs. This movie was a little out there. Its a movie about a disfuncitonal family that intertwines with another disfunctional family.
The good: It has some funny moments, but not laugh out loud funny. The fact that EVERYONE in this movie is literally crazy makes you wonder what will happen almost every scene.
The bad: The story doesn't really go anywhere. Just seems like a mass of crazy nothingness. I don't know if the book tied it together well, but the movie did not. Lots of plot holes. None of the characters really hold my attention.
I'm sad to say that I don't have much else to say about this movie. Don't watch it.
Rating: 4 out of 10
I am forced to think that this phenomenon only exists because of the energy put towards reading the book. Has anyone ever tried reading a book AFTER watching the movie first? If you have, I'd like to know your thoughts. I thought the book, The Da Vinci Code, was the greatest thing ever--and then I thought the movie, The Da Vinci Code, was the worst thing ever. But whats weird, is that I know some people that like the movie, but never read the book.
Whatever, despite my feelings on those 3 books, I'll take the 2 hour movie over the book any day.
Anyways, Running With Scissors. Based on a book by Augusten Burroughs. This movie was a little out there. Its a movie about a disfuncitonal family that intertwines with another disfunctional family.
The good: It has some funny moments, but not laugh out loud funny. The fact that EVERYONE in this movie is literally crazy makes you wonder what will happen almost every scene.
The bad: The story doesn't really go anywhere. Just seems like a mass of crazy nothingness. I don't know if the book tied it together well, but the movie did not. Lots of plot holes. None of the characters really hold my attention.
I'm sad to say that I don't have much else to say about this movie. Don't watch it.
Rating: 4 out of 10
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