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talkingsoupGod, I just want this cold, gray, flurrying winterness to end. I want my spring back. I want to wear my skirts outside (and go buy new ones, since I only have two right now). Fuck you, weird April, you've ruined my childhood.
Very awesome weekend, though. In ASIC apparently we're going to switch to watching Paranoia Agent instead of Chrno Crusade, which has gotten less than fanatic reviews. It got infinitesimally better last week, but really, it's just so...generic and hard to see and dumb. So, Paranoia Agent, which let me tell you right now, ASIC is going to have a HELL of a lot of fun with. After that is Jubei-chan, which I'm actually kind of looking forward to seeing. I've never actually seen any "magical girl"-type anime, so I'm kind of interested to see what they're like; plus, I've heard good things about Jubei-chan. I saw it pop up in a few AMVs and I remember thinking, "that looks interesting."
Friday I hung out with Pat and we watched Casino Royale, which was good, and we had a generally good time. XP
Later that night, being Good Friday, we watched Jesus Christ Superstar, and I really want the soundtrack. We also compared/contrasted bits and pieces of the 70's version with the newer version, and I have to say, overall I like the 2000 version better. The Jesus in the 70's version was much better generally, but really, you can't pass up the Caiaphas of the 2000 version, or the Herod. Woot! We had much fun, and I'm pretty sure we had a giant cookie too, though I can't remember.
Saturday ended up mostly being a workday up until 6ish, when Pat and I went with a group of ASICers to see Grindhouse, which was horrifyingly awesome. And let me say right now, this movie has to be viewed altogether and at once, and definitely in a group. I have a newfound respect for Rodriguez and Tarantino.
I was totally intending to get more work done after that, and I did, though not as much as I was hoping. Mostly because of the impromptu dance party that happened shortly after I got back. Sophia, Julie, Molly and I, all wearing froofy skirts and spinning around and dancing to music. It was a lot of fun. Afterwards we really did order a cookie, since Molly could eat it by then (Lent was over!) and watched Heroes with Sophia, and it wasn't till later that I could get some work done. Lol, it was an awesome night, though.
Sunday was, obviously, Easter, so I slept in, did some work, and then went to a multi-cultural Easter dinner in someone's apartment with Sophia and the others. There was challah bread, spanna (?), which is like a spinach-feta-phyllo casserole thingy, apples and cheese fondue, spring rolls with shrimp, absolutely wonderful potato salad, and garlic bready-type things. All of it was spectacularly good, oh my God, and most of it was also Greek since Sophia did a lot of the cooking. For desert was a really kind of awesome brownie and Hevlah, I think it's called, which is like a sesame candy covered in chocolate. It's really good. Sophia came by later to watch more Heroes.
And then it was Monday and I wept.
Now for movie reviews!
Casino Royale
Let me say right off the bat, they got an awesome guy to play the new Bond, though I think everyone has said that by now. Daniel Craig is really awesome (and he's playing Lord Asriel in the upcoming Golden Compass movie, OH MY FUCKING GOD!!) and gives us a side of Bond we never saw before. Very awesome overall.
The movie also didn't follow the formula of the average Bond movie. It was a lot more scattered and more what I imagine a spy mission would look like--hectic and, though planned, not everything goes the expected way. The premise is that we have a new James Bond, younger and sort of just starting out on his career. I'm still a bit confused about the continuity, but since this actually starts in 2006, I guess it's sort of like a completely different continuity with a completely new Bond. It's kind of confusing, but they manage to pull through it. In any case, Bond is assigned to a new mission where he has to play poker with some transnational bigwigs, in order to get this creepy guy who cries blood to come seek sanctuary with MI-6 and give them the info he has. Meanwhile, there's the usual Bond girl, crazy bad guys, and general action and whatnot going on, though still not sticking to the formula of the usual Bond movie.
Like I said, it shows a side of Bond we never got before. He's much more three-dimensional, partially with the help of a really awesome Bond girl, who isn't the stereotypical damsel-in-distress Bond girl. Which I personally really liked. She had spunk, attitude, and dimensions. Bond is reckless, closed off, and actually does almost die a few times, and is still his usual badass, womanizing self. The first color scene after the credits pretty much sold the movie for me, pretty much one long, wonderfully shot chase scene full of Free Running, which is kind of the most awesome thing on the planet. In case you didn't know, Free Running is pretty much when you make a jungle gym out of your basic urban environment and just run through the whole thing, making huge leaps, climbing walls and so on.
Also, *SPOILERS*, there's something that happens in the end that was very unique to this new Bond. Bond decides he doesn't want to work as an agent anymore, and decides to actually settle down with the Bond girl, Vesper. Now, they have tried this before in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and it failed horrifically. This time, though, they really pull it off because they establish through the rest of the movie that Bond isn't entirely sure that this is what he wants to do with his life. Vesper herself is such a unique Bond girl that it makes sense he might want to be with her. Of course, he doesn't actually marry her, since she ends up betraying him and getting killed, but they made the whole thing work, and Bond comes back more angsty and looking more like the Bond we recognize. *SPOILERS END*
This isn't my favorite Bond movie, though I would have to put it there in the top 5. I think Daniel Craig will carry the new Bond really far, if he agrees to keep doing it. It was a really well-done movie overall, and really added to the development of Bond himself, as well as the movie type. I'm really glad that it wasn't as formulaic as usual, and that the Bond girl had actual character.
Score: 7 out of 10
I have a huge amount of candy in my drawer right now, from the Easter basket my mom sent me and the one that Molly gave to everyone. Sophia also gave me some jelly beans. The Peeps in my drawer are staring at me, waiting to be eaten. I don't even like Peeps that much.
Grindhouse is the goriest, bloodiest, most ridiculous slice of B-horror-movie heaven I have ever seen. It is pure, adrenaline infused awesome.
This is actually a double-feature, both of them full-length. The first one is Rodriguez's film and is called "Planet Terror," the name of which tells you something about how amazing it is. It's the classic zombie attack B-movie with lots of blood and guts and pulsating blisters and whatnot. It also has Sayid from Lost, a mad scientist who collects the testicles of people he doesn't like, and Bruce Willis an almost-zombified military type who really only has to say "Where is the shit?" to be awesome in this movie. A couple other noteworthy actors pop up. The movie is pretty much ridiculous action, ridiculous dialogue, ridiculous gore, and ridiculous everything else from start to finish, and it is pure brilliance.
I mean, the lead female character gets a machine gun attached to her leg halfway through the movie. That's all you really have to know about it.
It's shot like a B-movie from the 70's, with choppy film that really lends to the experience. For the most part it's all actual stunts as well, with not as much CGI. And yes, it is extremely gory, but it looks really fake--like gelatin, actually.
And what's more is that it's utterly hilarious. They play up all the B-movie stereotypes--the rugged hero with a past, the spunky heroine, the zombies, the stilted dialogue and so on. There are also "missing reels" in strategic places that are just hilarious.
Overall, it's brilliant. And Tarantino has a cameo in both movies, naturally.
The second movie was Tarantino's, called "Death Proof", and was less B-movie than it was...almost like a horror examination or something? More in the realm of your basic horror movie, though with Tarantino's characteristic flair. There's less action and violence, less blood, and more absolutely brilliant dialogue, which is a tenet of his movies. In all his movies he'll have a scene where the characters are kind of just sitting around and having a conversation, a real conversation that actually feel like something you'd overhear in a cafe or whatever. The characters in the movie are extraordinarily well-developed. You know, for as much as Tarantino likes blood and action and burying people alive and feet, at the end of the day he's a character writer, and knows how to make them really come to life.
The premise of this one is pretty straightforward--two sets of four young women, and the creep who wants to kill them.
*SPOILERS* ahead.
It starts out with one set of four friends, who meet this guy in a bar. When they part ways, he drives a different girl home, or rather says that he will. He explains that his car is "death proof" since he's a stunt driver, and if you're driving, you can get into a horrific accident and walk away alive. Unfortunately, as the girl realizes, the passenger isn't quite as protected, and he ends up killing her. Then he turns around to go after the other four, who are in their own car, and runs them down, killing all four of them. Next he sets his sights on another group of four, two of which are also stunt women. He runs them off the road, but they decide to turn the tables on him, and the chaser becomes the chased. It was so nice to watch the bastard get his comeuppance. *SPOILERS END*
It's not really possible to compare the two movies since they both have their awesomeness. The second one is just so well done in terms of how the characters come across and the dialogue. I wasn't very into the first half, but once they introduced the second group of girls I got really into it. Oh, and no CGI in the second one--all the stunts were real.
Sprinkled before and between the movies were also some incredibly hilarious-looking trailers for non-existent movies with names like "The Machete," "Don't," and "Werewolf Women of the SS," or something like that. They put together an incredible double-feature here.
Overall, you have to see Grindhouse as one thing and take it as one thing, not as two. You have to watch it all in one sitting and with a group, because above all this is a movie experience and needs to be treated as such. Half of the brilliance is gone if you watch it alone or try to analyze it or watch it in chunks or anything like that. You just have to take it as it is--pure, utter entertainment.
Score: 9 out of 10
It's gonna be a busy week. Got a test on Wednesday, along with my portfolio due for Women and Writing, and a rough draft due in Sociology of Religion. Ugh. I really, really want to get the next chapter of my fic out before next week though, because I haven't really been fair to the readers, not posting in so long. It's been about a month and a half by now. I need to come up with ideas and get it up by Sunday at the latest. That's my non-school goal for this week.
Very awesome weekend, though. In ASIC apparently we're going to switch to watching Paranoia Agent instead of Chrno Crusade, which has gotten less than fanatic reviews. It got infinitesimally better last week, but really, it's just so...generic and hard to see and dumb. So, Paranoia Agent, which let me tell you right now, ASIC is going to have a HELL of a lot of fun with. After that is Jubei-chan, which I'm actually kind of looking forward to seeing. I've never actually seen any "magical girl"-type anime, so I'm kind of interested to see what they're like; plus, I've heard good things about Jubei-chan. I saw it pop up in a few AMVs and I remember thinking, "that looks interesting."
Friday I hung out with Pat and we watched Casino Royale, which was good, and we had a generally good time. XP
Later that night, being Good Friday, we watched Jesus Christ Superstar, and I really want the soundtrack. We also compared/contrasted bits and pieces of the 70's version with the newer version, and I have to say, overall I like the 2000 version better. The Jesus in the 70's version was much better generally, but really, you can't pass up the Caiaphas of the 2000 version, or the Herod. Woot! We had much fun, and I'm pretty sure we had a giant cookie too, though I can't remember.
Saturday ended up mostly being a workday up until 6ish, when Pat and I went with a group of ASICers to see Grindhouse, which was horrifyingly awesome. And let me say right now, this movie has to be viewed altogether and at once, and definitely in a group. I have a newfound respect for Rodriguez and Tarantino.
I was totally intending to get more work done after that, and I did, though not as much as I was hoping. Mostly because of the impromptu dance party that happened shortly after I got back. Sophia, Julie, Molly and I, all wearing froofy skirts and spinning around and dancing to music. It was a lot of fun. Afterwards we really did order a cookie, since Molly could eat it by then (Lent was over!) and watched Heroes with Sophia, and it wasn't till later that I could get some work done. Lol, it was an awesome night, though.
Sunday was, obviously, Easter, so I slept in, did some work, and then went to a multi-cultural Easter dinner in someone's apartment with Sophia and the others. There was challah bread, spanna (?), which is like a spinach-feta-phyllo casserole thingy, apples and cheese fondue, spring rolls with shrimp, absolutely wonderful potato salad, and garlic bready-type things. All of it was spectacularly good, oh my God, and most of it was also Greek since Sophia did a lot of the cooking. For desert was a really kind of awesome brownie and Hevlah, I think it's called, which is like a sesame candy covered in chocolate. It's really good. Sophia came by later to watch more Heroes.
And then it was Monday and I wept.
Now for movie reviews!
Casino Royale
Let me say right off the bat, they got an awesome guy to play the new Bond, though I think everyone has said that by now. Daniel Craig is really awesome (and he's playing Lord Asriel in the upcoming Golden Compass movie, OH MY FUCKING GOD!!) and gives us a side of Bond we never saw before. Very awesome overall.
The movie also didn't follow the formula of the average Bond movie. It was a lot more scattered and more what I imagine a spy mission would look like--hectic and, though planned, not everything goes the expected way. The premise is that we have a new James Bond, younger and sort of just starting out on his career. I'm still a bit confused about the continuity, but since this actually starts in 2006, I guess it's sort of like a completely different continuity with a completely new Bond. It's kind of confusing, but they manage to pull through it. In any case, Bond is assigned to a new mission where he has to play poker with some transnational bigwigs, in order to get this creepy guy who cries blood to come seek sanctuary with MI-6 and give them the info he has. Meanwhile, there's the usual Bond girl, crazy bad guys, and general action and whatnot going on, though still not sticking to the formula of the usual Bond movie.
Like I said, it shows a side of Bond we never got before. He's much more three-dimensional, partially with the help of a really awesome Bond girl, who isn't the stereotypical damsel-in-distress Bond girl. Which I personally really liked. She had spunk, attitude, and dimensions. Bond is reckless, closed off, and actually does almost die a few times, and is still his usual badass, womanizing self. The first color scene after the credits pretty much sold the movie for me, pretty much one long, wonderfully shot chase scene full of Free Running, which is kind of the most awesome thing on the planet. In case you didn't know, Free Running is pretty much when you make a jungle gym out of your basic urban environment and just run through the whole thing, making huge leaps, climbing walls and so on.
Also, *SPOILERS*, there's something that happens in the end that was very unique to this new Bond. Bond decides he doesn't want to work as an agent anymore, and decides to actually settle down with the Bond girl, Vesper. Now, they have tried this before in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and it failed horrifically. This time, though, they really pull it off because they establish through the rest of the movie that Bond isn't entirely sure that this is what he wants to do with his life. Vesper herself is such a unique Bond girl that it makes sense he might want to be with her. Of course, he doesn't actually marry her, since she ends up betraying him and getting killed, but they made the whole thing work, and Bond comes back more angsty and looking more like the Bond we recognize. *SPOILERS END*
This isn't my favorite Bond movie, though I would have to put it there in the top 5. I think Daniel Craig will carry the new Bond really far, if he agrees to keep doing it. It was a really well-done movie overall, and really added to the development of Bond himself, as well as the movie type. I'm really glad that it wasn't as formulaic as usual, and that the Bond girl had actual character.
Score: 7 out of 10
I have a huge amount of candy in my drawer right now, from the Easter basket my mom sent me and the one that Molly gave to everyone. Sophia also gave me some jelly beans. The Peeps in my drawer are staring at me, waiting to be eaten. I don't even like Peeps that much.
Grindhouse is the goriest, bloodiest, most ridiculous slice of B-horror-movie heaven I have ever seen. It is pure, adrenaline infused awesome.
This is actually a double-feature, both of them full-length. The first one is Rodriguez's film and is called "Planet Terror," the name of which tells you something about how amazing it is. It's the classic zombie attack B-movie with lots of blood and guts and pulsating blisters and whatnot. It also has Sayid from Lost, a mad scientist who collects the testicles of people he doesn't like, and Bruce Willis an almost-zombified military type who really only has to say "Where is the shit?" to be awesome in this movie. A couple other noteworthy actors pop up. The movie is pretty much ridiculous action, ridiculous dialogue, ridiculous gore, and ridiculous everything else from start to finish, and it is pure brilliance.
I mean, the lead female character gets a machine gun attached to her leg halfway through the movie. That's all you really have to know about it.
It's shot like a B-movie from the 70's, with choppy film that really lends to the experience. For the most part it's all actual stunts as well, with not as much CGI. And yes, it is extremely gory, but it looks really fake--like gelatin, actually.
And what's more is that it's utterly hilarious. They play up all the B-movie stereotypes--the rugged hero with a past, the spunky heroine, the zombies, the stilted dialogue and so on. There are also "missing reels" in strategic places that are just hilarious.
Overall, it's brilliant. And Tarantino has a cameo in both movies, naturally.
The second movie was Tarantino's, called "Death Proof", and was less B-movie than it was...almost like a horror examination or something? More in the realm of your basic horror movie, though with Tarantino's characteristic flair. There's less action and violence, less blood, and more absolutely brilliant dialogue, which is a tenet of his movies. In all his movies he'll have a scene where the characters are kind of just sitting around and having a conversation, a real conversation that actually feel like something you'd overhear in a cafe or whatever. The characters in the movie are extraordinarily well-developed. You know, for as much as Tarantino likes blood and action and burying people alive and feet, at the end of the day he's a character writer, and knows how to make them really come to life.
The premise of this one is pretty straightforward--two sets of four young women, and the creep who wants to kill them.
*SPOILERS* ahead.
It starts out with one set of four friends, who meet this guy in a bar. When they part ways, he drives a different girl home, or rather says that he will. He explains that his car is "death proof" since he's a stunt driver, and if you're driving, you can get into a horrific accident and walk away alive. Unfortunately, as the girl realizes, the passenger isn't quite as protected, and he ends up killing her. Then he turns around to go after the other four, who are in their own car, and runs them down, killing all four of them. Next he sets his sights on another group of four, two of which are also stunt women. He runs them off the road, but they decide to turn the tables on him, and the chaser becomes the chased. It was so nice to watch the bastard get his comeuppance. *SPOILERS END*
It's not really possible to compare the two movies since they both have their awesomeness. The second one is just so well done in terms of how the characters come across and the dialogue. I wasn't very into the first half, but once they introduced the second group of girls I got really into it. Oh, and no CGI in the second one--all the stunts were real.
Sprinkled before and between the movies were also some incredibly hilarious-looking trailers for non-existent movies with names like "The Machete," "Don't," and "Werewolf Women of the SS," or something like that. They put together an incredible double-feature here.
Overall, you have to see Grindhouse as one thing and take it as one thing, not as two. You have to watch it all in one sitting and with a group, because above all this is a movie experience and needs to be treated as such. Half of the brilliance is gone if you watch it alone or try to analyze it or watch it in chunks or anything like that. You just have to take it as it is--pure, utter entertainment.
Score: 9 out of 10
It's gonna be a busy week. Got a test on Wednesday, along with my portfolio due for Women and Writing, and a rough draft due in Sociology of Religion. Ugh. I really, really want to get the next chapter of my fic out before next week though, because I haven't really been fair to the readers, not posting in so long. It's been about a month and a half by now. I need to come up with ideas and get it up by Sunday at the latest. That's my non-school goal for this week.
