Last night watched Ichi. Decent Japanese film. Good sword fighting and blood splatter effects. Yeah, it seems weird to point out something like blood in a movie, but it was nice to see a movie that had good amounts of it, but didn't go overboard.
And tonight watched The Godfather. So now the only two great movies on my pile of shame have been seen, two weekends in a row. As a big fan of mob movies, I definitely loved it. Going to put part 2 in my queue.
I don't know about that, I found it kinda meh. It wasn't terrible, it just built up a good head of steam, but then just let it go on less than I expected out of it. It was average, not bad, not great, just average.
Different tastes, I suppose. I must admit, the standup was a lot more entertaining than the plot.
Different tastes, I suppose. I must admit, the standup was a lot more entertaining than the plot.
That was pretty much the high point of the movie, in my opinion. If I could get a short version of just those bits, there really isn't much more that's necessary.
As someone who did not see Tron as a child, I ask, does this movie hold up over time?
I remember being blown away by the virtual reality sequences in Lawnmower Man, but I tried watching it again in college, and it was so bad we had to turn it off. Cannot recall a movie that aged worse than that one.
I watched Despicable Me with my little cousin, it was not bad. First time a minion character is actually not stupid, which was a welcomed surprise.
I thought it was really cute to watch. Those little minions. . It's very simple and kind of formulaic, but it works so well and they had great voice actors all around. The 3D was great, and I saw the kids and adults really loving it.
Saw Toy Story 3 before I went to Connecticon. It was great, but I feel like the pacing wasn't as good as their more recent stuff. I could be just nit-picking though.
Back that thang up to The Last Starfighter or Tron and have thy socks blown away.
It holds up a hell of a lot better than Lawnmower Man, and the effects still look surprisingly good, for eighties CGI.
Having watched Tron and TLS more recently than Lawnmower Man, I can definitely say both hold up well. The jarring effect from Lexx was the poor green-screen work and the obvious repetition of textures. I realize they didn't have the budget a big-screen production would have, but a lot of the CGI felt like they were using the original Quake engine to generate the visuals. Lexx was still a great show, though. I watched Lawnmower Man once, many years ago, and was so turned off by the deviation from the source work that I've pretty much vowed to never watch it again.
First off, 500 Days of Summer. That was an amazing film...it's going to be in my Top 5 Romantic Films now. It'd say it's more written for men, but it is still very human and highly enjoyable. Great cast, great style, great all around atmosphere.
Then, Shakes the Clown. Incredibly odd movie. Very strange, somewhat funny, but more demented than anything. Seeing the real Tom Kenny act and act demented is very interesting.
You know one of those movies that genuinely surprises you a multitude of times and is so good that it's just painful to watch in that wonderful movie way? That's what Up in the Air was to me. Very beautifully dark and hauntingly real movie that is well put together and a pleasure to watch. Jason Reitman has beautiful future ahead of him.
Watched The Godfather: Part II last night. Didn't like it quite as much as the first one, mostly because it focuses more on Michael, who I generally dislike as a character. But all the parts with young Vito still made the film enjoyable overall.
WatchedThe Godfather: Part IIlast night. Didn't like it quite as much as the first one, mostly because it focuses more on Michael, who I generally dislike as a character. But all the parts with young Vito still made the film enjoyable overall.
I agree. The best parts were always about Vito, and almost everyone else just sucks.
This same thing usually pisses me off when it happens in fantasy stories. You'll have some awesome fucking king. Then he dies, and the story is about the young punk ass prince who saves the day somehow. Either that, or you have some Lord of the Rings situation where there were a bunch of great legendary kings back in the day, but instead we're going to tell you about these little hobbits. At least they have the Silmarillion.
Earthsea is an example of what I'm looking for. It's the story of THE GUY. It's not like you've got old Gandalf or Merlin, and you missed out on all the epic shit already. Ged is the dude, and you get his whole deal.
Make the best most awesome character the main character.
This is why I think you would like Gurren Lagann, but oh well.
SPOILARS: the killed the most awesome character halfway through the first season.
That's some high literary theory you're slinging, Scott.
Now I think about it, talk like that is what ruined Tribes 2. Don't tell the storytellers what makes a good story; they know what you want better than you do.
CORRECTED SPOILARS:WHITE TEXT EDITED FO' SPOILATASTIC CONTENT
MOAR SPOILARS KINDA:And all the while the show became more dull, repetitive, contrived, and derivative. I suppose my grudge with them killing Kamina has more to do with the show going way downhill after the fact than anything. That last fight with the galaxies-cum-ninja-stars was pretty sweet, though.
MOAR SPOILERS: Downhill? The show gets better from there. Everything with the Anti-Spirals and Rossiu had me on the edge of my seat? And before that, the fight with Simon vs. Lordgenome? PURE AWESOME.
OH GOD THERE'S MORE OF THEM DON'T WE HAVE A THREAD FOR THIS: OK, the Lord Genome bit was alright, but I thought the whole second season was dull. I started to lose interest in the characters, and all the long-winded pseudoscientific bullshit they kept spewing towards the end really got on my nerves.
HOLY SHIT, THEY JUST KEEP COMING: I wouldn't really call it pseudoscience, was there even science in the show in the first place? It really just seemed like they were making shit up from the beginning of the show. I mean seriously, it's a super robot show about kicking reason to the curb and being completely fucking awesome, there really is no inherent logic behind it.
I DON'T EVEN KNOW IF THEY'RE SPOLERS ANYMORE BUT WHATEVER HAVE SOME WHITE TEXT:They spent waaay to much time explaining exactly how the anti-spiral and their nutty shit functions in the last few episodes. It completely bogged down the action I wasalready getting bored of.
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And tonight watched The Godfather. So now the only two great movies on my pile of shame have been seen, two weekends in a row. As a big fan of mob movies, I definitely loved it. Going to put part 2 in my queue.
I remember being blown away by the virtual reality sequences in Lawnmower Man, but I tried watching it again in college, and it was so bad we had to turn it off. Cannot recall a movie that aged worse than that one.
First off, 500 Days of Summer. That was an amazing film...it's going to be in my Top 5 Romantic Films now. It'd say it's more written for men, but it is still very human and highly enjoyable. Great cast, great style, great all around atmosphere.
Then, Shakes the Clown. Incredibly odd movie. Very strange, somewhat funny, but more demented than anything. Seeing the real Tom Kenny act and act demented is very interesting.
As for Jonah Hex... The movie is not the comic. The movie is what someone might create after only seeing a few covers for Jonah Hex comics.
This same thing usually pisses me off when it happens in fantasy stories. You'll have some awesome fucking king. Then he dies, and the story is about the young punk ass prince who saves the day somehow. Either that, or you have some Lord of the Rings situation where there were a bunch of great legendary kings back in the day, but instead we're going to tell you about these little hobbits. At least they have the Silmarillion.
Earthsea is an example of what I'm looking for. It's the story of THE GUY. It's not like you've got old Gandalf or Merlin, and you missed out on all the epic shit already. Ged is the dude, and you get his whole deal.
Make the best most awesome character the main character.