Hooray! (Kinda)

Currently Listening to: The Tornado Lessons
By: Cloud Cult

Ch’yeah!!! (Cue Tiger Woods-esque fistpump)

So, yes Tiger won the U.S Open AGAIN yesterday, so this is a slight homage to him. However, I definitely did a tiger-esque epic fist pump yesterday when I got my phone call from Ben Popken, Chief Editor over at Consumerist.com, who called to say that I GOT THE INTERNSHIP! (cue the Hallelujah chorus…). I start on Monday, assuming that all of my Comcast Installations go according to plan and free of corporate shenanigans, and that I get my phone charger back sometime within the next week. My entire connection to the outside world has basically been cut off now that my cell phone is dead. I am a baby whose umbilical cord has just been severed from it’s mother and I’m not sure yet where I’m going to get my daily dose of essential nutrients.

I’m pretty excited about this internship, it was all I could do from doing an epic fist pump in the middle of the open studio surrounded by coworkers, but my overflowing enthusiasm resulted in a somewhat awkward conversation with Ben, since I really would just leave long bouts of silence as my mind raced all over the place.  He was as dazed and confused as I was I think. We’ll see how impressive my work in the Gawker Media Network becomes. Maybe I will conquer them.

Oh I will conquer. Yes I will conquer. I will conquer to the point that Gengis Kahn will shit his pants — IN HIS GRAVE.

Okay, now that I finally got that out of my system, I can move on to the meatier stuff. Savage Grace has released in theaters and I am shooting myself in the foot because I don’t know if I have the time to go see it this week and I highly doubt that it’s going to stay in theaters thru next week — you know how the indie film circuit goes. I already missed Mongol when it released and even though there’s a download online it’s harddubbed with Russian (it’s confusing enough to be reading subtitles– I don’t want to be jerked around with two audio sequences). I did, however, get a successful and acceptable (and awesome) download of In Bruges and Charlie Bartlett, and I’m quite excited about those. I apologize about not writing reviews for films lately, it’s just that they’ve all been so lackluster. Besides — I don’t really tell anyone this but I have this small little place in my dark heart for Romantic Comedies, I know, I pretend like I’m a high-and-mighty, holier-than-thou kind of person when it comes to movies. But sometimes a girl really needs to kick back and watch that pornography-for-the-female-mind bullshit that the media is feeding us today. I’m sorry, I know I will likely burn a thousand years in hell for it, but it is a habit I don’t think I can shake. But the jist of it is that I’m far to embarressed to write about THOSE films. Besides, the Great Debators, Dewey Cox, and We Own the Night hardly make up any solid writing material.

So, one little ferret ball of stress has been completely eliminated. Only to be replaced with some other bouncy beings which are constantly rotating about my head like electrons.  There are some personal issues with some specific relationships and friendships, then there’s the whole stress of moving, which has been near to impossible to completely finish with the lack of a car, and the fact that I’m still working full time. I’m angry, frequently tired, and I’ve developed an eye twitch that makes me akin to Mr. DeMartino from Daria.

I’m not kidding.

This stress may just be killing me.

Wow.

Okay, so I get home yesterday, exhausted from a late bit of work — whip up some dinner (chinese dumplings, yum!), throw the laundry in the washer and rush downstairs with a bit of eagerness to start watching The Other Boleyn Girl. I really am a huge fan of that period in English history — and I read the best selling novel that the movie is based on and enjoyed it despite it’s hugely fictionalized nature, straying from the facts far too often for my own level of comfort. So — I was hoping for something great, something awesome, I mean isn’t Natalie Portman one of the best young actresses of our time (if not one of the most intelligent!?).

There were a LOT of things that bothered me about this movie, so forgive my ranting. I’m not saying that it was absolutely terrible, but for sometone who religiously watches The Tudors and finds it so much more fulfilling visually and intellectually. First off the film immediately starts off with the assertion that Scarlett Johansson is much more “attractive” than her sibling counterpart. Now this can be open to speculation, my male friend and I have Natalie Portman at the top of our respective “top 10″ lists. Subsequently followed by other brown haired beauties such as Jessica Alba and Biel. It’s nothing against Scarlett, she is surely a beautiful woman — and I suppose that the simpleton role is really the one that she deserves in this film. Her performance is coarse but fitting, her abilities on the screen are limited to acting hot and heated in the bedroom and playing the simpleton. Though Match Point was certainly an excellent film, the coarseness of her acting plays a stark contrast to the rest of the characters, the film wasn’t great because of her — there were other factors including the storyline, the performance of Johnathon Rhys Meyers (who actually plays King Henry in The Tudors), and the cinematography.  I hardly consider her work Nanny Diaries as her best film. I much prefer her pre-2004 work in such great films as Ghost World, Lost in Translation, and the Girl with the Pearl Earring. Poor Scarlett just looks awkward and out of place through the entire film, her acting leaves a lot to be desire, and not one ounce of her is very convincing. Natalie Portman, my favorite of the two possibly for her roles in V for Vendetta, Star Wars, Hotel Chevalier and her just generally awesome character in Paris Je T’aime and also possibly for the fact that she’s so hardcore she’s dating Devendra Banhart — they’re the greusome twosome for nerdlings and indie hipsters! Her acting struggles to be to par with that of  Natalie Dormer (who plays a much better albeit less attractive Anne Boleyn in The Tudors), it is clear that she has the basic idea behind it but I feel that she lacks the ability to play what some would call history’s most manipulative little bitch. She’s on half of the time, the other half she’s merely struggling to create the same idea. Queen Catherine reminds me of the ugly nanny from Nanny McPhee, when really I imagine her being something much, much more regal. I mean Catherine of Aragon was known for being a very beautiful woman in her youth — it wasn’t her fault that her husbands younger brother was attracted to her. It is so sad that this is what ended up being her demise.

Jim Sturgess who was in Across the Universe and perhaps better known for his lead role in the shitty book made rendition 21, plays George Boleyn. He flounders abouth throughout the movie looking positively ridiculous in the costuming — interacting well with Scarlett and Natalie but he’s not really given enough face time to have any large influence on the shittiness of the film. They don’t even touch on the fact that he was gay. His interaction with Zoe Kazan is by far some of the better acting in the film. Young Zoe completely emulates the idea of what Jane Parkhill would be like — her face is inquisitive, slightly snobbish and her demeaner completely embodies the role. For that I was happy, it was something that slightly redeemed the movie in my eyes. I’m in such a good mood now that I’m not even going to delve into how terrible it was to watch Eric Bana pass as Henry VIII, or even try to figure out why they cast the movie as they did.

Now for what I’ve been reading.

Generation Me: Why today’s young Americans are more confident, assertive, entitled and more miserable than ever before. [ Jean M. Twenge]

My parents are young enough to where they’re not from the peak of the baby boomer generation, they kind of rolled in on the end of that train. But I know that they’re the kind of people that were  surrounded by those stern figures of authority and raised with that entire mentality that “Mom and Dad know what’s best”. Mom was still very young when she married my dad (21) and back then, that was acceptable. Just as acceptable as both of my Grandmothers a generation before getting married even earlier than that.  It’s such a contrast to now when I’m sitting in the middle of my office — I’m surrounded by ladies in their late twenties just now discussing the prospect of marriage — however all of them are well educated, got mostly A’s in school and have both a Bachelors degree and have attended Graduate school. When I first left Texas I thought I was running away from those girls who just wanted to re-live the high school experience in College, get away from the big hair and the drawls, the boots and the denim skirts. But there I also see people that are willing to start their family young, to get married in or right out of college, and part of me thinks that it’s really not that bad. I aggree with Dr. Twenge in that a lot of our society is incredibly Narcissistic (I’m only 1/3 of the way through the book, I can’t draw complete conclusions as of yet) but a lot of me feels like I’m an anomoly according to her statistics.

For example according to Dr. Twenge “The individual has always come first, and feeling good about yourself has always been a primary virtue. Generation Me’s expectations are highly optimistic: they expect to go to college, to make lots of money, and perhaps even to be famous.”

I was raised in an environment where I was treated as an equal and with respect. Not necessarily one that was a self-esteem booster, but one that allowed me to take pride in any accomplishments that I had made and pushed me to strive for greater things. As for the rest, I feel that most have my generation has been raised with the standard that the college degree was the last generations high school diploma equivalent. We have been raised and taught that what we need to succeed in life NOW is a college degree — of course don’t push us all to go to college if you’re going to just accuse us of being overly optimistic about it. If you really wanted to go to college, you can, the question is being driven enough to get there. As for making money, I don’t know about anyone else — but I’m seeing an awful lot of Psychology degrees out there, I have friends left and right English Majors, Environmental Science Majors, Graphic Design & Photography Majors, sociolgogy majors. Do you really believe that these are kids striving to make a mean dollar? I’ve done research and I’m fully aware that in the field I’m in that my starting salary is going to be ~45,000 dollars, or approximately 1/5 of what my dad makes on a yearly basis. Do I expect to be as successful as my father? No, maybe if I had decided to become a business major with a minor in Entrepenurial Studies then I could have that dream but I am fully content to realize that for the next 10 or 20 years I’m going to be struggling, hopefully making ends meet with a husband whose salary is the equivalent or greater than mine. I’m not sitting here expecting to become a famous designer like Paula Scher, Michael Beirut or Stefan Sagmeister, I’m just hoping to get along somehow and maybe do something that I enjoy doing. That is what I had instilled in me from the beginning, my parents basically said “I don’t care what you do, if you wanted to play the bagpipes professionally then go ahead, but do what you love, what you enjoy, and what you do well.” (That’s not a direct quote, but it’s essentially what they said.) They always pushed me to do my best, I know that it surely killed them that I wanted to work in a creative field, but they did their best to help me grow in my work, sent me to programs, and now I’m one of the top in my class. I don’t regret any of it, I’ve worked hard to get where I am today, but I am striving for neither fame, nor fortune. I just want to do my job, do it well, and live my life in a way that is cohesive with society.

“Eighty-one percent of 18- to 25-year-olds surveyed in a Pew Research Center poll released today said getting rich is their generation’s most important or second-most-important life goal; 51% said the same about being famous.”
-USA Today

“Money is by far their most important problem; 30% cite financial concerns. College and education was the second-biggest concern at 18%, and careers and jobs were third at 16%.”

I can understand where the latter statistic is coming from. It’s the natural heirarchy of things, in order to go to college you’re going to need money, and in order to make money, you’re going to need a job, but in order to get a good job, you have to go to college. It’s this never ending black hole that keeps sucking kids in. I was very fortunate to have gotten a scholarship which augmented my parents financial support, allowing them to pay less. I’m going to a school where I can also get real work experience ( a year and a half’s worth ), where I get to make real (not monopoly!) money and that also goes towards my education. It hurts me to think that kids don’t get the best opportunities simply because of the lack of money.

I haven’t finished the book yet but it has caused me to do a great amount of reflection upon myself and the way I was raised. My parents I feel did a good job of raising me, mostly because I feel like I don’t fit into a majority of the statistics presented in the book. Sure I have self-confidence issues, and sure I have high-reaching goals, but I feel that that is a problem that many teenagers face, especially those who view themselves as even somewhat intellectual. It also causes me to look at the people around me, analyze the situation a little bit better. Sometimes I don’t understand how some people don’t strive to do better, when they have so much potential, or I’m astonished at just how lazy some of the people around me are. I don’t really know, I’m hoping that Dr. Twenge’s book will answer a few of my questions for me. But we’ll see.

This may be an awesome summer…for movies.

Currently Listening to: The Truth about Cats and Dogs (is that they die)
By: Pony Up

So I went and saw the epic-ness that was Ironman, possibly (and this is totally backed up by the Totally Rad Show) the best comic book movie to have been made to date. I’m even more pleased simply because it’s done by Marvel, and as we all know I am a huge Marvel fangirl. That smash into the summer made me realize: this is going to be a completely awesome summer for movies.

Last night I managed to drag my partner to the movie theater, which even though he is a fan of the medium, doesn’t necessarily frequent the actual theater. It may be directly related to the fact that he’s a germaphobe or maybe he just got touched the wrong way once in middle school by the fat lady dropping popcorn everywhere and overflowing from her seat and into his. Who knows really, but it must have been traumatizing. However, I managed to get him to the theater where we saw the fantastically filmed Son of Rambow, which is a feel good story for anyone who watches — you find little quirky actions throughout the entire film that you find completely heartwarming, charming and simultaneously hilarious. The two young boys who are the main characters could easily work their way into anyones heart. Especially when they’re all dolled up in military dress and use yellow crayons as bullet replacements.

The hilarity is not entirely dolloped throughout the entire film — this shit takes you on an emotional rollercoaster ride comparable to that experienced by women in the birthing process. There’s tension, tearjerking moments, as well as extreme euphoria — you follow these boys as they film their what can only be described as an EPIC tribute/sequel/idontreallyknow to First Blood. This film is set right in the peak of the 80’s, when Boy George was king, and this leads us to our quasiantihero the Frenchmen that looks like a heroin addicted Rufio who sports ridiculously tight pants, facial hair that can only be described as a mexi-stache, and smokes incessantly. Somehow this French douchebag gathers a following of equally loser British Schoolboys who worship his every move and girls line up to make out with him when he looks like a lost fish, the kind that thinks it’s a bird. Yeah, you’re looking at that picture with me right now and totally agreeing with me. That’s right. He’s a douche. But a necessary character that completely adds to the hilarity.

Something else that totally made this movie worthwhile, the McDreamy older brother played by Ed Westwick, whom I adore because he’s also in Children of Men. He plays the pushy, yuppie older brother of the ever-in-trouble Lee Carter and he provides deeper insight into the familial relations, and who in the end kind of helps to save the day.

Overall I thought the film was very good, thoroughly enjoyable, and a good laugh. Now I believe that when I am a parent and carrying about a video camera instead of those really lame home movies I’m totally going to film my children going on safari through what can only be described as the overgrown weeds polluting my backyard. We’re going to be awesome, film great music videos together, and it’s all going to be epic. Watch out world, my kids and I are going to be awesome.

Now for some trailers that I’ve spotted this week that I’m incredibly excited about.

American Teen [2008] Release Date: July 25th

This premiered at the SXSW film festival in Austin after a fantastic breakout at the Sundance Film Festival where Nanette Burstein received the award for Best Director of a Documentary. The trailer looks like the typical thing that you’d see from MTV, but this isn’t your Laguna Beach — there’s no light screens and setups there’s certainly no Douchebag Heidi Montag or Spencer Pratt to worry  about. Plus there’s actual high school stereotypes here! You know, the jock that’s only chances of college are based on his skills in the court. and somehow passed all his classes even though his IQ was 75. The nerd who is obsessed with WoW, DnD and can’t for the life of him strip his face of acne. The popular girl (75% of my high school with ovaries was this) — you know the princess who gets everything, her parents have money, and when she eventually goes to college she is going to join a sorority so she can relive the entire experience. Will eventually be in the PTA. The Artsy Girl (hey, it’s me!), you know the generally awesome non-chalant chick who is looking to get the hell out of that small town and do great things! Then there’s the hot jock who is putting everything on the line to date her. I’m excited, reliving high school all over again in a less traumatizing and bible-thumping experience should be good. A lot of people have expressed interest in the characters, they’re believable and it’s great because we’ve all been there. There’s a lot of potential for this. Also, the turning of the teens into a modern day Breakfast Club is sheer brilliance.

Defiance [2008] Release Date: December 26, 2008

Daniel Craig is just so damn ballsy him and his three brothers are going to take on – guess what – THE ENTIRE GERMAN ARMY. The hunky Bond-man stars as Tuvia Bielski in the true WWII story of three Jewish brothers who hid in the Belorussian forests and built a community of partisan fighters, saving over 1,200 Jews by war’s end. When I watched this trailer my skin prickled, I am a  huge fan of WWII movies, especially those that are based on true stories (Sophie Scholl for one). I firmly believe that the generation that lived through World War II definitely deserve their title of “The Greatest Generation”, and actions/events such as that certainly affirm that. Needless to say that the direction behind this is fantastic, Edward Zwick also directed such stellar and moving films as Glory, Blood Diamond, and the Last Samurai. Seriously, watch the trailer for this, and you will be as excited as I am.

City of Ember [2008] Release Date: October 10, 2008

Okay, so you guys may not be as lame as me because I was reading those fantastic teen fiction books late into my high school career. This book was one of my favorites, it has an incredibly original idea.  Ember is a completely self-contained, self-maintained city. All food and supplies come from giant storerooms under the city and a handful of greenhouses — this city we know only had the supplies to last it for 220 years. Of course, fast forward to 241, and there we meet our young heroes, who upon further exploration within the city believe that they have found a way out. A very interesting book upon my first read — it’s kind of like a basic introduction to dystopian literature for those tweens who want to expand their literary horizons. I’m not sure quite yet how I feel about this movie — mostly because it’s between the fact that Bill Murray is a main character but I am expecting an excellent performance froman older Saoirse Ronan, whose breakthrough performance in Atonement was stellar. The steampunk feel to the entire setting is incredibly fitting, and I have hope.

Hallam Foe (Mr. Foe) [2007] Release Date: August 31st, 2008 (US)

I’m excited for this film, mostly because Jamie Bell who plays Mr. Foe is making his first acting debut since Billy Elliot, and that movie my friends has been one of my favorites alongside Snatch since the 8th grade. Basically about a young guy who doesn’t really know what’s going on in his life — his mother recently passed away and he exhibits an outright loathing for his young and beautiful stepmother, whom he believes has killed her. However, we later see that this is because of conflicting emotions of attraction and dislike for her. This move has a lot of potential, and has received rave reviews. I’m kind of excited.

This week:

In addition to my downloading of Prince Caspian and The Other Boleyn Girl, I am also planning on Downloading the Last Mistress (French) and Mongol (Mongolian language, Russian Film), which are set to be released in the US later this year but have received high acclaim overseas. I have found a release on TPB and plan on watching them over the weekend. Expect reviews sometime next week.

Will write more soon, probably about comics tomorrow.

A couple of reviews & what I’m looking forward to.

So, last night on my typical 5:30 walk home from work whilst I was winding my way through ridiculously crowded pedestrian ways apparently the T caught on fire. Yes, FIRE. So I get to my destination (usually the Downtown Crossing T stop) only to find what can only be described as a platoon of policemen and an army of firetrucks which insisted on barraging my ears with their terribly high pitched and loud sirens. Of course there was smoke everywhere billowing out and everyone around me was pondering the possibility of a Terrorist Attack. Oh Boston, you think you’re so important. Anywho, I meander down to the next nearest T stop (Park Street) thinking “Well I’m sure the Green Line is running if the Orange line isn’t” — of course there’s an even more ridiculous amount of people, I don’t even know how they all squeezed into the minimal amount of space that was surrounding the Park Street Stop — but it happened, and I was stuck in the middle of all of it. Now, cashless and without a Bank of America in sight, I decide “why the heck not, I’ll just walk”. It’s really not that far back to my dorm from the common, maybe a 20-30 minute walk down Boylston, but you don’t just do that kind of shit voluntarily. Of course, because all of the Gods were conspiring against me that day, by the time I get to Copley Square it is raining so hard that I can’t see where I’m going (this might also be the water-on-glasses effect) and shivering from the cold. I drop into the Prudential Center, wet, cranky and searching for warmth. The only thing that effectively cheers me up is a purchase from Barnes & Noble (I’ve had a  book I’ve been meaning to buy) and a slice from Pizzeria Regina. I sit and wait for the storm to subside a bit, enjoying my book, and then walk that final stretch.

Needless to say when I got home I was NOT in the mood to go to the gym. Let alone do Laundry. So of course the next viable option was to PJ it up, curl into bed, and scour my Media folder for a downloaded movie that I haven’t watched yet.

So guess what I watched? OH YEAH. Untraceable.

I’m sure you’re just like “Untraceable?! that sounds vaguely familiar…” That’s right kids, this is the “cybercrime” thriller where Diane Lane fancies herself an investigator. The plot is okay at best, it’s interesting but they reveal the killer far too soon and remove all the suspense — you spend the rest of your time watching the film just being like “oh snap, I saw that coming, oh well”. The upside is you get to hear Diane Lane refer to a backdoor trojan multiple times, as if she actually knows what it means — and actual computer  geeks will get a kick out of it when they see The Dummies guide to MySQL sitting on her desk. I guarantee you that the interns in charge of getting props were also looking at Ruby on Rails books thinking that it would make the set so much more “Legit”.  The problem that I really had with this movie was that there was no real explanation for why the killer just randomly decides to start kidnapping FBI agents (come on people, don’t expect spoiler alerts here), why they decide to bring into the plot that she’s a single mother, or bring in a half love interest and never really pursue it. I was hoping that the whole thing was going to be really fucked up and it was actually some guy on their TEAM. That would have been so much better.  Also the geeky guy who plays her partner, he’s pretty cute, and desperately searching online for love. That’s just so damn cute.

Now for some other movies/books that I’ve seen recently and have been meaning to Review. Hopefully you’re okay with that.

This is England [2007]

I don’t personally know a lot about English history — particularly anything post WWII but this is a  stunning look into the 1980s lifestyle followed by impoverished kids. When I first started watching this I was thinking it was a much more harrowing example than that presented to the Weirs in Freaks and Geeks. But it covers some of the blanket ideas — the rolling in of the Punk area, a struggle for identity, bullying and fighting, a gang of friends. It all starts out with Shaun, now he’s a bit of a loner, off on his own all the time and struggling for some acceptance, he’s picked on consistently at school mostly because of his trousers (he was wearing Flares — eew, so 70’s) on his way back home from a bad day he runs in to a bit of a gang, and they take pity on him. You’ve seen these kids before, black doc’s and white shirts, tight whitewashed jeans, and surrounded by funny looking or freakishly dressed girls. They take him into their gang, and he’s simply happy because he has a group of friends, there’s nothing else that he wants. Fun ensues until the Skinhead Combo barges in.

He’s fresh out of jail, returning to the gang and eager to take over the reins and lead them on a nationalistic battle to get rid of the immigrants who are stealing their jobs and to defend England to the death. This made me recall a lot of the lectures from when I was in Sociology of Violence — the mentality behind the skinhead and Aryan movements here in America — I’d never realized that such happenings were in England as well. Shaun, whose father died in the Falklands, must choose between staying with Woody and his friends or joining Combo on his violent quest to protect the homeland. Combo then leads Shaun down a trail of violence and hate that is completely unimaginable — it makes one worry and understand just how impressionable children can be. Combo is a character that keeps you on the edge of your seat — he is so unstable you don’t really know what to do next and when he finally explodes in the tear-jerking heart-wrenching end scene you simply don’t know how to react. It leaves your body feeling heavy, you feel weighed down will guilt. This movie is an excellent social commentary on society, and a good look back on what England was.

The Bank Job [2008]

Films that are based on true stories are by and large tough to take, as the line between fiction and reality is blurred to the extent that one wonders why it exists in the first place. The producers of The Bank Job suggest that the real facts about the 1971 robbery of a bank in Baker Street that had officials in Britain issuing a D-Notice (a gag order, essentially) and set off rumors about members of the Royal Family. I went back and read the wikipedia articles on most of the characters in the film are fairly accurate. According to the Wiki article on the movie “this movie is intended to reveal the truth for the first time,^[5] although it includes significant elements of fiction and the extent to which it represents historical fact is difficult to determine.”

Overall, though, I enjoyed the movie, it’s not one of those “OMG I’ll watch it again and again” but I’d certainly reccommend it. Think Guy Ritchie-lite, and that’s never a bad thing (Except Revolver, that was weird) In fact, Jason Statham’s even in it as the lead.

Jason Statham has an old childhood friend who conveniently stops by because she knows that he’s always strapped for some cash. He of course trusts her implicitly, who wouldn’t trust a beautiful woman? She enlists him to rob a bank. The snare is that she’s setting him up while the plus is that he’ll get to keep the money. Terry comes up with a rough and ready crew in a matter of a few carefully concocted but usual scenes and the heist is on (Think Ocean’s 11 Remake).

The Bank Job has a very linear plot — predictable, my only complaint is that the entire film is moving at a snails pace, though the movie is only 111 minutes.

Another problem here is that the back-story is very exciting and the film captures to hone in on it in just about every way. While we’ll probably never know the real story behind this heist, the conjecture is a hell of a good time. Take this portion from a February 2008 article from The Daily Mail: “Speculation quickly arose that compromising sexual photographs of the queen’s sister, the late Princess Margaret, had been uncovered in the bank vault. It was rumoured they had been stashed away by well-known underworld figure Michael X. A drug dealer and Black Power leader, he was convicted of murder and hanged in Trinidad in 1975. A government file on him will remain closed until 2054. The Mirror can for the first time reveal that Fleet Street editors of the day were approached directly by senior government officials and told to drop the story.”

Awesome.

Some movies that I’m looking forward to are Mongol and Bagheads to be released later this month — hopefully I can find the time to go to the theater. Maybe after I facilitate my move.

Things that I DID download while perusing the top 100 Movies list on TPB — Prince Caspian (ch’yeah!) and The Other Boleyn Girl (reviews coming soon). Tonight I’m going out with Jason and we’re going to go see Son of Rambow — terribly cute movie, hopefully he finds it hilarious and doesn’t hate me for being like “aw, but I love  indie films!” and grumble to himself about how he was hoping for something in Spanish and hopefully with a lot of sex scenes, A LOT.

More posts to come on some comics that I’m reading as well as books. I’m just tired of typing right now.

Summer Blockbuster Analysis.

I know it’s been awhile, however I’ve been focusing a lot on work– and I had copious amounts of homework to do. Not to mention I’ve been fumbling around trying to teach myself video editing.

There’s also been a high volume of amazing concerts in the Boston area, there’s not a lot else coming up but I’m planning a roadtrip down to New Haven to couchsurf and have a Mates of State live experience for the first time.

I was watching the Totally Rad Show earlier today, and they were starting a pool analyzing what the summer blockbusters were going to be. I had conflicting ideas with them for a lot of them, but then again I don’t really pay attention to box office number especially when compared to the quality of the movie (My father and sister went to go see 88 Minutes the other day, which I warned them had a 5% rating on RT,  this however did not discourage them and my dad left saying that he “enjoyed the movie”). If that had been me I probably would have said I would equally enjoy watching the Sex and the City movie. So here is my analysis of a lot of the films that are coming out this summer, whether or not they will be blockbuster hits, and whether or not I am really anticipating these movies. Feel free to comment, critique, or argue at will.

Wanted

I personally really enjoyed the original graphic novel, the basic concept behind it remind me of the same overtures made by Fight Club and the Matrix — stuck in that white collar job and just incredibly dissatisfied — then something so incredibly unrealistic and badass happens, and it’s great. It’s got all of the ingredients for an incredible amount of success, a strong lead actor, a good original plot, as well as jumping on the bandwagon that is the comic-book movie. I don’t know how well they’re going to be following the plotline, but the creative direction that I’ve seen so far in these trailers have given me a lot of hope for this film. I doubt that this movie will make it to “blockbuster” status, but will however do relatively well.

Ironman

I really wanted to see this last night when it released in theaters, however my mom is in town and she’s not as much of an avid comic book fiend as I am.  As she has here through Monday I am planning on going on Monday night to go see this. From the first previews of the trailers I was incredibly excited about this film — Tony Stark is a fantastic character to bring to life — so much of him was revealed in the recent Marvel: Civil War series and Robert Downey Jr. probably brings a great amount of life to the character as well as accentuating his badass, sarcastic, and snarky traits. The CGI looks fantastic, I really don’t see how this movie can go wrong. I will probably post a review of it, eventually.

Speed Racer

I may be against a lot of people here — but I was never really a huge fan of the original Speed Racer cartoons when I was a kid anyways — I was much more into shit like Batman Beyond. I can however say that it looks beautifully rendered, and will be a great visual experience. Most anything coming from the Wachowski brothers is bound to be fantastic so I have lots of hope for it, and there’s endless potential bottled up in Emile Hirsch, who did a brilliant job in Into the Wild. I wasn’t initially intending to go see this film, however once I saw a trailer in theaters a few weeks ago I may have changed my mind.

Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

I, personally, am really overexcited for this movie. I believed that the last one, although not fantastic by any means, was presented exactly as I imagined it in my head when I was re-reading these books repeatedly as a child. That complete sensory immersion that I experience when watching these films (just like Lord of the Rings) is what makes me really excited for this film to come out. Each of these books deserved a remake that was not 1980’s crummy live action presentations — I feel like the director is devoted to delivering the best visual experience possible. I doubt that it will be a huge blockbuster, but I feel like it will be successful in the box office because of it’s appeal parents who I’m sure read these books when they were children. Who knows where this is going to stand in on the list.

Indiana Jones 4

Stephen Speilburg is guaranteed to make a blockbuster movie. I feel like this will be very successful at the box office, and although I loved the original Indiana Jones movies I am just not very excited about this one. Although Shia LaBoeuf is a decent actor, his earlier affiliations with Disney have left me incredibly doubtful of his actual acting abilities (see also: Lindsey Lohan, Hillary Duff, Miley Cyrus). I feel like he is just another one of those actors who has been pushed into the mainstream but would never actually be successful if it weren’t for roles he was lucky enough to get (The Greatest Game ever Played, Transformers). I feel like his acting abilities peaked when he was still on Even Stevens. I’m not really interested in this movie.

Okay… so I’ve gotten 4 names down on my list and I’m decided that I don’t want to write full out analysis’ on all of these movies — mostly because a lot of these I’m not really interested in. The following ones have been cut from my review list but were however mentioned in the most recent TOTALLY RAD SHOW.

Sex & The City (The Movie?)
Kung Fu Panda
Meet Dave
Mamma Mia
The Mummy (10 years too late…same with the X-Files Movie)
Star Wars: Clone Wars
Tropic Thunder (looks really gay)
Hamlet II
Bangcock Dangerous

You don’t mess with the Zohan

So, I saw a trailer for this film when I went to go see “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” (I only got 20 minutes in then the projector broke, it was a terrible experience). It looked really funny but I remain skeptical, having seen the recent works from Adam Sandler the only word I can use to sum up the entire experience is “disappointment”. I went to go see Click expecting a comedy movie, I was miffed that by the end that there was some moral being shoved down my unwilling throat and that I hadn’t laughed in half an hour. On the other hand was I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, which one can only assume that Adam Sandler wrote himself, the only worthwhile 15 minutes in the entire movie was when Jessica Biel took her clothes off. Then however, you’re sitting around with your friends and shitting on Adam Sandler because you know he only wrote the movie looking for the excuse to squeeze some hot girls tits (not his wifes’). So, I can only hope this isn’t complete shit, and hopefully it will be up there in the “Zoolander” level of comedy.

The Happening

Now I personally am a decent fan of M. Night movies (well…everything NOT Signs). I will however completely agree with the Imaginationland episode of South Park where the government is like “No Mr. Shamylamymanmahn, that’s a TWIST, that’s not Imagination!” I feel like this has a lot of potential, Mark Wahlburg has resurfaced as a formidable force in the movie industry, he is a good actor although he always has that frown stuck on his face — I don’t recall a movie where I’ve ever actually seen him smile. I’ll probably go see this in theaters or BT it, however, this isn’t a panty-melter like The Dark Knight is going to be.

I have the rest of the list in front of me, I’m going to update more on this later.