Movie Update Part: Who Knows By Now

our hospitality: i'm fond of buster keaton but for some reason this movie didn't grab me.  was it because i was knitting?  who knows, but i like gold rush quite a bit better.  Rate: **

ratatouille: i watched this in the theater when it first came out, but ferret had never seen it so i watched it with him again recently.  of course, i was quite dying to, because it's a lovely movie.  linguine is exactly like an undergrad who used to work in our lab.  looks, mannerisms, everything.  i am always fond of movies that extol hard work and a psychotic level of perfectionism and dedication.  Rate: *****

taken: daaayumm!!  this movie was absurd.  the plot makes not much sense and the action was hysterical.  the perfect plane movie.  Rate: **

burn after reading: i really like the cohen brothers and this was a pretty slickly put-together movie.  maybe too slick?  the only character i liked was the ditzy brad pitt character.  francis mcdormand plays a very unsympathetic character here.  all in all, entertaining, but kind of glossy.  Rate: ***

watchmen: yay! i was really worried about this adaptation of the comic book but it was very well done.  first of all, how did they manage to find an night owl who looks EXACTLY like the comic book drawing?  it was really uncanny.  i'm glad they amped up the fight scenes a bit, gave it some oomph.  dr manhattan was done well and the changed ending was very nice i thought.  i wish they had found a different lady to play laurie though; i don't think this actress can act very well.  Rate: ****

feast II sloppy seconds: as bad as this movie was, i will probably be watching feast III, out of completeness.  but this movie was quite bad.  quite bad.  Rate: *

it's a boy girl thing: this is classified as a knitting movie because i would never seriously watch what is clearly a teen flick.  that said, i am always fond of the body switch plot and i actually thought this movie was pretty cute.  

freaky friday: lindsay lohan was pretty good as the mom in the teenager's body.  i added this movie shortly after watching the boy girl movie.  needless to say, this was another knitting movie and i made good progress on my sweater.  the scenes with jamie lee curtis as a teenager in a mom's body were near unwatchable though.  way too embarrassing.

castle in the sky: oh how do i love hayao miyazaki.  please please come out with a new movie soon.  i didn't like this one as much as some of his other ones, but it is still so much better than most movies out there.  a charming story.  Rate: *****

in the name of the king: i just watched this last night and omg was it bad.  again, i wish i had a negative star system available.  it's like a lord of the rings movie, without the plot, the acting, the budget or any sense.  Rate: *

Knitting Movies

I will be posting a series of these "knitting movies," at least until the weather turns warm enough that my urge to knit fades.  I'm working on a pair of cabled gloves for myself right now and have been taking full advantage of Netflix's Instant Watch feature.  The best knitting movies are those that don't require full attention; therefore, they must be movies I've seen before or movies that are mildly entertaining without being too novel or interesting.  Movies that are too good are disqualified because I will get distracted and make knitting errors.  For example, during Persepolis, I stopped knitting my sock entirely and half the stitches slipped off the needles.  It was a knitting disaster.  For this series of movies, there will be no rating system, because the metrics for a good movie don't quite apply.  Onward!

These were movies I watched while knitting a pair of blue socks:

mannequin: i remembered really liking this movie when i was young so i thought it would be the perfect knitting movie.  sadly, the passage of 20 years had rendered this movie completely unwatchable.  i plowed determinedly through a good portion of it bc tortoise was encouraging me to (awesome movie!! says he) but i could not take it through to the end.  if it's too awful to be a good knitting movie, it is too awful period.  end of story.

enchanted: this was a ridiculous movie featuring a very squealy heroine.  i don't remember a whole lot about this movie aside from the fact that a high pitched voice appeared to be a prerequisite for princesses.  oh there was one really funny dance and song number in central park.  i enjoyed that part.  i probably would have enjoyed this more 20 years ago.  that said, i did make it all the way through the movie.

you've got mail: i think this might be classified as an ideal knitting movie.  you've got meg ryan who is adorable and a very simple and absurd love story.  after watching this movie i caught on that romantic comedies may really be the way to go here.  my knitting was perfect and i was adequately entertained.

four weddings and a funeral: i started watching this but it was kind of a snoozefest.  maybe it was because my laptop speakers weren't loud enough or something but i really couldn't get into it.  and normally i find hugh grant so charming.  oh well.

These are movies I've been watching while knitting cabled gloves:

penelope: this was another wonderful knitting movie.  you've got a bit of a fairy tale thing going, a accepting yourself for you are thing going, and a budding romance with a guy who looks like he sleeps in the sewers by day and does crack cocaine by night.  i like christina ricci in general, with or without a pig nose.  this was a girly and fluffy movie.

an ideal husband: i watched a streak of period pieces and this was one of them.  during high school i went through an oscar wilde phase so when this movie came out, i was wilde (haha!) to see it.  it was entertaining then and was entertaining now.  everyone was great except minnie driver.  she just didn't seem to quite fit.

emma: all girls like jane austen and i am no exception.  while i've read pride and prejudice exactly one million times, i've only read emma once or twice.  i have seen clueless several times however and so i am quite familiar with the story.  gwyneth paltrow was pretty perfect as emma and this was another great knitting movie.  she's so good to look at.  when i watch a movie, i pretty much only want to watch good looking people.  if i wanted to watch ugly people i would take a walk.  and this brings me to the next movie...

persuasion: this was a complete disappointment.  it was so extremely disappointing because after pride and prejudice, persuasion is my favorite jane austen book.  i realize that anne was supposed to have lost her looks when the book/movie starts, but she does go through a second bloom and if you cast a stolid matronly looking actress as anne, no one is going to believe that anyone can ever fall for her, no matter how refined her mind.  especially if this actress only has one expression: scared stiff.  bah!  it was so annoying.  i watched the entire movie but was irritated the whole time.  i had always imagined anne as a waif of a thing, too pale with delicate features.  this woman was quite solid.  her face did not seem sensitive enough; it was just wide wide wide eyed.  bug eyed.  and you couldn't tell at all that anne was especially intelligent and feeling.  i hope they remake this soon.

I have quite a few more movies to post, both of the knitting variety and the non-knitting variety, but it is getting late so it is time for sleeps!

Too many movies to post (Part III)

I think this will be how movies will get posted from now on.  I just don't have the energy or words these days to devote individual short posts to a movie.  Oh that reminds me, I should post about my proposal since that was a major milestone in my science life.  But for now, onwards!

hellboy 2:  I was pretty disappointed actually.  I guess I had higher expectations for this movie because I found the first hellboy so enjoyable.  The plot revolved around some Legolas-like elf prince who wants to resurrect a golden army to destroy mankind and reclaim elf supremacy.  This guy was actually my favorite character because I could really see his point of view and he had a lot of exciting fight moves.  His sister looked kind of like Calista Flockhart and her romance with the fish guy was inexplicable and sudden.  When she peaced out, I can't say that I cared too much because the background romance was so empty.  There was one excellent scene with death - the costume on that guy was fabulous.  Rate ***

casino:  As the movie was three hours long, I had difficulty in getting ferret to watch with me but finally I prevailed.  I had a totally different idea of what this movie was going to be like.  The movie poster made it seem so solemn and grim that I thought it would be kind of godfather-like.  It was not.  The movie follows the parallel criminal careers of Joe Pesci and Robert De Niro and the corrupt casino they were involved with.  It was super entertaining and frustrating because you really wanted De Niro to stay on top, but of course, this is a gangster movie and no one stays on top in a gangster movie.  Sharon Stone played De Niro's wife and she was pretty great in the role.  Usually the ladies in gangster flicks are washed out babes but she had more in common with the Goodfellas gangster chick in terms of feistiness and pain-in-the-ass-ness.  I liked her and couldn't stand her.  Rate ****

my cousin vinny:  Since ferret was semi-fascinated with Joe Pesci after watching casino (so funny looking!), I deemed it a good time to watch my cousin vinny.   I had seen a commercial for it on TBS so was wishing to see it.  This is one of those movies I've seen bits and pieces of but never all at once, all the way through.  It was quite funny with old-school humor and the plot is neatly tied up and put away at the very end.  The karate kid was in it too and he has got to be the worst actor of all time.  I made a mental note never to re-watch the karate kid movies because obviously they must have been quite bad, despite my childhood memories of them.  Rate ****

tropic thunder:  The funniest part of this movie was in the beginning when they showed fake movie previews starring the various characters.  The RDJ and Ben Stiller ones were especially hilarious.  After that, the best scenes were definitely the ones that had Tom Cruise in them.  He was almost unrecognizable in his fat suit and bald wig but the crazy was still in his face and eyes.  His performance here was amazing, especially his solo dance at the end.  The rest of the movie kind of flew by in a high energy blur; unfortunately it's not a movie I'd want to watch again but it was decently fun while I was watching.  No Zoolander though.  Rate ***

millions:  At the end of the movie, I was like, so what.  I didn't really get any kind of message and the whole thing felt a little incomplete.  That said, the boy was adorable and I liked his conversations with various imaginary (or were they) saints.  I dunno, I don't feel like there's a whole lot to say about this.  It had cute parts, but no real tension or anything too solid.  Rate **

Too many movies to post (Part II)

Ok I promise that after this batch of movies I will be better about keeping my movie posts up to date.  Fortunately, the movie watching had slowed down a bit because Ferret and I started watching Dexter (man that is an INSANE series, love it!).  So, onward:

sex and the city: I enjoyed this movie, but not as much as I had been enjoying the series.  The part with Big ditching her at their wedding was really sad, but I didn't like how at the end she concluded that she was as much to blame as he was.  No she was not.  The man is an adult, the least he could do was show up at the wedding.  Idiot.  However, it ends happily for all and I had a fun time watching it.  I guess the problem I had with it was that it wasn't as funny as the series was.  And oh god, Jennifer Hudson was horrible.  Scenes with her were pure torture.  Rate ***

ironman: YAYAYAYAY!!!  This movie was so awesome I couldn't contain myself when it ended.  I don't know whether it was the dialogue, the characters the acting the action or what but I had the best time watching this movie.  And I had never heard of the Ironman comic character before this movie.  Maybe that's why I had no expectations?  I don't know.  But Robert Downey Jr was so completely amazing as Tony Stark.  I loved this movie.  Rate *****

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang: So after watching Ironman I was on a total RD Jr high so Ferret was finally able to get me to watch this movie.  He had already seen it a million times but still happily watched next to me while simultaneously assembling a computer.  At first I didn't think I would like it because there was a lot of breaking of the fourth wall and too winking (we all know it's a movie and it's all fake, wink wink) for my taste.  But then the plot got rolling and it was still a RD Jr movie AND there was val kilmer who was really fun to watch as the gay private eye so I ended up thoroughly enjoying it.  The plot was intricate and snappy (a girl is killed, whodunnit?) and no one ever took themselves too seriously.  I was grateful there were not any fancy sped up camera moves, I was a little afraid it would be that kind of movie at first.  I recommend this to anyone who enjoys having a good time.  Rate ****

hello dolly: I've never been the greatest Barbra Streisand fan or anything but I ended up watching this movie because I was home for the holidays and bored.  It was my first week at home and I had nothing to do.  Watched this on Netflix's instant watching program and it was pretty pleasant.  I remember going to see the local troupe perform this musical a long time ago with my friend Kara and so there was also a nostalgic element to it.  I never thought Barbra Streisand was particularly good-looking, but I thought she was very pretty in this movie and her voice was great.  Rate ****

when harry met sally: So I've only ever seen bits and pieces of this movie and didn't think it was all that.  Somehow though, when seen continuously through, the movie became super great.  I dunno what it was.  The dialogue was quick and Meg Ryan is so darn cute and it was funny.  I have never ever ever thought Billy Crystal was remotely attractive, but in this movie, he somehow was.  Go figure.  Despite me liking this movie, I still think Sleepless in Seattle is one of the most retarded movies ever.  By the way, this was another movie I watched at home over the holiday and during the fake orgasm in a deli scene I had to fast forward to not alarm my mother who was sitting near me at the time.  Rate *****

the incredible hulk, version 2: I had very low expectations for this movie prior to watching.  I think because I had seen a preview for it and it looked incredibly blah and generic and the NYT review for it wasn't spectacular either.  Therefore I was pleasantly surprised to find myself entertained.  It was no Ironman, but it really wasn't that bad either.  I've always been extremely fond of Edward Norton and the scenes with him dashing all over Brazil were exciting.  I wish the Hulk himself wasn't so dumbass primitive.  It's hard to be interesting when you are a green Neanderthal cartoon.  One more thing, Liv Tyler is crazy good to look at.  Her face is really classic.  Rate ***

the strangers: I am not going to waste too many words on this retarded movie.  Gawd.  Basically the main characters were colossally stupid.  You have two people (with one gun) and three people (armed with knives) and somehow the three people overpower the two people with the gun and win.  Liv Tyler's good looks couldn't save her in this movie because you just couldn't figure out how someone could be SO ridiculously dumb.  I watched this entire movie with the Bunnies in San Diego mostly because we all wanted to find out who these strangers were and why they were out to get these two dumbasses.  Guess what, you don't find out.  I've just saved you a couple of hours of your life.  Rate * (I want to rate this negative stars)

the bank job: I almost forgot about this movie, mostly because this movie was pretty forgettable.  I was entertained while watching it but I can barely remember what it was about.  Let's see, Jason Statham was in it.  He and some people break into a bank vault to steal loot, but the British government was secretly behind the break-in because they wanted to get an incriminating photo.  And then there were some bad guys who also had some stuff stolen.  Yep.  Rate ***

Too many movies to post

I've been watching too many movies to post individually so here is just a laundry list:

• son of rambow: really sweet and enjoyable. a story about kids and friendship. rate ****
  
• the orphanage: this reminded me of 'the others'. as usual, i did a lot of cowering. rate ****
  
• pirates of the carribean: at world's end: this was kind of a huge mess. but i had to watch it for completeness. rate **
  
• dan in real life: i always like watching juliette binoche. can steve carrell's face get any more hangdog? the dialogue got kind of sappy at parts but it was a nice movie overall. rate ****
  
• 1408: so scary! it is an old-school kind of scary, no gore. i probably actually saw 10% of this movie. it was super stressful. rate *****
• blood simple: i think this was the first coen brothers movie. it was interesting to watch it so soon after watching no country for old men, there are quite a few parallels i think. rate ****
• the exorcism of emily rose: the story was quite unexpected. i thought it was going to be straight up horror, but it was more legal thriller meets demon possession. i think i enjoyed the legal drama part more than the rest. and i heart laura linney. rate ****
• it: i've watched this movie a few times now and it still frightens me. but ferret wasn't scared at all. i think you really need to have a fear of clowns to understand. rate *****
  

I think this sums up all the movies for the last few weeks. If I was really diligent I would also post about Sex and the City and 30 Rock. Looking back on the year, I'm kind of amazed I had so much time to watch movies.

No Country for Old Men

I didn't know anything about this movie going into it except it was by the Coen brothers. And that kind of tells you something about the movie already. Javier Bardem plays this psychotic killer who is after Josh Brolin for a couple million dollars that Josh Brolin made off with. I was comfortable thinking it would fall neatly into a crime caper thriller kind of plot but it upended my expectations. I can't really say a ton without giving stuff away, but 1) Javier Bardem is crazily freaky - part of it is that pageboy haircut he is sporting and the rest is a menacing face and voice, 2) the movie was relentlessly intense. I think I remained stressed out from the first scene to the last. There wasn't any music that I could really remember and I think that added something to the stress level. It ended kind of abruptly for my taste, but I can't really fault anything specific with the ending, I think it ended right (Ferret disagrees). Rate *****

The Darjeeling Limited

After watching Noein, we decided to take a break from anime for a while and catch up on movies. This was the first one we watched since then. Out of Wes Anderson's movies, I think I still like Royal Tenenbaums and Rushmore the best, but this one was still really entertaining. I think most people would agree with me that even the most average Wes Anderson is still leaps and bounds better than the average movie. It's important to watch The Hotel Chevalier first, and it was nicely included in the DVD release. This movie had a lot of style; you couldn't really sympathize so much with anyone's personal pains because everything was so stylized and stylish, but the characters were certainly likable, if not fleshed out. I was happy to see Anjelica Huston near the end because she always brings a little something extra to her scenes I think. Maybe it is just because she has such presence. Anyway, I had a good time. Rate ****

Noein

I think out of the anime series I have been watching with Ferret so far, I liked Noein the best. The story was complicated, but not incomprehensible (Ergo Proxy remains my gold standard for gibberish) and the drawing style and music was consistently fantastic. While the scientific explanation for certain phenomena was laughable in the way all science tends to be laughable in pop culture, the fight scenes were very creative and unique. Each fight was spectacular in different ways, and visually stunning. The basic story is kind of hard to explain, but it has to do with some guys from another dimension coming to our dimension to obtain a tool to fight a war and finding that the tool is embodied in the form of a young girl, Haruka. And to add more complications, the people in that other dimension have counterparts in our own. Overall, I look forward to rewatching these episodes sometime in the future. Rate *****

Update (12/30/08): I ended up rewatching several episodes with Bunny when I was home for the holidays.  As usual, she managed to watch all 24 episodes in fewer than 2 days.  INSANE!

The Savages

I don't think Ferret really liked this movie but I think it was mainly due to an error of communication. Before watching, I told him I thought it was a black comedy. As everyone except Ferret knows, black comedy means dark humor and does not necessarily mean it is a comedy featuring black people. Anyway, I can see how it might be confusing to watch this movie if you were expecting Martin Lawrence to pop out at any moment. The movie was basically about two adult siblings coming together to care for their demented (literally, a man with dementia) father. It is mostly about their relationship with each other and themselves, with a small peppering of their relationships with other people. Laura Linney reestablishes her place as one of the people I most like to see in movies even though her character was so unsympathetic and ridiculous. I think it is due to her skill as an actress that you actually want to know more about her and what becomes of her. Philip Seymour Hoffman plays her brother and does a great job as her foil. In the end you see there are actually more similarities between them than differences and to get to the point, it ends with a nice happy note so don't worry that it's all depressing or anything like that. Rate: ****

Blood+ (way overdue)

This post has been long overdue. At this point I don't even remember when I finished the series. I do remember watching the prequel, "Blood: The last vampire," on the plane to Florida for ORS. That was back in March and at that point Ferret and I had already watched all of Blood+: Part One. Disgrace disgrace. Sometime after that we finished watching the rest of the Blood+ (50 episodes in all) on youtube since episodes after #25 are not out on disk yet. Overall I found this series very entertaining. The storyline was intriguing and Haji was super great even when he was getting impaled onto a wall for the 100th time. Apparently, Haji could only fight effectively offscreen. That said, he was far better than Saya, who could barely fight at all for a good chunk of the series. Looking back, while no episode matched the quality of the initial opening scene featuring Saya running amok in Vietnam, the gradual unveiling of Saya's past and the development of her character was well done and moved the story along effectively. My favorite character after Haji was probably the Phantom. It was a sad day for everyone when he met his end and he is still missed.

One last observation - the musical score consisted of three tracks: Diva's song (you'd think an international musical star would develop her repertoire over time, but this was not the case), the planning music (usually involved a lot of papers and maybe some computers), emoting music (usually when Haji was promising to stay by Saya's side for ever and ever or at least until THAT DAY) and the action music (introduced with the Phantom, I hummed this tune for weeks I think). Rate ****

The Dark Knight

I saw this movie a couple of weeks ago with SS and Ferret. We went to the Sunday matinee showing. At this discount price, it was still $9. It's kind of insane. I decided a couple of years back, when the price of movies started rising insanely, that I would only watch certain movies at the theater. These movies would be eye-candy types with enough entertainment to max out the big screen. With this criteria, I've been fairly safe in feeling satisfied at getting my $11.50 worth, even if the movie itself is not too spectacular (ie. Spiderman 3, X-Men 3). Basically, what I am trying to say is that even if Dark Knight was 1/20 as great as it was, I would have been pretty pleased. As it was, I was amazed. I went in with pretty high expectations already and felt even better walking out (albeit a bit dazed). I don't have any more praise to add to what's already been said; I just look forward to watching this again sometime. Rate: *****

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days

Damn but this movie was difficult to watch. Well, there was just one long scene that was really difficult and I felt sad the rest of the movie because of it. But at the same time, it was perversely a pleasure to watch too because the lead actress, Anamaria Marinca, who played the character Otilia, was so fantastic. The story is set in 1980s Romania during totalitarian rule, and follows a pregnant girl (4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days pregnant to be exact) trying to have an illegal abortion with the help of her friend, Otilia. Otilia is a much stronger and cannier person than her pregnant friend, Gabita, and manages the details of the abortion on the day of the event, getting things done despite errors in judgement and planning, and misrepresentations on the part of Gabita. While the movie never directly refers to the totalitarian regime, there is evidence everywhere - the ominipresent ID cards and bureaucratic mindset of the older folk, the bustling blackmarket barter system in the student dorms, the drained look on everyone's faces. Even Otilia, who shows the most spark and life of all the characters shown, seems on the verge of breaking at times. It is Otilia who sees through to the heart of things, through her boyfriend and his family and the system itself. Despite weathering grueling events she puts herself back together and one has faith that she will come out ahead in the end.

American Gangster

Now that I have run out of Netflix-sanctioned Blood+ episodes to watch, I am starting to watch movies again. This was the first of them. I wasn't sure what this movie was going to be like, and I was pleased to find that it was a perfectly entertaining execution of a well-traveled plot: the rise of the gangster, Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington), the gangster as top dog, the fall of the gangster. The difference here was the insertion of another plot kind of like that of the Departed. We see the life of a cop, Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe) playing out in parallel and of course at some point the two characters intersect. I thought Denzel Washington played his role rather woodenly for the first half of the movie; he only started to get interesting at the end when he was more animated and his natural charm came through. I wish he had displayed a little more of that animation earlier on. As it was, I couldn't find myself sympathizing with this character at all. His fall affected me very little. Russell Crowe managed to sport the worst haircut of all time throughout the entire movie. Despite some attempts to create a fleshed out character in Richie Roberts, in the end you don't get a sense of anything more than boy-scout, albeit a boy-scout with a messy personal life. Strangely the only character that really elicited interest was the villainous bad cop, played by Josh Brolin. Rate ****

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

All right, so while I was on a high from Singin' in the Rain I found Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (another childhood related musical) and immediately started watching. Let me say, it is significantly less great than Singin' in the Rain. The story line is relatively weak, the dancing is way subpar (it's unfair, but you just can't beat Gene Kelly) and the songs were unsingable by me, and therefore less awesome. The whole feel of the movie was just different I guess. There was none of the wit and energy of Singin' in the Rain and I guess really, there isn't much more for me to talk about. I was very easily able to abandon it, mid-way through and wash some dishes. I guess this is one musical that did not really withstand my transition to adulthood. Rate **

Singing in the Rain

I've recently started watching things on my computer using Netflix's Instant Watch program and it's gotten kind of addicting. After watching some episodes of The Office (American version) and all of 30 Rock: Season 1, I started casting about for movies to watch. Let me say, the pickings are slim. But while doing so, I spotted Singin' in the Rain, one of my favorite musicals ever and just had to watch it. It's been forever since I've seen it, but when Bunny and I were little we used to watch it constantly. I was happy to find that I still recalled all the scenes and tunes and that the movie was as fresh and beloved to me as it has always been. For a solid week after watching, whenever I was vaguely alone and sometimes when I was not, I sung snippets of "Singin' in the Rain," "Good morning," and that love song from the Dancing Cavaliers fake movie. Now if only Netflix would provide The Unsinkable Molly Brown as an Instant Watch option. Ooooh, or Kiss Me Kate! Rate *****

Juno

I watched Juno a few weeks ago (after watching 25 episodes of Blood+, post related to that to come later after I finish watching all 50 episodes) and really enjoyed it. It's been on my to-watch list forever, and I had almost become afraid of watching it; because I was completely primed to like it, I felt that with such high expectations, I might be disappointed. Anyway, as the whole world knows by now, Juno is a movie about a teenage girl with an unexpected and unwanted pregnancy. Rather than playing out as a cautionary tale however, Juno takes an intelligent approach to the dilemma and allows its lead character (Juno) to make a choice about her own body. Abortion is presented as an option, and while Juno does not ultimately choose this path, it was at least considered. She decides to have the baby, but recognizing that she is ill-equipped at the moment to be a mother, she chooses an attractive couple from a newspaper ad to adopt her child. The movie deals with its topic with a fairly light hand and there are a lot of laughs. However, the greatest feat of Juno (the movie) is being able to balance these laughs with the appropriate gravity surrounding such weighty themes as teenage pregnancy, adulthood, marriage and love. I generally stay away from movies described as such, but Juno may rank among those "feel-good movies of the year." Rate *****

Simpson's Movie

I watched this movie a week or two ago, after I had lost yet another game of Catan to Ferret and was feeling cranky. This movie did a lot to cheer me up however and I managed to leave his house with cordial feelings instead of bitter ones. I wish the townspeople (or at least some of the townspeople) had played a greater role in the movie instead of filling in the backdrop but it was still funny and fun. The story revolved around Homer for the most part, and the plot was pretty straightforward: Homer messes up, Springfield vs Simpsons, Simpsons vs Homer, Homer saves the day despite himself, Simpsons reunited with Homer and Springfield. Rate: ***

Dune

I really watched the movie ages ago but have not had a chance to update due to busy-ness. Busy-ness will get its own post in due time. The first time I encountered this movie was during a dinner at my archery coach's house. For the record, I was a terrible archer and it was only due to luck that my brief participation on the archery team did not cost any lives. At the time of that dinner, Dune was on, and I remember glancing occasionally at it, noting it was an awful movie and thinking, hey is that Sting?

So I am straining to remember details of this movie; fortunately it is not difficult because this movie was so awesomely ridiculous. A young Agent Cooper from Twin Peaks, sporting very poofy hair, played the main hero in this movie (have forgotten his name already, oh well). My favorite parts occurred whenever people had a thought. Thoughts were depicted by stagy whispers and they always took much longer than an actual thought would have. Whenever an event took place that had been previously foreshadowed via dream, Agent Cooper would stop and clearly state, for example, the moon! And then there would be a repeat of the dream sequence. I assume it is because the movie was targeted to toddlers who might not be able to put two and two together unless it was hammered home repeatedly. The first part of the movie was intriguing, but at some point David Lynch must have realized he was running out of time so the second half of the movie felt extremely rushed. It was probably good that Ferret and I had been used to having unanswered questions (having just watched Ergo Proxy) and so were not too distraught when we were confused. Overall, the movie was mostly funny and I don't regret having seen it. Rate: *** (awesome meter)

Ergo Proxy

For the last few weeks Ferret and I have been busy watching this anime series, Ergo Proxy. It was a Netflix recommendation and had gotten a bunch of stars. We ended up repeatedly watching and rewinding the first ten minutes of episode 1 because we were so confused. But, we reasoned, the first episode is always meant to be confusing and things will surely clear up with time. Twelve episodes later and midway through the series, we realized that for every question that is answered, two others remained unanswered. Sadly, this was true even after we had finished watching all of the episodes. For example: Vincent Law is Ergo Proxy, who is the Agent of Death - got it. Why did he destroy his memory? - no clue. Why does he fight other Proxies? - no clue. Original humans created proxies who in turn created other subpar humans to live in domed cities - ok. Why were these other humans necessary if the original humans jetted out on their Boomerang? - no clue. How does Ergo Proxy sidestep the Awakening? - eh?? You can clone proxies - really? Re-L >> Real - damn straight. Overall, I wish they had spent less time with the pseudo philosophy and more time on exposition. I do not need an hour devoted to "I think therefore I am" "you are me and I am you" crap. The Nightmare Quiz Show episode ended up being the clearest episode by far even though it was one of the most bizarre. Even with that episode though, I still don't know if it was Vincent's dream or another Proxy world. Despite all this though, I quite enjoyed the series, both for style and the obscure plot. And I really enjoyed the way the characters kept saying the names: Vincente Lawle (Vincent Law), Daaaydalus (Daedalus). Rate: ****

Hellboy

When this movie first came out, I had absolutely no interest in seeing it. I didn't exactly have a change of heart or anything, but I was in the mood to see a fun movie on Sunday and certainly this one didn't seem like an "issues" movie. And was I glad I watched it! I really don't even know where to start. Rasputin (Russian with ambiguous/no accent) was working with the Nazis (German with British/no accent) to open a portal into hell to bring forth an army or something to defeat the Allies. The Professor (British with tweedy voice) was working with the Americans to stop him. Rasputin manages to open the portal, but was defeated. However, a little baby demon made it through and was thereafter called Hellboy. All of this happened within the first ten minutes of the movie. So awesome. Anyway, of course Rasputin comes back (his resurrection seemed awfully simple) to wreak more havoc and Hellboy must choose which side he wants to be on as well as deal with the throes of love (in a manner more suited to a teenage boy than to a supernatural hero). The plot is quite straightforward and all of it was extremely entertaining. One particular highlight for me was the presence of that actor who played George Bluth on Arrested Development. The man is crazy hilarious, no matter what he is doing. How he makes comedy of dour is beyond me. At the end of the movie, I felt a few years younger and ready to see Hellboy2. Rate ***** (awesome meter)