Revolver

So myManMacomber and I were talking about movies that employ some version of an unreliable narrator, and he asks me if I've seen Revolver. I wasn't sure, so I asked him to "hum a few bars"*... after a short description I said "Yeah I totally saw that, that was the one where they smeared it in your face that they hadn't ever said the name of the main character right?" he says "I can't remember, but yeah maybe, that sounds about right"... we traded bits like this back and forth for a while, and while each one seemed familiar neither he nor I was able to actually lock down any one piece or part that we both remembered. In the end he was talking about Revolver but I was thinking of Layer Cake, a film that really doesn't have THAT much in common with Revolver... that said I thought Revolver the better film.

I'd give it 3 out of 5 times I felt like an idiot for confusing it with Layer Cake.

* I love the original joke:
there's a noisy party with a guy playing the piano overly loud. Another guy walks up to him and says "Hey, do you know there's a little old lady upstairs trying to sleep?" And the piano player says "No, but hum a few bars and I'll fake it!"

Trailers for Em

Baby Mama (or: 1 down, 3 to go)

Despite Deb's assurances that she wouldn't actually hold me to 4 chick flix just for season one of Dexter I thought we'd better focus on the "Romantic Comedy" genre when searching for something at Blockbuster over the weekend. Unfortunately Deb had already seen 3 out of 5 of the romantic comedies we considered on this particular Blockbuster trip.

I haven't watched 30 Rock, but the recent slew of Tina Fey skits on SNL made this seem like a good choice. It's a good solid rental. I did have problems with the ending so if you haven't seen this, but plan to then STOP READING NOW... The movie established a "happy" ending by delivering what we had been informed had a "billion to one" chance of happening. I felt a little betrayed. At that point they might as well have had aliens show up and HAND Tina Fey's character a baby (it would have been more plausible and more entertaining!).

[update]I'm going to assume that this one was better than 3 out of the 5 romantic comedies that Deb watched without me.

NetFlix Baby Mama (2008) add to your queue

360 surprise

So last year I bought myself an xbox360 for my birthday. Little did I know that Microsoft was going to remember that and give me a completely unsolicited gift for my birthday one year later.

Thanks Microsoft, it's the little things like remembering a customer's birthday, that really set you apart.

Tehanu

I love Earthsea. This book was hard to love, but the ending was strong and beautiful.
The first 3 Earthsea books are fantastic. The sort of thing I could pick up and read from any point and enjoy. This one feels almost like an 100+ page epitaph for the world of Earthsea. The Earthsea you knew is dead, long live the new Earthsea. The very last chapter changed tone a little and felt a little like the old magic that I want to hear more stories about... With 2 books left in the "cycle" I guess I'll just have to read them and find out which direction the head down?
That said, I would recommend the first 3 Earthsea books to anyone. But be prepared for something VERY different if you choose to read the 4th.

3 out of 5 times that I wondered if I would enjoy this book more if I were a woman?

How long could you survive?

Dexter (season 1)

I finished watching this (again) the other night. Somehow I talked Deb into watching this with me, even though it isn't really her type of entertainment (She considered breaking up with me when I applauded at the end of Mr. Brooks... but that's a different story). That said this obviously isn't for everybody. BUT if you can enjoy a story about a Miami police department blood spatter analysis specialist who just happens to be a serial killer... The Showtime version is definitely "R" rated, but because of the writer's strike season one was edited down to air on CBS (in case anyone in Utah county wanted to watch it).

4 out of 5 chick flicks I'll now have to watch before I can convice Deb to watch season 2.

Spider in the street

Deb, Zack, and I were headed away from my parent's house on Sunday when we saw this guy walking down the street. There is a teacher at Zack's school who has a few tarantulas so we decided to catch this one to add to that collection. The only thing I can add in defense of my less-than-manly behavior during the process of capturing the spider is that while you probably can't see it during the video, the spider is pretty aggressive and at one point jumps at my hand (but is stopped by the plastic container).
video

Ender's Game Comic

I'll be picking up my copy tomorrow!

Castle Crashers

So, Emmalee and I like playing video games. In particular we enjoy games that employ some form of multi-player cooperative play. Because of this we have found countless hours of satisfaction playing the Star Wars Legos video games. This weekend we found what looks to be our new favorite coop game.

Without going into details on the tight controls, excellent art, appropriately complicated RPG elements, ... let me just say that the game is FUN. A whole bunch of fun. My only warning for anyone considering playing it with kids is that there is a little bit of gross humor. The comedic well of "animal poop" is drawn from more than once in this game.

The other thing that I personally dig is that Castle Crashers is the gaming equivalent of an Independent Film. While the finished product was moved to release by many people, The Behemoth (the company that developed the game) was started by 2 guys. One programmer and one artist... the relatively inspiring story can be found here

Short weekend with Em

Em had to get back to her mom's house because she had a church program on Sunday. But we managed to make the most of the truncated weekend.
-dinner with Gram and Poppa
-played The Force Unleashed (basically the first 3 chapters)
-played a little Rock Band (I had to include the picture of Em playing the Guitar AND singing... too funny)
-went to the theater to see Igor
-watched the season 6 finale of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine together (she can't believe there is only one season left... after that we'll have to find something else appropriately geeky to watch together)

Igor

Em, Deb, Zack and I caught this one Saturday afternoon. It was alright. Not great, but certainly not a waste of time/money. The kids really enjoyed it, and it had a few moments that genuinely made me laugh. The one thing that I really got a kick out of was the character "Scamper". He's one of Igor's first experiments, and is basically a talking rabbit who is immortal. Unfortunately Scamper isn't too thrilled about the idea of living forever. While it's a little dark for a kids movie, I can find the funny in a rabbit repeatedly trying to kill himself. Imagine if Wile E. Coyote had turned all of his roadrunner destruction devices on himself.

3 out of 5 trailers for movies that looked LESS entertaining than this one.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (season 1)

I almost skipped right over this one. There is a lot of good TV out there that really is worth watching (BSG alone makes a strong argument that the best writers in Hollywood are working in TV not feature films). But in the end I gave in and watched it. I have to say it wasn't all that bad. To be fair, I have a soft spot for the Terminator franchise (there's a few really great stories in the Dark Horse Comics).

I'm a little enamored by this idea that stories are really just a collection of words, images, noises, sometimes even songs depending on the medium... and that really great stories are only great because the reader/listener/watcher emotionally connects with something bigger than the sum of the parts (there's got to be a greek word or phrase for that idea right?). That said, The Sarah Connor Chronicles is only a mediocre TV show, but (IMHO) it happens to take place in a fascinating universe.
The acting is OK.
The writing is alright.
The cinematography is acceptable for TV.
The effects are also OK... for TV.
The music is great actually... all the time.
The ideas are pretty good, but occasionally phenomenal. (i.e. a terminator who has all of his disguise (flesh) burned off needs to replace it (right back to the roots in scifi horror); Sara Connor's psychiatrist from T2 becoming a believer!; sleeper cells; time travel paradigms; and hard choices;)
There's scifi gold in there. Sure sometimes you have to squint to see it, but it's in there.

3 out of 5 ways to avert Skynet nuking the planet.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

I finally finished this the other night.

Great show that did not end up getting picked up after it's first season. I could complain about it being under appreciated; Argue that NBC didn't know what a great franchise they were tossing aside; Compare it to some of the really terrible shows that air nightly on NBC and other networks; But in the end, much like Firefly, I didn't watch this when it was airing. Even though I knew it was good at the time (based on sentiment of people I trust), I always planned on watching it once it hit DVD. I read an article that talked about how the Nelson Ratings were making adjustments during the year that SSotSS aired to better represent DVR viewership, utilizing terms like "live +24 hours" or "live +7 days". Considering that I personally don't watch a lot of TV shows until after they have made it to DVD (gotta love NetFlix), I feel like I'm lucky for the enjoyable shows that hang around for multiple seasons (since I didn't contribute anything during their initial run). Years ago I did get to be a "Nelson Family" for a week though. They sent me a paper journal to leave by the TV and fill out whenever someone was watching something. The end result was nothing like my typical week of TV watching (even at the time). Knowing that each "Nelson Family" represents so many viewers, I felt it was my responsibility to watch a lot of shows that I enjoy but wouldn't typically make the time for... so if the Star Trek reruns had abnormally high ratings that week, it's totally my fault.

...better than the other 10 shows NBC cancelled after that season (10 out of 11).

Time to buy a real camera

Em and I were up at my grandfather's cabin last night and saw some fantastic wildlife on the way down. I tried to grab a few photos with my phone, but the quality is pretty bad. I guess it's time to invest in an actual camera (again). Em's favorite was the porcupine (assuming you can tell which picture that is in.)

My Fair Lady

Deb, Zack, and I caught this on opening night. Don't get me wrong, I love the movie, and IMHO no one can play these parts better than Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn; but there is something present in stage performances that movies never seem to capture. (The singular exception being the 1982 TV broadcast of Sweeney Todd, which was really just a filming of the stage play. George Hearn is the quintessential Sweeney)

Back to My Fair Lady... If you get a chance, this one is well worth checking out (I'm going to try to take Emmalee while it's still playing if possible).

Show details here.

4 out of 5 fantastic lead actors.

The Big Country

Gregory Peck, Chuck Heston, Jean Simmons (NOT the dude from KISS), and Burl Ives (yes the guy that sings "Silver and Gold" on the Rudolph special you remember from childhood), what's not to like! Emmalee and I watched this one the other day with Papa (my dad). I think Em genuinely enjoyed it, but she could have just been humoring us. I really enjoy old westerns, but I have to admit that occasionally when I watch one with Em there are things that really bother me. How the movie approaches women and minorities are 2 key elements. For me it's less the movies that show us legitimately what things were like in the "old west", and more the movies that provide insight into what things were like when the movie was made... if that makes any sense (if not watch McClintock). For the record I don't remember being let down that way during this movie (actually it was the LACK of those things in this film that stood out in my mind).

Newsies

Em and I watched Newsies together recently. It's a fun, Disney, musical based on a strike of the newspaper sales boys in 1899 New York. I love that it has some basis in history, and Em and I both loved seeing Christian Bale (THE Batman) singing as a teenager (as much as I loved The Dark Knight, Bale's over the top gravel voice makes listening to him lilt along some showtunes all the more humorous). It was good, and entertaining, but ultimately the lack of any one song that REALLY grabbed either of us probably means that this was a good rental, but not something we'll need to purchase.

3 out of 5 dance moves that looked like the belong in Batman fight scenes.

The Force Unleashed

My copy of The Force Unleashed showed up Tuesday! Unfortunately physics homework had to come first. In the end I only popped in long enough to check out the opening cinematic. The apparent consensus among people who enjoy "Star Wars" is that while the quality of the gameplay itself is up for argument the story should not be missed. Tycho said it best with "And if you can find someone else to play the game while you watch, you might be approaching the optimal scenario." .

That said, my plan is to play out the entire story when Em is around. I anticipate that she'll play whenever the levels aren't too challenging, and I'll help her out as much as she wants. As much as I'd love to just power though huge chunks of the game whenever I have time, I think the benefit of experiencing yet another Star Wars story together with Em will more than make up for that. I took Em to see The Phantom Menace in theaters when she was 3 years old, like my father (before me) who took me to see A New Hope when I was 3. I'm not sure how well (or if) Em really remembers that theater trip at 3 years old. For myself I have to admit I only clearly remember the irony of eating "STAR BURSTS" candy while watching "STAR WARS", and the theater had dark red carpet...

Survivor (seasons 1 - 17)

OK I know, I KNOW...
but it's my guilty pleasure.

I actually purposely avoided Survivor when it first aired for a variety of reasons. The first episode that I watched (on a lark) was midway through season 12. After that one episode I was fascinated. I finished that season, and then went back and started from the beginning. Long story short Deb and I just finished the 16th season and should be ready to watch season 17 as it airs. In all honesty I'm not sure if I'll like watching it that way as much. I've watched 16 season in the last 2.5 years and it's been nice to be able to watch more than one in a sitting (time permitting). The flip side of that coin is that I can now join in "water cooler" type discussions when Survivor comes up (previously I've had to run out of the room with my hands over my ears, yelling "I haven't watched this season yet!"). I've had a few occasions where someone has let slip that this or that person WON survivor (including a billboard that was pretty hard to avoid seeing) and it takes a bit of the excitement out of the show.

P.S. if I remember correctly J-Rude and his wife are big Survivor fans? What do you say J-Rude, if you guys are still watching can I come crash your Survivor Night sometime this season?

2 out of 3 hidden immunity idols that people weren't smart enough to play (specific to this last season).

Fly Me to the Moon

Fly Me to the Moon claims the tagline of "First ever animated movie created for 3D". That part might be true, but it really is too bad that it wasn't created... oh I don't know, to ENTERTAIN!?

I think my least favorite part was when the 3 fly children looked at the camera and talked about how child obesity is a serious problem.

Anyone who complains about the recent Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie should go watch this for comparison.

Because Em said it was "alright", and it certainly wasn't created with me in mind, so I'll give it 2 out of 5 actors who should have passed on this project.

Mamma Mia

So Deb exacted her revenge on me for dragging her to The Clone Wars the other day. Apparently my penance was to sit through the year's ULTIMATE chick flick.

For what it's worth the movie was significantly more fun and entertaining than I would have thought. I dig musicals, but hadn't ever seen/heard this one before. I am (un)fortunately(?) old enough to have heard a fair share of the ABBA songs, so it wasn't completely foreign. Other than some odd looping issues, my only real complaint was the way they kept ratcheting up Colin Firth's GAY revelation. First it was the subtle but understood conversation on the boat, then it was a slightly over the top gay-wink to his newfound manfriend, lastly he flamboyantly tears off his shirt while dancing/frolicking in the rain with the previously mentioned manfriend. I shudder to think what might have been shown if the filmmakers felt like they needed to (or maybe just COULD?) go one more...

3 songs I definitely recognized out of 5 songs I might have...

This part is just for you Joe... Read what Uncle Orson had to say about the manfriend.

P.S. everyone should start saying manfriend.

Face Paint

Just a couple of quick images of Emmalee and my neice Mykaela after having their faces painted at the Park City Arts Festival.



(FYI, the purple didn't wash off very well... )

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Emmalee, Zack, Deb, and I all went to see Star Wars: The Clone Wars on Friday night. Though I've heard nothing but bad reviews I tried to go in with an open mind. I don't care what anyone else tells you, this is a great kids movie.
It's a KID'S MOVIE. It was designed to entertain CHILDREN. Great storytelling occurs when the audience identifies with an idea, emotion, archetype (,...) that the story crafter(s) intended. Until we figure out how to communicate ideas in a fully realized form, we are limited by the medium used for communication (in this case a movie). That said, if you recognize that this movie was made for KIDS, and try to watch it through a child's eyes I think you will see some genuine gems within it. Here's my short list:
-Jabba the Hutt creating a new front in the Clone Wars by sending bounty hunters, Separatists, and Jedi to rescue his kidnapped son. Even bad guys love their kids!
-Anakin getting a padawan, learning some of the lessons that BEING a mentor can provide (as opposed to HAVING a mentor)
-Beautiful style. The look and feel of the film is beautiful. At times it looks almost as though it were animated via stop frame as opposed to CGI.
-I've had to read the "opening crawl" to my daughter whenever we have seen a Star Wars movie in the past (not that I mind particularly, but sometime I feel like I'm disturbing the other theater goers). This time the crawl is replaced by a newsreel type opening that I thoroughly enjoyed (as did Em). Also during the movie there are no subtitles that need read to younger kids.
-...
-I have heard that this movie serves as the pilot for a television series. I love the idea that there could be dozens of episodes, dozens of hours of new Star Wars content available for me to enjoy with my daughter. And this show is easily up to par with any of the Saturday morning cartoons that Em has been interested in lately.

Don't get me wrong, the movie is far from perfect, but as a kid's movie it is much better than most reviews would have you believe.

3 out of 5 Star Wars factions turned on each other.

Things Change

another Mamet movie... mafia related this time. I dug the whole thing right up until the end, the VERY end. Unfortunately that ending kinda popped me out of an otherwise excellent movie.

3 of 5 favors owed.

State and Main

Rented it because it was another Mamet movie... Again, probably not the "type" of Mamet movie that I dig... But if you wanted to see a satire of Hollywood movie making, I can't think of a better DVD to rent.

3 of 5 ensemble cast members (low end)

The Unit (seasons 1-3)

I'll admit that the first time I caught an episode of The Unit while flipping through channels I couldn't take that Allstate guy seriously as a Covert Ops / Special Forces operator. It wasn't until after seeing Redbelt recently that I was reminded that it was "created for television" by David Mamet. The show IS everything I dig about Mamet stuff. These characters live and breath one liners.

4 out of 5 members of the 303rd Logistical Studies Group Alpha Team:
Snake Doctor, Dirt Diver, Betty Blue, and Cool Breeze...

The Winslow Boy

2/5... another Mamet misfire?
Based on someone else's play, which is based on actual events, occurring in 1912 London, ... yawn... probably another case of inappropriate expectations. I typically watch Mamet stuff for his awesome ability to turn a phrase. Those lines that are so rich you find yourself saying them out loud to yourself after they play (actually, maybe that is just a sign that I watch too many movies home alone...). That said there is ONE line like that in the movie, and if you watch the movie you can't miss it (it's literally the last line of dialog spoken). Because of that, for me at least, it felt like a 100 minute setup for ONE Mamet line.

oleander

2/5 stars...
This was the best workplace training video on sexual harassment that I have ever seen. Unfortunately, I rented this because of David Mamet, so I was hoping for something more like Redbelt, Spartan, The Unit, ...

Southland Tales

OK, I'm clearly not as smart as I thought I was, because I am in the dark on this one. I understand that it is a satire, I even laughed out loud more than once while viewing. But when the movie was over I was left with an overwhelming feeling that I had missed something very important? I hear that there is a graphic novel prequel, that is really ought to be the first 1/2 of the film? I'm considering picking that up and re-viewing to see if this one makes any more sense???

The Farthest Shore

I definitely got more out of this book by reading it as an adult. While I still enjoyed the story (an epic adventure tale if ever one was told) I felt like I appreciated the author's thoughts/statements on religion, faith, eternal life,... which is all stuff that I don't think I slowed down for much when I first read it as a teen.

Newbery Award Goal Status: While this one won (I love using homonyms back to back) a National Book Award, it lost out to Julie of the Wolves when it came time to hand out the 1973 Newbery

Now on to Tehanu (The Earthsea Cycle, Book 4) (which won a Nebula... not a Newbery, I need to get back on task)

Reminded me of Bill the Galactic Hero

When I was in 9th grade 2 of my best friends (NotRoss and Marz) and I made a short film as a book report on Bill The Galactic Hero. This Star Wars short reminded me of it since we used a variety of action figures instead of putting ourselves in front of the camera. One of these days I'll have to see about posting it onto YouTube...

Heist

"Well, I tried to imagine a fellow smarter than myself. Then I tried to think, what would he do?"
This movie has more "quotables" than you can shake a stick at...

4 of 5 overly paranoid backup plans.

The Incredible Hulk

As good a hulk movie as I can imagine being made!

4 of 5 awesome transformations...

The Dark Knight

Best joker ever.
Get ready for a ride (if a little long)...
Some of the best lines in a comic book movie ever.

A strong 4 of 5 disposable henchmen...

Watchmen Trailer

YAY!


I fumbled the template a little so that this trailer wasn't cropped. I've been meaning to get around to making a template of my own... perhaps this will expedite that process...

Definitely, Maybe

Romantic comedy about a divorced, father coming of age in his mid-thirties... with a Broadway musical song sung on screen! Does a great job portraying a great Father/Daughter dynamic that I wish surfaced in more movies.

Sometimes I find a movie where I am the target audience.

A strong 4 out of 5 awesome DVD special features.

youtube test post

Hellboy 2: The Golden Army

Caught this one over the weekend with Runk. I dug it. My only real complaint was that I didn't take Em. She is a big Hellboy fan, but she and I agreed that I should probably see it first to make sure it would be OK for her to view. So now I'm really looking forward to taking her to see it (probably catch the early show next weekend).

4 of 5 visually stunning characters.

Mongol

After Wanted, Runk and I headed over to see Mongol. It was really good in a totally different way than Wanted. It's a little slow at points, but it's an art movie and you get a history lesson at the same time... so quit complaining! Click the image to check out the trailer.

4 of 5 wagon wheels that saved Temüjin's life

Wanted

Runk and I hit this and Mongol last night. This one is an adaptation of a comic book that I would previously have thought could NOT be adapted into a movie. In the end I think the film makers did an amazing job capturing the spirit of the comic while creating a film that has a much broader appeal.


4 of 5 physics defying bullets

The Tombs of Atuan

I love a good story about faith (even misplaced?).
This one was ONLY a Newbery Honor book (but too good to pass up).

4 out of 5 thoughts provoked.

Flightplan

What can I say about Flightplan? It wasn't as good as I had hoped. Jodie Foster was great. Michael Irby from The Unit was fine (but much better IN The Unit). Unfortunately it was missing ?something? that kept it from being great. Maybe it's because I was expecting it to be more like The Forgotten (which WAS great). (The comparison is funny to me since both Julianne Moore and Jodie Foster played Clarice Starling)

3 of 5 paranoid post September 11th airline passengers. (Although this one makes me consider using a more granular scale... it felt more like 2.5)

quick funny

Jedi Gym
Make sure you hang in there until at least the 4 minute mark!

Extended Summer Visitation with Emmalee

Emmalee and I just finished up our first 2 week stretch of Extended Summer Visitation. As always it was a great time. This year (and last) my boss has allowed me to work from home during this time, so it works out great since I don't have to worry about daycare (or any fights with the EX concerning daycare...)
While we found time to:
-go to 2 water parks
-spend some time in Capitol Reef National Park
-camp in Torry (where Em displayed an interest in whittling?!?!??!)
-spend some time at my papa's cabin
-see a few movies
-...
The best part of Extended Visitation (for me at least), is getting to see Emmalee first thing in the morning every day, as well as tuck her in each night. It's the little everyday bits of being that FULL TIME parent that I dig the most. Well, that and having someone to watch DS9 with each night. :D

The Happening

Not even (worth) a real blog entry...
This is why I reserve ONE star ratings for truly special occasions. (one of five plastic plants of the botanical Armageddon)

Tale of Despereaux

At one point this was Em's favorite book. So reading this hits my "Newbery" goal as well as my "Favorites" goal. First off I'd give it 4 out of 5 tails removed from vermin. This is one of those children's books that is a joy to read. It's fun, has heart, teaches a moral without being too heavy handed, and is a breeze to read. I'd definitely suggest this to any child making the transition into "real chapter books".

The Christmas Rat by Avi

Em picked this one up at the library a while ago. In addition to whatever book she is reading to herself at any given time, there is always some book that I am in the process of reading aloud TO her. The book is one of the latter. Anyway, with this book we decided it would be cool to have me record the chapters so she can listen to them on her iPod when she is at her mom's house.

I'll reserve judgment since this is a book Em picked for herself (even though I read it aloud). I will say that it has some interesting religious metaphors. Additionally, it's strange to read a kids book written recently. The references to the kid checking his email and playing video games online seemed a little strange to me, having grown up before internet ubiquity.