Very funny, sweeter than it looks. Some nice friendship, small town, community stuff. Love the tie-in to the jazz stuff: the final movie they make is really great and such fun. The concept of “sweded” is awesome and really all I want to do now is run around with a videocamera making my own versions of everything. A Duff-sweded Matrix? Come on, that would be HILARIOUS. And it was nice to find that Mos Def really doesn’t have to talk in that crazy ass high voice he used in 16 Blocks. Not half as annoying as I thought it’d be. Pleasing, even.
Daily Archives: March 5, 2008
Big Screen: Vantage Point
Very entertaining while you’re watching it…but discussing it afterward, you come up with a lot of holes.
Seemed like the filmmakers had established a couple “rules” about the various “vantage points” at the beginning, but those start to fall apart midway through and then it’s a free for all.
Some good performances, completely enjoyable…but not quite what it could have been.
Big Screen: Cloverfield
Totally fun, exhilarating monster movie! Kind-of reminded me of “Signs” / one of those “you think it’s going to turn out to be psychological or Blair Witch-y but No! There are actual monsters! Yay!”
Now that I’ve seen it, I think the EW review was way off-base. The video backstory totally sucked me in and made me care about these characters. Very effective use of mostly little-known actors. Great New York destruction scenery. Thrilling, scary, (occasionally gross,) and awesome. I loved it. (My dad did too.)
Big Screen: There Will Be Blood
Tour de force performance by Daniel Day Lewis.
Good, but difficult to watch, movie. One of those “oh it was a good movie but really? I don’t ever want to see it again, I don’t know if I could make it through” movies.
A demonstration of the myth behind the American dream.
The myth = work really hard and you’ll become a millionaire and have everything you want.
The truth = work really hard, be ruthless, aggressive, villainous and hard and then maybe you’ll become a millionaire and have everything you want.
Very effective soundtrack. So effective that at a couple points I wanted to stand up and scream JUST TURN THE MUSIC OFF! Really got under your skin, made me completely anxious, heart racing, even in scenes where it didn’t need to be yet.
Powerful and vicious. Felt like checking for dirt under my fingernails as we left the theater.
Mystery/Suspense: “The Faithful Spy” by Alex Berenson
Cool setup/scenario. Nice spy/action stuff. But reads more like a screenplay than a “novel” really; when’s the movie coming out??? 🙂
Good airport book!
Essays: “The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen Scientist” by Richard P. Feynman
Science reading for non scientists. Great conversational tone / these are “transcribed” from three lectures he gave; there were a few spots that in person/out loud were probably very funny although a bit dry on the page.
Really, really enjoyed the first two sections / the third is (as he announces at the outset) a bit of a ramble and it lost my attention a few times. But worth reading nonetheless.
Thoughtful and concise and ready to converse. Written in ’63 (if I recall, book’s not next to me) but still very relevant today.
Fiction: “The Good Soldier Svejk” by Jaroslav Hasek
The February book in Dad’s and my reading challenge.
Eastern European classic, Dad bought it years ago based on a Kundera recommendation. Total farce, hilarious comic novel. Bumbling anti-hero, a miserable idiot…or is he? Really a lot of fun to read. The never-ending “Well that reminds me of” stories and the contretemps…just indescribable. We both loved it. Humbly report, sir…
Somewhat in the tradition of Don Quixote or Tristram Shandy, although Svejk is a bit more self aware than DQ.
Fantasy: “A Princess of Roumania” by Paul Park
Bitter, dark, magical and mysterious. Couldn’t put it down!
Fans of Justine Larbalestier or Margo Lanagan would like this, I would think, although Marrije said she couldn’t get into it the first time around.