RandomMuch

December 29, 2009

Giving Avatar a new name…

Filed under: Movies — Tags: , , — Arturo @ 1:05 am

Upon looking up the definition of “avatar” I came across this… “embodiment: a new personification of a familiar idea”.  Now that I have seen James Cameron’s new movie Avatar, that is exactly what this movie is.  James Cameron has made a career out of making great movies.  Maybe True Lies was not a huge hit, but it did well.  However, he did give us Aliens, The Terminator series, and of course, Titanic.  But Avatar, with its cutting edge technology, truly is a new personification of a familiar idea when it comes to movies.  If movies are not forever changed after this, then I refuse to watch any more movies.  Let’s just get in to it.

The bad: I honestly cannot think of anything wrong with this movie.  Some might say the length, but honestly that wasn’t really a problem.  It might have been because I had to go to the bathroom REALLY bad with about an hour left.  But I was NOT gonna miss one minute of this movie, so I held it.  It did not feel like 160+ minutes, at all.  Some might say that the story is too simple and unoriginal.  I might tend to agree.  Peaceful, simple people have something that greedy money grubbers want, so money grubbers want to eradicate the peaceful, simple people.  Hell, that’s the story of how America was born.  But I say that if someone can take a simple story and still keep you glued to your seat for over two and a half hours, that’s master story telling at its finest.

The good: EVERYTHING.  I saw this movie in 3D and I am so grateful.  I felt like I was walking in the forest, I wanted to reach out and touch the plants and animals.  This movie has to be experienced in 3D.  I wished that this place actually existed and that I could one day go there.  The story, although simple, was so touching.  Even if you are more of a money grubber yourself, *cough*Republican*cough*, you don’t have a heart if you don’t feel for the natives of the planet Pandora.  Joking aside, the story is engaging, the visuals are stunning, the music is captivating.  I am making it a point to go see this movie again before they take it off the bigger screen at my local theater.

I really can’t put into words how much I love this movie.  I will gladly admit that it may be inner hippie that connected with the movie.  But once you see any of the behind the scenes specials, you’ll begin to understand how cutting edge this movie is.  When you are seeing the CG characters in this movie, you are not just seeing pixels moving, you are seeing a digital representation of the actors actual facial expressions and physical movements.  The CG characters are the avatars of the actors.  The characters in the movie use avatars to assimilate into the native culture.  And this movie is an avatar in how it truly is a “new personification of a familiar idea”.  Avatar is a new way of making and watching movies.  Do yourself a favor and see it.  See it in 3D.  See it soon.  See it more than once if possible.  Just make sure you see it.

__

AC

P.S.

Did you go yet?  GOOOOO!!!!!

December 22, 2009

The New Karate Kid…

Filed under: Movies — Tags: , — Arturo @ 3:14 pm

I’ve never really been a fan of remakes.  I find myself crossing that threshold from young and hip, to old and bitter.  I hear people remake songs I liked and I whine about how the original was better.  I even catch myself referring to this “younger” generation and they lack this, and need to learn that.  But one thing that has always been a bit of a passion is movies.  I will admit that I have lost a bit if interest in recent years, but I think  I still know more than most people and I am slowly finding my passion again.

One movie that is near and dear to my heart is The Karate Kid.  Although the second one wasn’t as good, and you can completely forget the third and fourth, the first one will always be special.  I will not claim to know everything about movies, and if there is another movie like it before, I’ve never heard of it.  I moved a lot as a kid, and have always had a deep appreciation for the martial arts.  So this movie was right up my alley.  When they came out with Never Back Down, I was just waiting for them to say it was a Karate Kid remake so I could rip it to shreds.  Luckily I never heard those words.  I still think it was a bad movie.  It was OK as a stand-alone movie, but it was not original since it was inspired by The Karate Kid, and it was a horrible representation of MMA(Mixed Martial Arts) which I am a fan of.

But just a few minutes ago, I Stumbled upon this little gem.  And I have to say, I am actually a little excited.  I am not a big fan of the Smith kid’s acting.  And yes, I know the common excuse that he’s just a kid, but so were Natalie Portman, Dakota Fanning, Jodie Foster, and they could actually act.  But upon seeing the trailer, I forgot about the negatives and was lost in the trailer itself.  It was put over the top when I was Jackie Chan.  If any could make an awesome Mr Miyagi, Jackie Chan would be at the top of the list.  It has a hint of Fast & Furious: Tokyo Drift, which also works against it, in my eyes, but overall I have to say that I am looking forward to it.  Another thing I kind of liked is how they made the main character more of an actual “kid”.  Something about it seems more genuine to me.  I remember thinking that if at least some of the Cobra Kai members had studied since childhood, there was little chance Daniel would have stood a chance after training for such a short period.

Some honorable mentions here.  The new Nightmare on Elm Street trailer piques my interest as well.  And I have heard/read there’s a new Mad Max movie on the way.  I think the prospect of reliving my childhood excites me the most, but what ever the case may be, I will try to remain objective.

–

AC

P.S.

Please give me credit for not obsessing over the fact that it should NOT be called the “Karate” Kid.  Karate and Mr Miyagi are Japanese.  The new movie takes place in China, Jackie Chan is Chinese, and Smith learns some form of Kung Fu, not Karate.  End rant.  LoL

December 14, 2009

A Whole New Dexter

Filed under: TV Shows — Tags: , , — Arturo @ 2:38 am

Although I sit in front of the TV way too much, often to my wife’s dismay, I’ve never really watched many TV shows.  As a kid I did though.  I loved watching TV a lot.  And not just cartoons.  I watched Different Strokes, The Facts of Life, The A-Team, to name a few.  Once I became old enough to drive, I didn’t watch much TV.  And even now as an adult, I watch movies, but I don’t watch many TV shows.  Or didn’t, until the Fall of 2006.  Then two shows caught my interest.  Heroes and Dexter.  I am sad to say that Heroes lost me after a couple of seasons.  I got tired of Peter losing his powers or trying to figure out his place in the world.  And also how no one really dies.  After a while everyone has made their way back.  But Dexter, has managed to keep me hooked.

From the beginning, it was different from anything else I had seen.  I can’t think of a TV show that revolved around an anti-hero.  There has been plenty of books and movies with anti-heroes, but not many TV shows.  I enjoy writing and one story I always wanted to write was about a killer that only went after bad guys.  Not only did someone beat me to the punch, but it was a knockout punch.  I love this show to no end.  The first season had an awesome story line.  The second season stepped it up a notch.  The third season went in a new, but still exciting direction.  But season four takes the cake.

I realize that with most shows, they start losing their touch after a while.  And I have to admit, I thought maybe Dexter was starting to lose it as well.  There were too many instances where I thought, how can he keep getting himself out of these situations?  How can people keep letting him get away with the simplest of explanations?  But I should know better than to doubt the writers of Dexter.  Just when I thought I had a grip on the Dexter universe, they threw a curveball at the end of season four.  The problem with that is that I was playing football, not baseball.  That’s how “out of left field” this ending was.  I have seen movies, or shows that made me say, ” WOW”.  But this was the first time that I literally had my jaw drop.  I had that cliché hand over the mouth moment.  I put down my laptop, slid out to the edge of the sofa, and said outloud, “NO F&$%ing WAY.”  And with my mom sitting right next to me.  And I realize that people say things like this all the time, but the point I am trying to get across is that I don’t really exaggerate when it comes to how good or bad something is.  I give my opinion and convey it as such.  But this ending was beyond words.  Everything has changed, Dexter will never be the same.

If you haven’t seen any of Dexter, do yourself a favor and start at the beginning.  Every person I have suggested it to is hooked.  And it will all tie together so nicely that it’ll be worth the Dexter marathons.  If you started it but set it aside, pick back up where you left off.  If only to see how this season ends.  And that’s the best way to get the full effect.  Anything less will fall short.

I hail Dexter as the best TV show I have ever seen.  I promise you that I will never doubt the writers again, and I will watch this show to the bitter end.  Just like some people believe that books offer far superior entertainment to movies, I felt that movies were superior to TV shows.  But Dexter has proven me wrong.  It has even caused me to search for a similar experience in other shows, and thanks to Dexter I now watch The Big Bang, Flash Forward, Fringe and V almost religiously.  Even though V and Flash Forward have kind of lost me along the way, I love that my wife and I now have things to watch together.

–

AC

December 13, 2009

New Moon: New Reason to hate a series

Filed under: Movies — Tags: , , , — Arturo @ 11:01 pm

I remember  the day I saw Interview with a Vampire.  I had a fascination with werewolves, vampires, Frankenstein, the mummy, and such since I was a kid.  Somehow I had managed to convince my two best friends to go see it, mostly because nothing else was playing.  I remember how the threesome sitting in front of us were clearly from out of town.  They had big backpacks with them and spoke primarily in a foreign language.  But the thing I remember most was that they smelled of Doritos and dirt.  This will make sense later.  We walked out and all my buddies could talk about was how gay the movie was.  And I tried my best to defend it, but the fact of the matter was, it truly was an awful movie.  Since then I have blamed Anne Rice for bastardizing the vampire genre.  And now, more so than ever.  In no way to do I associate Anne Rice with true Goth, but this is the only analogy I could think of… If, BIG if, Anne Rice is the Goth of vampires, then Stephanie Meyer’s vampires are the silly little Emo children of the Goths.  Let’s review New Moon shall we?

The good:  Werewolves.  That’s it.  The only thing that made this movie, even remotely watchable for me was knowing that there would be werewolves.  It’s still a shame that they came at the cost of seeing guys walk around shirtless for 2 hours.  I am trying to be unbiased about this series, but I can’t find anything I like about it.

The bad:  Where to begin?  I sat watching the movie, and as spy-like as I could, I made notes to write about later.  I could write about how Edward’s first appearance was the obligatory slo-mo sexy walk from his expensive vehicle.  How he has to regurgitate the cheesiest wannabe Shakespeare lines when he speaks to Bella.  Or how fake Jacob’s hair looked.  How about how Edward is obsessed with “protecting” Bella, then decides to not only break up with her but he does it in the middle of the woods, where he leaves her to fend for herself.  Here’s one, how about how they managed to make the vampires look even gayer in this movie than the first.  But in the end, most, if not all, of those things are probably me nitpicking because of the fact that I hate how women have complained and whined for years how shallow men are.  And then, as soon as they start having movies and books made for them, they are filled with buff shirtless guys walking around obsessed with treating women like princesses, and all while maintaining their babyfaced looks with product and tweezers.  But putting that all aside, this movie offers nothing but a fantasy for teenage girls.  The series revolves around a whiny little girl that does not deserve one nice guy, much less two chasing after her like puppies.  She even has a dad that never gets upset at her, lets her do what she wants, then jokes about grounding her when she really messes up.  What I truly find disturbing is how Bella is ridiculously in love with the most confused and confusing guy on the planet, while treating another guy like total crap.  This series is the handbook for how young ladies can be shallow women and still get what they want without actually deserving it.

I am actually grateful that they referenced Romeo and Juliet.  That, to me, is the perfect example of how true love has become romanticized into something false and unattainable.  Rome and Juliet were nothing more than adolescents rebelling against their parents wishes by insisting on a relationship with the wrong person.  They were in no way, shape or form capable of knowing what true love is, but yet were willing to die for it.  They knew each other less time than I’ve had my new Reebok shoes and I’m not sure how I feel about them.  Plain and simply, this movie stank worse than those foreigners watching Interview with a Vampire.  I can sum up the series so far for you real quick.

Here’s Twilight

Edward: Bella, we can’t be together.

Bella: Yes we can Edward.

Repeat about ten times.

Edward: This is for the best.  *leaves*

Bella pouts.

Jacob: Bella, I’m here for you when you need me.

Some one wants to kill Bella.  Edward comes back into the picture, Bella pushes Jacob aside, and the silliness continues.

Here’s New Moon

See Twilight.

There you go.  You’re caught up.

If I want caring vampires, I’ll stick to Buffy.  I’ll even watch another Anne Rice adaptation with quasi-appreciation before I go see another Twilight movie.  But being the loving husband I am, I’ll probably give in like I did for this one, when my wife drags me to the next one.  LoL

–

AC

For Precious Girls Everywhere…

Filed under: Movies — Tags: , , , — Arturo @ 3:13 am

It has been a long time since I’ve seen a movie that I swore I would never see again.  Tonight I finally broke down and saw a movie that has gotten good reviews and seemed to be a Do Not Miss.  I can’t say that I liked it, but not because it’s a bad movie.  The only thing I can think of is to write about it.  Not just as another review but in the hopes that I can purge some of these feelings.

The bad:  This movie is not a bad movie.  It is VERY well acted.  It is well directed.  And how can anything go wrong when Oprah Winfrey is the executive producer.  But this movie has a small handful of light-hearted moments.  And, they do not, in any way, make up for the gut-wrenching feeling it leaves behind.  I admit that I am a big baby when watching movies.  It is no secret that the first 12 minutes of Up get me every time.  But this movie made me feel so depressed that I couldn’t even cry.  I was left with this deep sense of hopelessness.  It ends on a high note, in a sense.  But considering that it takes you lower than you can imagine, that high note is still pretty low.  I can think of two movies that I swore I would NEVER see again.  The first was The Elephant Man.  I saw it as a kid, but I could feel John Merrick’s pain.  I was so drained seeing that movie, I’ve never seen it since.  The second was Schindler’s List.  When he breaks down at the end feeling bad because he could have saved more lives even though he saved hundreds, I cried real hard.  This movie easily takes its place among those movies.  This movie will mess you up.  Do not watch it unless you are sure you can handle it.

The good:  Albeit the subject matter, this is a good movie.  It is very well directed, and VERY well acted.  There are a few people that start off as non-serious actors, but show such promise.  Robin Williams has played some phenomenal roles.  Jamie Foxx is another amazingly unsuspecting actor.  Mo’Nique in this movie shows such talent, I found myself hating her and having to remind myself that she was just playing a role.

I don’t know if I can recommend this movie.  I can’t say that I liked it.  I can say that it made me feel things I’ve never felt.  This is the first time I have ever felt, literally, nauseous after seeing a movie.  I have The Hangover playing in the background hoping I can flush some of this depression out.  I have a feeling I am going to have a rough night because of this movie.  And you cannot judge this movie by the trailer seen HERE.  The trailer makes it seem like a movie about an over weight girl dealing with life.  But that’s only the tip of the iceberg.  And I’m talking about sunk-the-Titanic kind of iceberg.  Her weight problem isn’t even the beginning of her problems.  All I can say is… IF you are going to watch this movie, have plenty of tissues and a sure fire way to boost your morale afterwards.  If this movie does not touch you or move you in some way, shape or form, you have no soul.

–

AC

Theme: Shocking Blue Green. Blog at WordPress.com.

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.