That Time Again

My computer has just about run out of hard disk space. In this day and age where hard drives are measured by the terabytes, one might wonder what my computer is filled with. The answer is simple: not much. I have a 37GB hard drive (of which 34.4GB is usable). People have iPods with larger capacities that my computer. Good thing adjacent to this monitor is a box from Newegg with a 640GB hard drive, and atop that a plastic case containing Windows 7. I'm sporting Vista right now and haven't had any of the problems that people seem to be plagued with, but alas it is time to upgrade. When next I post I'll have ample legroom to save more useless crap.

♦ I was just at Best Buy exchanging a movie, and man are they busy over there. They have scores of people prepping the floor for Black Friday. Black tubs and black plastic wrapped displays are abound, littering the show floor ready to be unraveled to the masses early Friday morning. I for one hate crowds so I will not be in attendance to this madness, but I'm sure some people will be scoring some good deals.

♦ Both Moulin Rouge! and Disney's Beauty & the Beast graced my television screen this past weekend -- guess I was in a musical mood. We need more sing songy movies! Tangled comes out tomorrow, and I highly suggest you see it. Thanks to friend Hilary I was able to see a screening of it a couple weeks ago and it was wonderful, harkening back to the classic Disney movies of old. It's got the girl, the guy, the evil villain, and a colorful host of supporting characters. Maybe I'm not as impressionable as I was when I was younger, but the songs in recent Disney movies don't seem to be as good as they were growing up. This is true of this movie as well as The Princess Frog. But don't let that deter you in the least, and go see Tangled.

Iron Man 2: Iron Harder

Not as good as the first, but overall I liked the movie! [SPOILERS BELOW]



Good:

• Tony Stark doing what he does best. The classic Iron Man stories involve Tony Stark using his mind to get past the obstacles presented before him -- though generally by building new armor. He was technically given the answer in the movie by his long dead father, but whatever.
• Suitcase Armor -- a staple in the classic books. 
• Happy Hogan getting a little more screen time. 
• Humor/charm of the first movie still present. 
• Oodles of mechanized fight scenes! My favorite of which was the IM/Whiplash bout at Monaco. The fact that they included Whiplash in a way that made sense (read: not ridiculously outmatched) was fantastic. Iron Man's rogues gallery is fairly weak. 
• The cast minus Scarlett Johansson. Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer in particular -- new spin on old character, played it perfectly. I still think Michael Jai White would have been an ideal Rhodey, but Cheadle is loads better than Terrance Howard.
• Special effects top notch again -- damn I want his lab.

Bad:

• Scarlett Johansson.
• Avengers Initiative/SHIELD. I felt the movie would have been better if they focused on the Stark/Hammer/Vanko triangle. Having Fury and SHIELD didn't really bring anything to the table except setting up upcoming Thor and Avengers movies. Though Cap's shield was humorous.
• Drunken Tony Stark party. This wasn't actually that bad (and nowhere near as bad as emo Spider-Man (3) jazz alley dance number), but it just made Stark's alcoholism ridiculous instead of troubling. 
• Scarlett Johansson.
• Final fight between IM/War Machine and Whiplash. I know we just sat through probably close to half an hour of armor/robot destruction, but I think a more dramatic fight (and by more dramatic I mean more talking, less fighting) would have made that showdown better. It felt kinda thrown in just so they could beat up on him one more time. 
• Stark/Pepper hooking up could have happened at the end of the next movie. I fear this might lose some of what makes them great on screen, and just turn it into Peter Parker/Mary Jane style drama.
• Scarlett Johansson.

Setting up the third: Well in the future because of The Avengers, but where does this movie lead? War Machine is here, so don't think you can take him out. Hammer has vowed to get vengeance. And as probably the last in a trilogy, IM's arch-nemesis the Mandarin will have to make an appearance. The Mandarin -- possibly one of the most politically incorrect characters created. He's a Chinese kung-fu master who wields  ten magical rings and at one point was in control of a large green dragon. And of course his choice of dress happens to be long flowing robes and he sports a fu manchu. He resides in the "Valley of the Spirits", deep in the jungles of China.

Luckily modern incarnations of the characters have made him more of a businessman bent on creating a new world order and his rings have been revealed to be alien technology, so there is something to draw from to make a legitimate movie villain. In the first Iron Man, the terrorists that captured Tony Stark was named the Ten Rings, in obvious reference to the Mandarin. I couldn't find any such references in second movie (after one viewing), but it'll be interesting to see how they present him in the third.

Yeah...

Go see Iron Man 2! Next anticipated summer movie: Predators.

My First Ballet

In an attempt to culture myself a bit I joined my friends Anne and Hilary to a Pacific Northwest Ballet production of The Sleeping Beauty this past Friday night. There was some sort of deal in which discounted tickets were available to people under the age of 25. Luckily we all fall into this category and at seven thirty-ish we shuffled into our seats near the back of the theater to watch my first ballet.



It was... alright. Movements were crisp, the costumes were wonderful, orchestra perfect, and the lighting effects made the sets shine. However, the dialog was pretty stale -- some would say non-existent. It was certainly an interesting experience, but it got pretty old in the last act when it was the celebration and all that happened were people dancing. That sounds wierd, but in the other acts most of the dancing moved the story along. The last act was just us sitting and watching people come up in pairs (or themselves) and do a little routine. Heck, even the other characters on stage were sitting and watching. The word "showcasing" was dropped, and I would have to agree.

Two other things come to mind about my ballet experience. The first is that I had an incredibly annoying woman sitting behind me who would sing a little bit to the orchestral music, and also say things like this during the routines: "late. late. late. oops. late. she's off with everyone else." My working theory is that she was rejected from this particular production and harbors nothing but ill will towards the performers on stage.

The second thing is that I kneed two little girls in the back of the head. They were both sitting in front of me and due to their size they were propped up on booster cushions. This meant that their heads were positioned above the headrest. The first was actually the left little girl's fault -- she whipped her head back right into my waiting left knee. The second impact came when the right little girl slowly tilted her head back to yawn just as I was adjusting myself in my seat. These two inopportunely timed events resulted in me driving my right kneecap into the back of her head. She immediately snapped forward and put her hand to her head, and then told her mommy. I'm just thankful she didn't cry.

So while I was warned that it might be boring and put me to sleep, the ballet did no such thing. That said, not sure I would go again especially when musicals are a much better option. Dialog and songs, yes please. Though I wouldn't mind seeing The Nutcracker, as it's a holiday classic that has sets produced by Maurice Sendak. One thing for sure: it won't be long before I am once again viewing people in fantastically colorful costumes prance about-- the Emerald City ComiCon is but one month away!

Mini-Vacation

So while I originally had essentially Dec. 17th through the 23rd off, I decided to forgo the second half of my time off and go to work on Monday. There is a lot of work to do and unfortunately my coworker might potentially be overwhelmed, as he has not had as much time on the routing program as I have. I will be able to push some more time off over to next year (over the 40 hours I was allowed to originally), but unfortunately this means that Christmas week will equal a normal work week for me. So with technically only two days off work, I had to make the most of it!

Bowled Away
Brian and I had our best joint game, as he rolled four off of his career high score and I three away from mine. Exciting 'til the end and makes for a good picture! And dang I really need to replace my camera as my phone's just doesn't cut it. Looks like Brian's iPhone did the trick though:

Turky dances were busted out on both sides.

Canada II: Canada Harder
I'll admit I didn't really want to go back to Canada so soon but I was... persuaded, so on Thursday Anne, Jason, Trevor, Hilary and I went up North. No near death experiences this time, but some good times were certainly had. I was talked into getting a fancy jacket to boot! Some pretty decent Chinese food, but also a sour experience at a restaurant where a waitress followed me to the door because we did not put enough of a tip in. Lastly, advice to readers: don't try and make small talk with the border patrol agents, especially when they are about to clear you across.

The 218 flavor gelatto shop, La Casa Gelato, on VENABLES.

I See You, Frog
I saw James Cameron's Avatar on Friday and Disney's Frog Princess on Saturday. Avatar was very cool to watch and the 3D actually worked and may have enhanced the movie (I'm in the mindset that 3D in movies is nothing more than a gimmick). Story was nothing great, but the visuals are worth the price of admission, with lush colors in the detailed environments stealing the show. And speaking of colors, it was refreshing to see a 2D animated movie in The Frog Princess after years of seemingly endless 3D productions; way to go back to the roots, Disney. The film was very good with some decent songs (no great songs though, I felt like) and an engaging story. I actually liked it better than Avatar. And I liked that the lesson in this Disney flick is that hard work is the way to get what you want. Plus Keith David sings!


So now I'm hoping for a relaxing Sunday (preferably filled with a Seahawks win) in preparation for a potential long week ahead. Luckily I'm not a big Christmas shopper so I won't have to deal with that ridiculousness. Man, has this year gone by fast or is it just me?

All that Jazz

I was invited on Monday to make a visit to Dimitriou's Jazz Alley in downtown Seattle. This was spurred by the fact that the show was complimentary, instead of the normal (so I was told) $25+ entry fee. So on a drizzly night I literally ran out of work, shot [safely and carefully] home, and made my way into the heart of Seattle. There, I joined friends Hilary, Ruth, and new friend Tina to hopefully enjoy my first jazz club experience.

Unknown to me, it was Brazilian night and composed of an opening by pianist Jovino Santos, followed by the group (lady?) Montserrat. While not what I expected (I thought saxophones were a requirement of jazz), the show was pretty good minus the fact that Montserrat sung entirely in Spanish. But she worked the crowd extremely well with her cute charm and slightly imperfect English. Luckily good music is universal and strong instrumentals along with Montserrat's strong voice made for some good listening. My friends kept egging me on to shimmy up to her on stage and see if she would dance with me (I'm not entirely sure that she wouldn't), but I didn't want my first jazz club experience to end with me being escorted out.

So that part of the club was nice and good, but I feel like I need to rag on the food. Upon cracking opening the menu, it became clear that I would not be having dinner here; entrées in the $30 range? Basic Caesar salad for $12.50? No thanks. But as I was anticipating eating dinner here, I was forced to look for something to get. Heck, even a basket of bread was $5! I finally decided on an appetizer of $9.50 meatballs, thinking it was probably the best thing from the appetizer list to tide me over 'til afterwards. Technically, they were called "soutzoukakia", a lamb and beef Greek meatball combination.

Imagine my disappointment when a plate was plopped down in front of me with four regular size meatballs sitting there. Fortunate for me my compatriots had been smart enough to eat beforehand, so they did not take any of my meatballs (despite my polite attempts of offering fourths of one, all the while secretly hoping none would accept). Now, they were good meatballs, but that's kind of tempered when one considers that each one cost over two dollars. Maybe if they were the size of softballs...

In addition, we all partook in a pretty good (and somewhat reasonably priced) chocolate cake with fruits and chocolate ice cream before we left. Three of us ended up at Borolo Ristorante's Happy Hour afterwards, where our combined filling meal cost $27 -- equivalent of one Jazz Alley entrée. So I guess the lesson here is to always know what you're getting into before you get there. Great place to go on a [fancy] date (I'd imagine), but don't come here for dinner as casual fun. Or maybe you aren't cheap like me and you don't even know why I'm ragging on this. Either way, it was a good musical experience at a good venue and something I would definitely do again.

Oh and sorry, no pictures of the club, the performers, or my meatballs.

Phone!

I've got a decent amount to write about, especially since I haven't updated regularly for a little while now, but let's start with closing off the recurring thread of my busted cell phone affectionatly referred to by a few people as "the brick". It has finally been replaced. I had been waiting for a nice high-end phone to come out that would meet all my needs and be stylish to boot, but despite the promises of the Pre & Magic (which I still refuse to call the "MyTouch") nothing has yet to keep my interest after they've been released.

Since "the brick" was so far past its prime that you couldn't even consider it seasoned, it had to be retired. I decided to go with a relatively cheaper "dumb" phone while I await a cell phone company to deliver the goods to satisfy my lofty specifications. Enter: The Samsung Solstice. One of the many black touchscreen phones on the market, the Solstice is the newer version of [apparently] widely successful Samsung Eternity. It includes a 2MP camera (fairly weak), 3G speed capability, and GPS (though locked by AT&T unless you pay $5 a month for their service). It's sleek and thin and for the first time in a long time I can put a phone in my breast pocket.

After using it for two weeks, I can easily say that I *almost* love this phone. I've forgotten how nice it was to have a phone that didn't need to be charged every night -- I've only had to plug it in twice since I first turned it on. It actually connects to the internet on the first try, and won't sound the alarm at seemingly random times. The best feature: it syncs via Bluetooth! I can sync phone contacts and transfer images wirelessly without the need to hook anything up between my phone and computer, and that in itself is worth the price of admission. I don't know if high-end phones can do this, and I'm not sure if I can live without this now. Mark my words: the first camera manufacturer that incorporates Bluetooth (heck, basic WiFi would be acceptable) into their line of digital cameras would be able to swim in money Scrooge McDuck style.

Not all is perfect in Solstice land though, and the minor knock I have against it is that while the main screen has a widget bar on the left, it isn't as customizable as I would like. You can only use preselected widgets, and can't add any of your own. So while I have a link to AT&T's music store which I can't get rid of, I can't add a shortcut icon to the downloaded Google Maps application. Luckily though, it has little buttons to my other most used features such as alarms, text messages, profile (to switch to silent mode), web, and the bluetooth menu.

The creepiest thing about this phone? It involves a link to Facebook on the main screen. It's not an actual app but instead launches the mobile browser to the Facebook website. I accidently hit the button and 'lo and behold, my logged in home screen is on there. I never entered any of my details... the only explanation I can think of is that somehow my log-in details magically transferred over via sim card.

In the end, this phone does what it should perfectly -- make phone calls, manages contacts, and handles text/MMS messages. Anything on top of this is bonus, and luckily these bonuses almost matches every line on my cell phone features want list. It seriously has me rethinking whether I will plunk down the big money later on when a "fully featured smart" phone comes out. Until then, I know I will be very happy with what I have in hand right now.

Comi...err Graphic Novels

As some of you may know, I'm a reader of the comic books. While I've traditionally stuck with my superhero books (gotta love that Iron Man), I began branching out after my friend G let me borrow Watchmen. Granted I wasn't really impressed with that title (nor its cinematic counterpart), but soon afterwards I asked him for some recommendations on what other interesting reads he had in his nerd shelf. Amongst the classic Batman tales of The Long Halloween & Dark Knight Returns, he mixed in some of Vertigo's Preacher as well as the complete run of Y: The Last Man. Of all those, by the way, I would recommend Y, a story about a man and his monkey being the last males on earth (the rest had suddenly died) and the world they now live in. Or perhaps Ex Machina which has been described as West Wing meets superhero comics -- if you're into the politics.

So why am I telling you all of this? Because it is my turn to pay it forward. I was recently at a local comic book store and not content with walking out with just the newest issue of Iron Man, I asked the lady working there (yep, female) if she had any trade recommendations. She walked me around the store for nearly fifteen minutes handing me books and explaining maybe a little too much about each one; some of these I rejected, some I kept in my hands. One book in particular looked and sounded so ridiculous (and was her second highest recommendation), that I just had to get it. I think this panel explains it all:

Oh, definitely click above for the whole thing

In a story described as Homeward Bound meets Terminator, this gory-action-packed-heart-warming-pet-filled-feature is absolutely fantastic. With minimal word usage (the animals kind of talk), the beautiful art by Frank Quitely drives Grant Morrison's story about former pets that have been experimented on for militaristic purposes but have suddenly outlived their usefulness. After being freed from their holding cells due to a guilty-conscienced scientist, the animals attempt to make their way home with the government hot on their paws. But just what exactly is home?

Not all comic books are about superhero in tights fighting their archenemies on the sun, and this is a good example of that. While the animals are cute, this book is extremely gory so it's not recommended for the feint of stomach. A short three chapter book, you'll finish reading it quickly but will soon find that it lingers in your mind for a while. So if you ever accidentally find yourself in a comic book store, ask for a copy of We3 from Vertigo -- you can spend $10 in a lot of worse ways.

As a honorable mention, I was also recommended The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman featuring art from Tony Moore. If you're into zombies, this is for you. It starts out almost exactly like 28 Days Later in that a guy wakes up from a coma in a hospital, only to find out he's surrounded by zombies. The lady at the comic store told me that this came out almost at the same time as the movie, and when he saw the beginning of 28 author Kirkman started cussing at the theater screen. Whether true or not, if you've ever wanted an extended tale of survival give this a shot. The first trade that I bought for $10 has issues 1-6, but there is a Compendium available at Amazon.com that has the first 48 issues for $38... so if you think you might like it, the collection might not be the worst idea. But how do you know if this book is up your alley? Luckily, we live in the wondrous age of the internet. Behold, issue #1 for free online from the publisher!

Or, if anyone wants they can borrow from my small collection of trades or make a trek to the library. I highly encourage anyone who wants to read (but doesn't want to read) give graphic novels a shot. This is definitely a case of something being out there for everyone.

Zuuuuune...

You know you're a one hit wonder when...

I'm in the process of transition from Rhapsody music service to Zune. They cost roughly the same amount of money, but Microsoft let's you keep 10 songs a month with their subscription service. This will also require an upgrade in hardware, but the upcoming ZuneHD will make the change much more pleasant.

Rhapsody... sucks. Its software is buggy, songs that the company loses the licenses to errors out on you when you try and play them (but are kept in the library, to error out every time they are attempted to be played), and syncing with the clix/Rhapsody jointly created music player is an exercise in futility. It has probably only succesfully signed into my account on the first try less than ten times in the nearly two years I've been with them. I've only endured it for so long because there was no reason for me to try and re-get all of my songs with another service. But now with the ability to actually keep some of what I'm paying for? Yes please.

I've been running the Zune software for nearly a month, and the only negative I have to say about it is that I'm sorry I didn't switch to it sooner. It is literally light years ahead of the Rhapsody music experience, and if I had known that I would have made the switch much early (keepable music or not). It has probably the biggest feature Rhapsody was missing: easy song/artist search. I remember when I used to use iTunes (possibly even darker days), and was able to type "m" when I was in the library, and it would scroll to the artists that began with "m". Zune takes it one step further, where you can type more than one letter. "S" will zoom you to the artists begin with S, but now you can go right to Shania Twain with a simple "shan" (an exact command which I use quite a bit, mind you).

Mathmatecailly speaking, it might make sense for me to actually just purchase songs outright for $0.99 or whatever Amazon is charging for them, as I mainly just listen to oldies. But having the ability to sample anything and everything (and the ability to have a complete library for the eventuality of random karaoke nights) just seems like subscription service is the way to go. Now, I can have the best of both worlds.

Watching Men, Max, and Brothers

I saw Watchmen in theaters, but the other two movies make me glad that I have enough self restraint to wait for them to come to Netflix. If I dropped $10 on every movie that looked interesting to me from commercials or trailers, I could probably no longer afford trips to the OCB.

Who watches the Watchmen?
I did, and I'd have to say it's pretty much ripped (although condensed) from the comic book -- with one big exception (p.s. it's near the end). Zach Snyder (300) has taken the effort to almost transfer the frames right out of the "graphic novel" (as Watchmen is more widely known as) keeping intact the look of the characters, settings, and time. I finished watching the movie with the same feeling I had after my friend G lent me the book -- nyeh.

If you're expecting a traditional superhero movie you'll be surprised. The good guys aren't that good, the movie is ultra violent, and it's not a fairy tale ending where the heroes valiantly triumph over evil. Starting with a history of a twisted timeline, the movie is well paced with continual switches to the past that helps us understand the characters and the world they live in. While a comic book not suited for "Summer Blockbuster" status, Watchmen is a sweeping mystery without a predictable ending that mixes action (mostly good), sex, special effects, and a bad-ass ginger. Because it is so different than everything out there, I'll give it:
My Score: 7/10, Catch in Theaters

Which brings me to Payne... Max Payne that is.
You'd think a movie based on a shoot 'em up game that revolves around "bullet time" (made famous by The Matrix -- essentially slow motion) would be a solid shoot 'em up movie that revolved around "bullet time". Unfortunately for us, that is not the case. I played Max Payne years ago, so the only part of the story I remember is that his family is murdered and Max (played by Mark Wahlberg in the movie) goes looking for answers and revenge.

What we get from the movie is a confusingly loud cacaphony of explosions (not from when things blow up, more from when the sky turns to fire), angels, Chris O'Donnell for ten minutes of screen time, and a lot of unanswered questions -- the biggest one to me being: why did Beau Bridges stop Max Payne from being impaled in the face by a drugged up super soldier when he wanted Max dead and was actually there to kill him? I mean, besides the fact that the whole mystery needed to be explained by BB (to us). The film starts off painfully slow, and I can't say it really picked up to a point where it became enjoyable. I can say it got weirder and weirder, but unfortunately that will only negatively affect:
My Score: 1/10, Not Worth Your Time

... Step-Brothers.
I had a small inkling to see this movie in theaters where I had missed out on Talladega Nights and Blades of Glory, both Will Farrell movies that which I really enjoyed. However, it ended up being a good call because while having some funny parts, Step-Brothers is not a very good movie. I felt the deleted scenes (as played by themselves) were more enjoyable to watch than the actual movie because then I wouldn't have to spend my time viewing the ridiculous familial interactions of the ridiculous characters.
My Score: 4/10, Rent (if you've got nothing else to)

White Striping My Ears

Last night marked Conan O'Brien's last night on Late Night before he takes over for Jay Leno on the Tonight Show. The episode was a fitting end as Conan recounted some of his favorite clips, had some guest stars stop by, and said his thank yous to everyone that made the show possible. The musical guest he chose for the last episode was the White Stripes, and they turned in possibly the worst live performance of a song I have ever heard -- and this is coming from someone who was watching SNL when Ashlee Simpson walked off the stage. It took me nearly half a minute to figure out what song they were even playing despite them singing the title of the song, and I couldn't help but think that if this were the tryouts for American Idol they would have been stopped ten seconds in by Simon Cowell who would've asked them: "What... the hell... was that?"

Judge for yourself:

Role Models Review, For the Children

After weeks of delays and putting it off and trying to wait for a day where people could catch a matinee together, I was finally able to see Role Models last night and I can easily say I loved it. Better than Superbad, and better than Clerks II -- both of which I hold in the highest regards of the comedic cinema category. Unlike many modern day comedies where crazy antics and well timed one-liners give way to more serious themes and dilemmas permanently altering the mood of the movie (after escaping the adult party with laundry detergent jugs filled with alcohol in tow; or Rosario Dawson revealing that she was pregnant in the aforementioned movies), Role Models maintains the comedic quality of Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott (and their "littles") throughout. The transition to serious in this movie is both short lived and does not cause the movie to lose steam as in others. At the heart of the film are the two kids placed into Rudd and Scott's care: one played by McLovin as a LARPer and the other Ronnie, the dirtiest mouthed black ten-year old imaginable. The interactions between the cast is nothing short of hilarious and I really can't find any fault in the movie; enjoyable start to finish with just about every joke hitting their mark.

My Score: 10/10, Cinematic Perfection

Favorite Quote:
Danny: Pick us up in two hours.
Ronnie: Fuck you, Miss Daisy.

As of this writing,
Rotten Tomatoes: 76% (Superbad: 87%; Clerks II: 63%)
MetaCritic: 59 (Superbad: 76; Clerks II: 65 )

Who is He? QoS Review

I had heard rumors going into the movie that this would be the first Bond film where he didn't say, "Bond. James Bond." Unless I missed it, I don't think it was there -- but that might be the only thing really wrong with the movie. Quantum of Solace was a good Bond action movie through and through. Starting off with an intense car chase, the mood of the movie is set immediately and the action is seemingly non-stop as Bond battles through land, sea, and air. Daniel Craig continues to make the case that he is a solid James Bond, and the supporting cast do their job well -- though the main bad guy is extremely creepy weird. My only critique was that even after the bad guys were stopped (come on, that's not a spoiler! It's a Bond movie!) I didn't feel like there was closure; it felt like there was supposed to be more to the movie until you realize that all the ends were in fact tied up. Besides that, there's not much to the review -- you either like Bond movies or you don't, and this was a good one. I would say better than Casino Royale, and:

My Score: 7/10, Catch in Theaters

I went to a 2:30 matinee showing on Friday (a workday) and the theater was packed. I still can't tell you what Quantum of Solace means.

Horror Movie Roundup

In the spirit of Halloween, over the past two weeks I took the initiative to see three fairly new horror movies. One is an American-ized remake, one the fifth installment of a Halloween mainstay, and the last something from the legendary mind of Clive Barker.

Shutter
The most terrifying images are the ones that are real.

The movie itself is a remake of a Thai horror film and is an OK watch despite using the now familiar Asian theme of spirits haunting people, yet helping others to find out the truth. What bothered me was the casting choices. The roles aren't actually miscast, but they use a series of C-List actors that you've probably only seen in one thing, and they really stick out at you. This movie starred Charlie from The Mighty Ducks, the Australian chick from Transformers (who had a very hard time hiding her accent, by the way), Roy from The Office, and Matt: the Michael Jackson looking guy from Nip/Tuck.

Having seen The Ring and The Grudge (and others I can't even remember) the whole movie seemed familiar to me, yet was original enough to keep me entertained and guessing. Essentially, a new married couple move to Tokyo for the husband to work as a professional photographer. The first night there, the wife hits a lady with their car -- but no traces of the body can be found. Spirits soon start to manifest themselves in the photographs that the two take. As the hauntings becomes more pervasive (and more real), secrets from the past are unlocked and the couple find that they are more connected with the spirit than previously thought. While the twists might not be all that surprising, the final images of the movie are damn creepy.

5/10, Decent Rental -- Rotten Tomatoes: 7%, Metacritic: 37

Saw V
If it's Halloween, it must be SAW.

Every Halloween, you can look forward to three things: Girls wearing the sluttiest things they can find, children dentists gleefully wringing their hands together, and a fresh installment of the Saw franchise. I'm not going to lie to you: the ending of Saw IV had me extremely confused; I could not tell you what happened in the last five minutes of the movie, as they spliced in parts of the ending of Saw III, and may or may not have included a character that hadn't been seen since Saw II... yeah. That said, everything is explained in Saw V fairly early on so we can continue on to random (well, maybe not so random) scenes of torture.

The movie picks up directly from the end of Saw IV. Despite dying in Saw III, Jigsaw still gets a lot of screen time in this movie as it alternates between a series of flashbacks and current events of the FBI agent trying to figure out the truth of the dirty cop. In turn, all of this is taking place at the same time that a small group of people are trying to escape from one of Jigsaw's games. It's all more of the same: gore, ridiculous torture devices, detective work, flashbacks, and that damn doll thing -- and I love it. As many questions as this movie answers, it opens up the door to whole host of things that can (and I'm sure will) be addressed in the next movie(s). If there is one thing all of the Saw movies teach you, stay the hell away from people with pig masks.

6/10, Solid Rental -- Rotten Tomatoes: 12%, Metacritic: 19

The Midnight Meat Train
"I've got a train to catch."

When I first saw the trailer for The Midnight Meat Train over a year ago, I couldn't help but laugh out loud (that means "LOL"). The trailer itself painted an absolutely ridiculous picture, culminating with the title finally revealed. It looked like a slasher movie taking place in the New York Subway system starring the douchebag from Wedding Crashes. Oh, how wrong I was. Actually it does star the douchebag from Wedding Crashes, but he only headlines the great cast of Vinnie Jones (yes, Vinnie "I'm the Juggernaut, bitch!" Jones), Leslie Bibb, and Brooke Shields.

Based on a story written by Clive Barker of Candyman and Hellraiser fame (and yes, like every other once hot '80s property they are "rebooting" Hellraiser next year), the story revolves around a New York City photographer who is told that to really capture the city, he needs to follow through and explore the grittier side of the people. It isn't long before his path crosses that of a butcher with a mysterious habit -- entering a subway train in the middle of the night, and killing the people off one by one with a hammer like object. The story seems to have some holes, but once you start considering that there may be a supernatural element to the movie things start to make more sense.

With a limited release in 100 theaters (I originally thought it didn't even make it into theaters), I was eagerly awaiting this movie to come from Netflix. Despite being in my queue for months, the DVD had no planned release date. Luckily for me, I happened upon a post at trusty Screenrant.com proclaiming: "Watch ‘Midnight Meat Train’ Online For Free!" Apparently, FEARnet (of which I used to love watching their On Demand content back when I had real cable TV) has made this movie available for all to see through their website. While this movie is not as ridiculous as I imagined, it's also not as bad as I originally thought it would be. That said, I correctly guessed just about how everything would end a little over half way through the movie. Enjoyable, somewhat gross, original, and with Clive Barker's fingerprints all over the end, I do not feel bad recommending you to watch this movie while it's still available here for free at the FEARnet website.

EDIT: Egad, it seems that they've already taken the movie off of the site. I guess it was a Halloween weekend treat only. Sorry!

6.5/10, Solid Rental -- Rotten Tomatoes: 67%, Metacritic: 58

Bangkok Dangerous!

People may question why I would choose to go see Bangkok Dangerous (in theater no less), but the answer is fairly simple: Nicholas Cage often equals comedic gold. Partially due to the roles he chooses and the rest due to the way he plays them, unintentional comedy is Cage's trademark. You don't have to go far to find examples, but if you want the cream of the crop I direct you to Wicker Man. There are small parts of that movie (short pieces of dialogue really) that I actually rewinded and repeated no less than ten times -- and then went back to after the movie had ended. In addition to all that, I had just seen National Treasure 1 & 2 last week which were actually mostly devoid of Cage's usual antics, so I hoped he would step his game up in Bangkok Dangerous. Did he?

I'm going to give the whole movie a big, "nyeh." The actual movie wasn't good, nor was it bad. It's what Hitman (a movie I would give 1/10) could have been, but the whole feature was dragged down by a side love story that attempted to show that heartless killer-for-hire Nicholas Cage was, in fact, human. The love story -- geez, where do I start. Cage becomes infatuated with a Thai woman, so you'd assume there would be the usual language barrier and clash of cultures. To bypass this, the filmmakers made the woman deaf and mute. This actually ended up being a trend of the movie -- lack of talking. It really was action scene shuttled to action scene supported by a story based on the premise that this professional hitman (who had been doing the same thing for presumably many years with great success) decides to change his ways for his last job. There was one line of dialogue in the last twenty minutes of the movie, a huge shoot-em up action scene that when finally over makes you question whether the $10 you just spent was worth it.

As to whether Cage satisfied my expectations, I would say mostly no. The biggest thing he had going for him was his wild dark hair -- that had me cracking up a few times when they did close up portraits of his face. So besides Cage's hair, is there anything good about this movie at all? It has some decent action sequences, interesting hitman techniques for those in training, and you can learn how to say a few Thai swear words. Thus, I give this movie:

My Score: 4/10, Rent (if you've got nothing else to)

As of this writing,
Rotten Tomatoes: 10%
MetaCritic: 24

Google Chrome Review!

Google recently released their internet browser: a nifty little program called Chrome. You can check out the technical details of what makes their browser different than Internet Explorer or Firefox at their website, but I thought I would post my impressions after having used it for a few weeks. Keep in mind, I've been using Firefox exclusively for the past three or four years, minus a few trips with I.E. whenever I needed to upgrade a Windows component or watch online Netflix movies. 

Pros:

• Chrome is FAST! The same websites noticeably load faster in Chrome over Firefox. This is very apparent with GMail. After the "new" GMail was introduced with a progress bar filling up after you log in, I'd noticed that it slower load times than before the upgrade with Firefox. In Chrome, I'm back to getting at my e-mail seconds faster.
  
• Home page. The default homepage of Chrome consists of two things: nine small windows displaying thumbnails of the websites you visit most frequently, as well as a box containing the last nine webpages you bookmarked. The small thumbnail windows are much more practical than having multiple tabs (as homepage tabs) open up in Firefox, and they update on the fly. Start visiting my blog more and more? Slowly, it will creep into your top nine and you can simply click the thumbnail whenever you start up Chrome. What makes it nice over multiple home tabs is that I don't have load each one upon the startup of the program. They are there if I want them, but if not I can start browsing immediately without having to wait for my homepage(s) to load. Although, I guess this isn't too different than having either your Bookmarks window open or have link buttons at the top of your browser in Firefox/IE.
• Address/Search Bar combined into one. I'm not one to make wild claims, but I think I was a pioneer in the field of only using one bar. In Firefox, I had completely gotten rid of the address bar and used the search bar for all my browsing needs. If I want to Google something, I would just type it into the search bar. If I wanted to go to http://www.netflix.com, I would write Netflix into the bar and click the first link. It was practical to me. Chrome has one upped me, as one can enter both a hyperlink address as well as search from the same bar. In addition, when you start typing, it will start autofilling in what it thinks you want -- if I start typing, "Netf", the Netflix website will fill in the bar, and all I have to do is hit the Enter key. Or I can scroll down the list, which will include both websites that I had visited with the matching term, as well as common search queries. 

Cons:

• I'm not sure how safe it is. As a relatively new program, I'm concerned about potential security breaches and flaws. I've stuck with Firefox to do any online purchases or deal with online financial matters.
• I'm used to having tabs on the bottom. Call me wierd, but I figure that being used to having individual windows (from the Internet Explorer days) on the bottom Taskbar, it would make sense for tabs to be down there. Using the Tabbrowser Preferences extension for Firefox, I was able to do that. I have yet to find such a thing for Chrome. *Side note: Tabbrowser Preferences has not been updated to work with Firefox 3.0.1. or 3.0.2., so it's all at the top now anyway.
• No spell-check. With Firefox whenever you typed something into a text box it would automatically put a redline under a mispelled word (like Microsoft Word). No so much in Chrome. Luckily, Blogger has a built in spell checker.... *Edit: Apparently Chrome does have a spell checker! So why it doesn't work for me all the time is the real question...

Final Thoughts: The combined address/search bar is worth the transition to Chrome alone. The homepage thumbnails are practical and something I use everyday, and there are small touches here and there that you discover while using Chrome that make you wonder, "how come no one else thought of that?" It has a simple and clean interface with no menu bar up top nor progress bar on bottom, and I encourage everyone to give it a try for a week and see what they think. It's going to be a while before I put credit card information through Chrome, which means Firefox has some life on my computer yet. But for my internet surfage purposes, Chrome has become my browser of choice.

Dark Knight Overated.

Alert: Slight Spoilers.

I know I'm going to going to get flak for this, but I've thought a lot about The Dark Knight since I saw it last Friday and I've come to the conclusion that while the movie is great, it's not the masterpiece that seemingly everyone claims it to be. To me, it can really be broken into two parts: The first half and the second half, where the midpoint is just after the car/batpod chase scene. Let's get this straight though: any scenes with Heath Ledger as the Joker are fantastic. In terms of losing yourself in the role, if I did not know he was in the movie beforehand I would never have guessed who the actor was under all the makeup. Everything you've heard about his performance is true: magnificent.

Overlooked in all this is Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent. The only thing I've seen him in before this was a few minutes of Thank You For Smoking when it was on TV, and I felt he was great in his role as a public defender striving for justice -- even if he ends up doing it his own way. On the flip side of the coin (see what I did there?), there's Christian Bale as Batman. This movie reaffirmed that I really don't like his voice when he's in costume. While I understand he changes it to keep his identity secret, it sounds as if he's an emphyzima riddled crusader of the night who'd been chain smoking since his parents got shot.

Like I said before, I felt most of the first half of the movie was drab and I found myself thinking, "move along...". The two main things that stood out for me that dragged the movie down was the Hong Kong scene (which I thought was totally unnecessary) and the car chase scene. I can't even remember much else that happened between these events because it was so forgettable (minus the Joker with mobsters scene: "You want to see a trick?"). I wasn't a huge fan of the chase scene as it was muddled with events like when the tumbler (batmobile) jumped up to take a RPG for the police transportation bus, or Batman shooting everything up with rockets to clear a path for his badpod (motorcycle). This chase culminated in Batman crashing his batpod after swerving to avoid the Joker -- something that made no sense to me.

After that crash though, everything fell into place. It turned into a superhero/crime drama that highlighted all the characters at their finest (or ugliness) -- the sacrifices of Batman, the twisted mind of the Joker, and the revenge of Harvey Dent. If I were to rate just this half I would give it a solid 10 out of 10, but since I'm judging the movie as a whole, I'm going to throw out:

My Score: 9/10, Must Watch, and Buy!

I gave Iron Man a better score because in my mind that was a much more enjoyable movie -- but I do acknowledge that The Dark Knight is not only the best comic book movie ever crafted, but one of the better movies to come out in a long time. This could also be the first one that I would not be surprised to see some sort of award consideration for during the upcoming award season -- or am I reaching too much and superhero movies will never be taken seriously? Either way, I gave this movie a solid 9 out of 10, and called it overrated -- go watch this movie.

Alert: Major Spoiler
By the way, was anyone else really grossed out by Two Face's free floating eye ball? Gives me the chills just thinking about it.

As of this writing,
Rotten Tomatoes: 95% (Spider-Man 2: 93%; Iron Man: 93%; Batman Begins: 84%)
MetaCritic: 82 (Spider-Man 2: 80; Iron Man: 79; Batman Begins: 70)

I am Iron Man review!

No spoilers here!

People sometimes ask me of my fascination with comic books and superheroes. I believe that today's superheroes are modern day mythology, and they are as compelling as those that came before them. We all know the stories of Hercules or Odysseus because they struggled against great odds to triumph at the end. Comic books provide stories based on those established themes, complete with compelling characters and fantastic art. Or you could be immature and say I like seeing men in tights.

Ever since I was a little kid, I was enamored with superheroes. Introduced through classic cartoons such as Captain Planet, Spider-Man, X-Men, and the greatest of all: Batman: The Animated Series, they provided worlds where anyone could have fantastic abilities and good always triumphed over evil.

A few years later, the Marvel Action Hour debuted featuring half hour episodes of the Fantastic Four and Iron Man back to back. Iron Man soon became my favorite hero. I eventually found my way into the comic books behind these cartoons, and have not looked back. Despite the myriad of characters and stories available, Iron Man still remained my favorite. Back then, it was because he had a bad ass suit of armor. Today, it's because he is the most interesting character of them all.

Never an A-list character like Spider-Man or the Hulk, Iron Man is different than the other heroes in that he wasn't given his power -- he forged it. Tony Stark is Iron Man because he wants to be, not because he has to be. He's the one comic character where his civilian identity is more important than his alter ego -- the Iron Man armor is just a tool for Stark to make the world a better place. This drive to improve the world makes for good story telling, because he always doesn't make the right choices to get there. He's a fundamentally flawed character; an alcoholic, womanizing, former weapons designer who has a lot of blood on his hands, but he works hard to not let all that be his legacy.

Enough of me! To say that I've been anticipating this movie being made is a severe understatement. Since this movie was officially announced a few years ago, what turned from slight doubt has turned into extremely high expectations with every new interview, image, and trailer. So now that it's out and I've seen it, what do I think? Just about cinematic perfection. This movie has action, stunning visuals, humor, and a well crafted story documenting the change from a worry free weapons designer to a conflicted avenger.

Robert Downey Jr. is the movie. I can't imagine anyone else playing the title role, and all you need is the first ten minutes to see why. He's surrounded by a strong supporting cast of Gweneth Paltrow, Terrance Howard, and Jeff Bridges, but make no mistake -- this is Downey's movie. To top it off, Industrial Light & Magic did most of the special effects (in my opinion, you could see where the Orphanage, the other 3D animation house, did theirs (read: slightly lesser quality)) and the fact that often you can't tell between CG and practical elements just go to show why they are the best.

My only con of the movie is that I felt the end fight scene wasn't as big or epic as it could have been. To me the cave escape (and the parts leading up to this) were the strongest of the whole thing, and that happened in the beginning -- the payoff at the end just didn't compare.

There are a few nods to elements of Iron Man comics and stuff strewn in for future Iron Man movies, as well as future Marvel movies if you look closely enough (note: stay for the credits). Box office predictions have Iron Man making $104 million domestically in the first weekend, good for tenth best at the box office all time. At 94% (currently) on RottenTomatoes.com, Iron Man is the best reviewed movie of the year thus far, and tops all superhero movies. Sequels sound like a safe bet, and here's me once again eagerly waiting.

Am I biased? Probably. However, everyone I went with and others I've talked to have only positive things to say, which makes me comfortable in awarding:

My Score: 9.5/10, Must Watch, and Buy!
I gotta give a chance for the sequel to get a perfect 10, right?

As of this writing,
Rotten Tomatoes: 94% (Spider-Man 2: 93%; Batman Begins: 84%)
MetaCritic: 78 (Spider-Man 2: 80; Batman Begins: 70)