I have only seen 29.2% of the IMDB top 250 movies.

Five Years of Blogging

Today my blog turns five, and I always post the following list on my blogiversary.

Here are my top ten movies of the year-so-far:
Baby Mama
Burn After Reading
The Dark Knight
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Iron Man
Pineapple Express
Smart People
Tropic Thunder
Wall-E
Vantage Point

Based on previous year's data, 5.5 of those will probably show up on my Top Ten of 2008 list.
The movies most likely to take the place of any of the above are Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, The City of Ember, Zack and Miri, and Twilight. I have not allowed myself to see Nick and Norah yet. I am using it as the proverbial carrot on the end of my school-stick. Basically I can't see it until I finish my paper. More on that later.

Twilight Widget

Twilight Teaser

Watch the First One or the Second One. Twilight comes out November 21st.

Solo Moviegoing

My boyfriend admitted to me that he has never gone to see a movie alone. Admitted is the wrong word, since he was not ashamed and he really didn't see it as an odd thing. He was in the minority in the car, since I do it all the time and the friend we were driving with does it on occasion. The BF gave two reasons. First, he isn't that into movies and doesn't need to see them in the theater. He adds that he's seen more movies in the theater over the last year with me (five or six?) than he had in several years prior! Second, he sees movie-going as a social activity and wouldn't do it alone. He even thinks it's sad to see people alone in theaters.

This was surprising to me because about 3/4 of the movies I see in theater are alone. This year I have seen 16 movies, and 10 of them have been alone. I don't object to seeing movies with my friends, but I also enjoy the alone time I get from being able to watch a movie in the theater and not have to discuss it immediately. The first movie I saw alone was 'Dances with Wolves' and the last was 'Pineapple Express'.

So, along with vacations and dining out, this is yet another thing that I do alone.

Read in August

30. 'How to be Good' - Nick Hornby
31. 'Travels' - Michael Crichton

'Good' was a novel that I had to push myself to finish. 'Travels' is a collection of essays from Crichton's life from the late sixties to the early eighties. It starts with him in medical school, goes on to describe many trips he took and finishes with an exploration of metaphysics. The middle was my favorite part. I am planning a blog post centered on the book, and it has really piqued my interest in Crichton himself.

I started reading 'New Moon' last night, the second book in Stephenie Meyer's vampire series. I'd picked 'Twilight' for my book club to read, thanks to a friend's suggestion. At least two of my other friends and three family members are now into the series. Most of us can't wait for the movie in November.

Harry Potter moves away, so Twilight moves closer

Since Harry Potter has moved it's release date to July, Twilight has moved up to November 21st.

Express rates of change in Pineapples

I am about to go to take the final test for Calculus 2 class. Happily I am much more prepared this time than I was the first time I took Calc2 in 2005.

As a reward for my (probably B-level) work in the class the semester, I am going to see Pineapple Express right after I finish the test. First Showing has an interview with the director David Gordon Green and another with Seth Rogen himself. James Franco gets some love, too, with this post which includes some other stories that feature him, and finally they review the film.

MIA at the movies

The trailer for 'Pineapple Express' features my favorite track from her 2007 album Kala, "Paper Planes". On Friday I saw the trailer for 'You Don't Mess with the Zohan' which is blasting "Jimmy" from the same album.

A date with Harry Potter

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince comes out November 21st, 2008
and it has been announced that Part 1 of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be released November 19th, 2010. Part 2 will be in 2011, but there is no date yet.

I <3 New York

"New York, I Love You" is being filmed right now. It's from the same guy who produced "Paris, je t'aime" in 2006 and will be followed by "Shanghai, I Love You" in 2010.

Paris was a great series of 20 short films about love set in Paris, so the other two will be essentially the same thing in their respective cities.

Hey you look like...

Except the first one, this blog post found some great pictures to compare the actors faces with the people they might be portraying.

Germany and Prague - Day 10

Tuesday, April 1 - Rental car to Munich Airport, Flight to Chicago, Flight home

I woke up at 8:30 to find that none of the socks I'd washed the night before were dry, so I ended up blowdrying one pair to wear on the plane. I had breakfast at the hotel and headed for the airport. I was planning to fill up the car at the last exit, but there were no gas stations there, so I ended up driving all over the town of Freising looking for gas. I stayed on the main roads at first, but ended up finding one in a residential area. Because of the delay, I checked in for my 12:20pm international flight at 11, oops. The passport checker asked me if I was coming from Berlin because I had a KaDeWe bag with me.

They served us pasta for lunch and then I started watching movies. Alvin and the Chipmunks and Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium were first. They were both more entertaining than staring at a seat back, but if I hadn't been on a plane, I don't think I would have finished watching them. Then I turned to No Country for Old Men in desperation. I missed the first 5-10 minutes and wasn't planning on liking it, but I did. Back in February I saw a picture from the Oscars, and I thought Javier Bardem looked a lot like Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and I guess I am not the only one. I watched an episode of Grey's Anatomy next and was reminded of how similar they look. For a snack, we were served one of the best sandwiches I've ever had, smoked turkey on pretzel bread with paprika chips.

We landed at Chicago O'Hare and went through Passport Control. The guy who checked mine didn't say a word to me. He just took my passport, looked on the computer, stamped it and gave it back to me. The stewardesses told us that if we were laying over in Chicago, we had to pick up our bags and recheck them on our second flight. So, I waited a very long time for my bag, just to carry it about 50 feet to recheck it and then run onto the train to the other terminal. While on the train, I turned the network on my Blackberry on for the first time since leaving Chicago ten days ago and it started downloading 150 emails. I had to go through security again and then run to my gate only to see them closing the door to the jetway. They let me on as the very last passenger (it seems to be a theme for me at O'Hare) and I slept most of the short flight to Minneapolis. My bag was not as quick as I was and didn't make it on the flight, so United had to deliver it to my house around midnight.

Germany and Prague - Day 7

Saturday, March 29 - Prague Day 1

I woke up at 8 am and took the Metro to Mala Strana and then the #22 tram up to the Prague Castle, the biggest castle complex in the world. When entering from the tram stop, you walk on a bridge over Deer Moat and past the riding school. I bought a 250 kc short ticket and a 50 kc photo permit. The short tour includes the Old Royal Palace, an exhibition "The Story of Prague Castle", St. George's Basilica, and Golden Lane with Daliborka Tower. St Vitus' Cathedral is free and holds the Bohemian Coronation Jewels. It reminded me of Westminster Abbey, just a bit less crowded. Next I went into the Old Royal Palace, a building where Czech kings have been crowned and presidents elected. Vladislav Hall is the large hall in the center of the palace with a vaulted ceiling in a rose petal pattern. It was a cold and windy day, and I noticed that most of the buildings were cold as well. Just off the hall is the Louis Tract, where the Thirty Years´ War began and where I was asked to show my photo permit. I continued on through St George's Basilica and then followed the crowd down the hill and into the Golden Lane. The Golden Lane is a collection of small houses within the castle grounds, also famous for housing Franz Kafka for a year.

The lane is full of gift shops, and as you descend the hill towards the castle exit, you pass more gift shops. Ignore those shops and take in the city views you see while passing Daliborka Tower. After a brief stop to snack and consult my guidebook, I took the 22/23 tram to Tesco, which sounded like a supermarket. It ended up being more like a department store with a small food section. I then walked north to Old Town Square to see the Astronomical Clock that has parts dating back to 1410. It is beautiful, entertaining and rather complicated. It was still cold, so I bought a Trdelnik, which is like a strip of dough wrapped around a metal stick and grilled with sugar and vanilla. As I sat and ate it, I made conversation with a British girl. She told me about how she and her boyfriend had missed their original flight to Prague and had to buy new tickets and drive several hours to a different airport. I told her about my passport ordeal last year.

After warming up a bit, I headed towards Josefov and the Old New Synagogue, but there was marathon being held that blocked my way. I got back on the Metro and went to Mala Strana, Lesser Town. Just outside the Malostranske namesti stop is a little park area with very nice views looking back at Old Town over the Charles River. I then took the Metro over to Wenceslas Square. I was mostly wandering at this point, with no real destination in mind. I sat in the square, read and gazed up at the National Museum. A group of demonstrators passed through the square and a woman started to hand me a pamphlet. She saw my book and said, "Oh, no Czech, no Czech," and walked away. I wandered a bit and then saw a sign for the Lucerna Passage. The name struck me as familiar, so I went inside. It is basically a mall, but then I saw this statue hanging inside and realized why the name stuck out.

There were two movie theaters (Kino) in the mall and There Will Be Blood was playing in English with Czech subtitles. I kept up my tradition by seeing it (100 kc for a ticket). It was too violent of course, but I did like the storyline. After the movie, I went back to the McDonalds near my hostel for dinner and then hit the sack.

Day Eight

The Wisdom of the music from Juno

Barry Louis Polisar - All I Want Is You - If you were the wood, I'd be the fire. If you were the love, I'd be the desire.

Kimya Dawson - My Rollercoaster - If home is really where the heart is then we're the smartest kids I know, because wherever we are in this great big world we'll never be more than a few hours from home, and that's important because I need to travel.

Kimya Dawson - Tire Swing - Cuz I like to be gone most of the time and you like to be home most of the time, if I stay in one place I lose my mind. I’m a pretty impossible lady to be with ...I’ve got one hand on the steering wheel, one waving out the window.

Belle & Sebastian - Piazza, New York Catcher - I will be your Ferdinand and you my wayward girl ... You’d settle for an epitaph like “Walk Away, Renee”

Kimya Dawson - Loose Lips - Broken hearts hurt but they make us strong … while we strive to figure out a way we can survive these trying times without losing our minds … and ask you what you think because your thoughts and words are powerful

Sonic Youth - Superstar - Your guitar, it sounds so sweet and clear, but you're not really there, it's just the radio

Kimya Dawson - So Nice So Smart - You're so nice and you're so smart, you're such a good friend I have to break your heart, tell you that I love you then I'll tear your world apart, just pretend I didn't tear your world apart.

Velvet Underground - I'm Sticking With You - When we swing, we hang past right or wrong.

The Moldy Peaches - Anyone Else But You - I'm in love with how you feel.

Booklists

I have an Amazon wishlist and IMDB and Netflix to help me remember which books and movies I want to buy or watch, but I have now joined 3 more sites that all keep track of what I have read, am reading and want to read.

All Consuming - part of 43 things. This site includes Music, Movies and Food& Drink categories.

Goodreads

Shelfari

Top Ten Movies of 2007

3:10 to Yuma
Across the Universe
Charlie Wilson's War
The Golden Compass
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Juno
Knocked Up
Lars and the Real Girl
Superbad
Waitress

Random Quotes about TV and Movies

"90210" was all about teens behaving like adults. "Melrose" was the opposite. It started with a group of adults--doctors, advertising executives, fashion designers--and dared to have them behave as foolishly and as naively as adolescents. - Malcolm Gladwell

I have observed before that giant corporations have replaced Nazis as dependable movie villains. - Roger Ebert in the review of Robots

It's fun even as it's tense, and it's smart all the time. So smart that some reviewers have no clue what they're seeing. - Hat Rack talking about Firefly

X-Men Movie News

There is a Wolverine spinoff planned for 2009, still starring Hugh Jackman.

There is also a Magneto film in the works. There is no official word yet on who will star.

Kevin Smith’s Universe

In 1993, Kevin Smith dropped out of film school and amassed a budget of just under $28,000 to film Clerks, a movie that was picked up by Miramax and won awards at the Sundance and Cannes film festivals. Clerks has since earned upwards of $3 million and Smith has gone on to write and direct six more feature length films, including the sequel Clerks 2.

Smith appears in most of his movies as Silent Bob, a character that speaks very little dialogue, often getting just a single line at or near the end of the movie. In Clerks, he tells the main character that he needs to stop looking for a better girlfriend, because the one he has is pretty great, she’s just not perfect. In Chasing Amy, Smith’s third film, Bob actually gets an entire monologue in which he tells the main character that he was wrong to reject his girlfriend to whom he felt sexually inferior because she had so much more experience than he did. This is a recurring theme in Smith’s movies, and he claims this is a recurring theme in his personal life.

He is married to Jennifer Schwalbach-Smith, whom he met in 1997 when she was interviewing him for a column in USA Today. Most of the time when he mentions her, he points out how lucky he is to have a hot wife, since he feels he is mediocre looking and overweight. While I’m sure he thinks he is being complimentary and grateful, I think it shows how he still isn’t over the issues he had in his teens and twenties feeling inferior to women. In fact, he has said that Chasing Amy’s plot was taken from his real life relationship with Joey Lauren Adams, his then girlfriend and movie’s female lead. He was jealous that she had traveled to Bali and wondered how she could find him interesting after having had an experience like that. Despite his tremendous success in Hollywood, he still wonders, or claims to wonder how his wife puts up with him.

There are other themes in Smith’s work that reflect his personal life. Religion took center stage in his fourth film, Dogma. In it, two angels that God previously banished from Heaven find a loophole that will allow them to return to Heaven. The movie examines what would happen if they were successful, since that would prove God wrong, and how a cast of characters from Heaven, Hell and Earth all conspire to either help or hinder the pair. Smith was raised Catholic and still professes to belong to the Church. Many of his views diverge from the Church’s teachings though, and he explores that in Dogma. The main thing I took from the movie was that personal faith and the established religions of today don’t always mesh well, but that doesn’t mean they can’t both be a part of your life.

Smith’s sixth movie is titled Jersey Girl, as an homage to both his home state of New Jersey and his daughter Harley Quinn Smith. This movie is a change from his previous films in that Silent Bob is not in it and it examines a father’s relationship with his daughter after her mother dies in childbirth. Ben Affleck plays the male lead, and the child’s mother is portrayed by Jennifer Lopez. Backlash against the overexposure of Affleck and Lopez’s relationship caused Smith to significantly reduce Lopez’ screen time in the movie. Affleck’s character struggles with balancing his fatherly duties with his career and eventually meets a new woman played by Liv Tyler.

The fifth and seventh movies that Smith has both written and directed are Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and Clerks 2. Both movies are basically extended references to the plots, settings and characters of his other films. Jay and Silent Bob tells the story of two slackers who find out someone is going to make a movie out of their lives and isn’t planning on sharing any of the money with them. They embark on a road trip to Hollywood to stop the movie from being made at all. Clerks 2 shows us Dante and Randall, the two main characters from the original movie, about 15 years later. They are still working dead-end jobs in town where they grew up. One of them is about to marry a woman from high school and move to Florida to live in a house her parents will buy them and work for her father. He has unresolved romantic feelings for his boss and is unsure he wants to leave the life he has, despite its shortcomings.

Both of these films examine the potential we all have to sabotage some of the good things we have going for us, and how it can be very difficult to know if something is actually good for us or is just holding us back. Smith even manages to make Randall both a positive and negative force in Dante’s life.

Personally, I am such a fan of Smith’s work because of how funny he manages to be while still examining serious issues. He has said that he thinks dialogue is his strong point, and I agree that most of his dialogue seems authentic. But I would say his willingness to put his own issues on the table and speak about them is what makes people appreciate his films for more than their crude humor or big-name actors. He tells a personal story with each of them, and while the plot points are resolved, he always leaves the door open for a new chapter in the characters’ lives.

The Golden Compass

This would have been a much different experience if I had not read the books.

I liked most of the movie, even the small details they changed from the books, despite parts of it feeling rushed. There was much more they could have included, but it was already a pretty dense story. I think someone who had not read the book would have had a much harder time following everything that happened. The casting is very good, especially the voices of the daemons.

Then there's the ending where there is an entire scene missing. I was so shocked that they ended it in the airship! Lyra is heading towards her father's house, and many things happen in the book after she gets there. I suppose they'll put those scenes in the beginning of the second movie, but it would have been better to end it with her waking up and hearing the ominous warning from her father's butler.

Top Ten of the Year so far

3:10 to Yuma
300
The Bourne Ultimatum
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Knocked Up
Pan's Labryinth
Reno: 911: Miami
The Simpsons Movie
Superbad
Waitress

Last year's list is here. And me posting this means that I have been blogging for four years.

Movies on the horizon

The Simpsons Movie comes out July 27th.

Stardust comes out August 10th.

The Last Legion with Colin Firth comes out August 24th.

The Jane Austen Book Club on September 21st

Across the Universe on September 28th

The Dark is Rising on October 5th

The Golden Age and Dan in Real Life October 12th.

The first movie in the His Dark Materials trilogy, The Golden Compass on December 7th.

Celebrities I have seen in person

At Book Signings or Staged events:
Sean Astin (see below)
Brett Butler
Patricia Cornwell
Malcolm Gladwell
Danny Glover
Kevin Smith - St Cloud State, February 17th, 2006, the man talked for nearly 5 hours with no break!
Margaret Thatcher

On the Street:
Kevin MacDonald
John Kerry
Numerous Minnesotan politics, sports and news people at the Fair

In Concert:
Liz Phair
Sheryl Crow
Dido
Prince
Chumbawumba
Everclear
Smashing Pumpkins
New Kids on The Block

Sean Astin Book Signing November 23, 2004 Mall of America

My niece and I stood there, dumbfounded, elbowing each other and squealing a little bit. Were our eyes deceiving us? Could it possibly be true that, in a few weeks, Sean Astin, Samwise Gamgee himself, was going to be signing his book mere feet from where we were standing? I checked my mental calendar and found that I already had that whole week off of work, since it was Thanksgiving, and I figured I could miss the first part of my evening class.

I picked her up early from school, since the signing started at 5:00 pm, but we knew the line would be huge. We got there about 2:15 and went to eat, finally getting to the rotunda at about 3pm. There were about 45 people in front of us, but we sat down, paged through the book and drooled over the pictures of him and the other cast members. People in front of us in line had laptops and were watching various parts of the Lord of the Rings movies. Some of them also had on t-shirts from the Minnesota Tolkien Society that announced a screening of all 3 extended edition DVDs at a church in Maple Grove on New Year's Eve. We agreed to go and invited others, but nobody else was up to it.

Back in line, as the time neared my niece gasps and says she saw him behind the curtain. She straining to get a look at where he went when the emcee woman comes up on stage and announces him. He comes out and pumps up the crowd a bit by naming a few of his movies and asking those who liked them to clap. Then he takes questions from the audience and shows off the t-shirt from the Tolkien Society that he was wearing.

Then it was time for the line to run through. There were people there who would take your picture so I handed him my digital camera and asked him to try to get my niece, and he actually got a nice shot of both her and I smiling like goons at him. I overheard him say. "Oh, you're sweet," to my niece and I didn't have much to say aside from thanking him. I was one of those moments that is over before you know it, and that you have to keep replaying in your head so that you know it was real. We went up to some of the higher floors to watch the line for a while and get some aerial photos of the whole thing.

Random Movie News

Bio Pics

• Antonio Banderas is in talks to play Hadrian
• Benecio Del Toro is playing 'Che' Guevara in Guerrilla, but it has been pushed back to 2008
• Christian Bale will be one of several different actors (including Cate Blanchett) portraying Bob Dylan in I'm Not There.

Superhero Flix

• Bale is also taking another turn as Batman, this time in The Dark Knight, where he will battle Heath Ledger's Joker. There were months of speculation and rumors before Ledger was announced.
• Also causing tons of casting specualtion was Joss Whedon's Wonder Woman, but it looks like it's not going to happen. There might still be a movie, but Joss won't be involved.
• Spiderman 3 releases May 4th with new villains Sandman and Venom, as well as Bryce Dallas Howard playing Gwen Stacy, Mary Jane's rival for Peter Parker's affections.

Animated TV shows being made into movies

• The Simpsons Movie - Comes out July 27th, 2007.
• Futurama - There are up to four direct-to-video, feature length versions of the show, set for a December 2007 release. This, in addition to the series returning to television in 2008, is very good news.
• Transformers - With Michael Bay directing, this one has a release date of July 4th, 2007.
• He-Man and the Masters of the Universe written by Adam Rifkin and starring Christopher Showerman as He-Man, this one is due out in 2008

My Top 10 Movies of 2006

Clerks II
Eragon
Friends with Money
Happy Feet
Little Miss Sunshine
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Pursuit of Happyness
Something New
V for Vendetta
X-Men 3

Three Years of Blogging Today

So, in the grand tradition, here are my top ten nine movies of the year so far:

• Clerks II
  
• Friends with Money
  
• The Lake House
• Last Holiday
• Little Miss Sunshine
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
• Something New
• V for Vendetta
• X-Men 3

I have only seen 13 movies in the theater this year

Eragonlive shut down even though it is just a fan site

I have been playing Eragonlive for several weeks now. Fox 2000 is producing the movie and think the site infringes on the copyright, and so they have asked the webmaster to shut down the site. You can sign a petition here to ask Fox to allow the site to stay open, as it is just a fansite. I am not privy to the exact wording of the request that they sent to Nighthawk, but I was working on the wiki and enjoying the game very much.

I am asking that you sign this petition if you think it was wrong of Fox to do this. I don't know how much influence it will ultimately have on the situation, but I want to get the word out.

Fox 2000 is part of 20th Century Fox, which is owned by News Corp, Rupert Murdoch's company.

Eragon, Book 1 of the Inheritance Trilogy

I finished it on Sunday night. Now I await the game in November and movie on December 15th.

For now there is an RPG that is normally at eragonlive.com, but is currently only available at http://72.232.84.156
. I played it for a bit today.

Theater Attendance

Seen in the theater lately:

The Lake House - A decent film overall, with some predictable parts. I saw this one in Hollywood.

The Devil Wears Prada - (seen with a free pass, so I didn't waste any $) The acting of the main characters was good, but the story couldn't have been more formulaic. It was even obvious to me where the first and second acts ended. I rarely notice that kind of thing, but it was glaring in this case. I just wonder if the book is the same way.

Superman Returns - I didn't like this one. This post does a good job of explaining why, and some of the comments do too. I can say that Bosworth is a horrible Lois Lane, but most of the action scenes were very well done. They almost distracted from the lame storyline.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - Before seeing it, I heard some mumblings and grumblings about how there was no story in this and it was all a set up for the third movie. I'm not sure what movie those people were watching, because this one was chock full of story, action and intrigue. It took me way too long to get the pun in the subtitle (Davey's heart, chest, sunken chest, har dee har har)

X-Men: The Last Stand - (second time) Even better than the first, since there is a high level of detail in this movie.

Movies - now through December

Today, 07/07/06
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Strangers With Candy

07/21/06
Clerks II: Passion of the Clerks

07/28/06
Little Miss Sunshine

08/04/06
Barnyard

08/11/06
Zoom

09/01/2006
This Film Has Not Yet Been Rated
Idiocracy

09/15/2006
Employee of the Month

09/29/06
The Children of Men
Open Season
The Painted Veil - many conflicting release dates from September to December

10/13/06
The Fountain
Running With Scissors

10/20/2006
Marie-Antoinette
Fast Food Nation
The Nightmare Before Christmas - 3-D version

11/05/06
Leningrad

12/15/06
Eragon

12/22/06
Alatriste

12/29/06
Pan's Labyrinth

Movie News Roundup: Part 1

First I wanna make sure you know about two of my favorite blogs about all things Hollywood, Cinematical and TV Squad, which are part of Weblogs, Inc.

You are all right now!

Last night I finished watching She's Having a Baby and realized how much of my family's vocabulary was inspired by this movie. We always laugh at the parents with the mining gear at the foot of the bed, instructing the kids on how better to conceive, but there are so many other hilarious parts, like her dad griping about wanting a grandchild so he can have a picture of it on his desk at work, and her mother reliving the pain of labor which makes her husband say, "You are all right now!"

Other great parts of the movie:
The steak that fell in the grass, blood raw on one side and burnt to a crisp on the other
Alec Baldwin's lovely girlfriend
Jake stripping down to put on scrubs
the angry photographer, "I can't work like this!"
"He'd probably end up working on a loading dock and hating every minute of it."
the grouper, smelt and swordfish
"You burned the dog!"
"NetSu? We own that,"
the cross-eyed boy with the impetigo
Jake spraying dental floss and his underwear with breath spray
the random people at the end suggesting baby names

Top 11 Movies of 2005

Surprise, I had to go with eleven again this year. In alphabetical order:

The 40 Year Old Virgin 9/10 - Hilarious but still realistic. Judd Apatow and Steve Carrell deserve the nomination from the Writer's Guild.

Batman Begins 8/10 - Bale is great as Bruce Wayne, but I felt he was missing something as Batman. I still prefer Michael Keaton. Michael Caine and Liam Neeson were wonderful. It has been announced that there will be a sequel in 2008.

Brokeback Mountain 10/10 - Amazingly sweet story and beautiful landscapes. The acting, setting and script are all good as seperate pieces, so they integrate well. Even the sad, bleak parts of the movie are captivating. I nearly didn't see this one in the theater, but I'm very glad I did.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe 10/10 - Others felt this was too long, but it was worth it for me. Its box-office success has assured there will be more Narnia movies.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire 10/10 - Faithful enough to the original story, the movie kept the frenetic pace and sense of mystery that made the book impossible to put down. Order of the Phoenix starts filming in February for a June 2007 release, and Rowling is writing the seventh book this year.

The Interpreter 9/10 - An international thriller that could have easily been a snoozefest, but Sydney Pollack kept the suspense going.

Memoirs of a Geisha 9/10 - An adaptation I have been waiting years to see. While Ziyi Zhang did Sayuri justice, I think Ken Watanabe's Chairman was the most accurate portrayal.

Serenity 10/10 - The finale that the TV series deserved. Too bad Firefly wasn't made as a movie from the beginning, it would have made a great space trilogy.

Sin City 9/10 - Gritty, violent and even gruesome at times, I still enjoyed this one. The casting was dead on. The sequel is due out next summer.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith 8/10 - An appropriate ending to the saga, I think I expected too much from this movie.

Zathura 9/10 - Funny, with a sense of adventure. There are only five human characters in the movie, yet it never gets tedious.

Don't treat your customers like criminals

Boing Boing has a great post that talks about why box-office revenue might be declining. It's not so much that movie quality has gone downhill, but that the MPAA (movies) is acting like the RIAA (music) and assuming that their customers will try to pirate the product.

I would argue that the average movie quality has certainly declined because of two things: formula-based movies and audience splintering. Formulaic movies, like Little Black Book and A Lot Like Love in the rom-com genre, may make back the money it cost the studios to produce them, but they don't inspire much loyalty among viewers. Aside from a few blockbusters like Lord of the Rings, few movies have wide ranging appeal. As the target audience becomes more specific, the studio assumes less revenue and is less than forthcoming with cash and time for production. Thus the final product suffers from a rush job and fails to deliver on the promises made in the slick, funny trailer.

IMDb turns 15 today

Internet Movie Database turns 15 years old today. In 1990, it had a vastly different user interface because it started on a UseNet group, but today it is the first place I go for information on movies, television shows and actors.

Two Years

My calendar at work yesterday mysteriously says "tomorrow will be two years" and I sit and ponder what in the world I was talking about. I assume it is something intensely personal and that's why I didn't put what it was (in case of snoopy coworkers) and I decide to check my blog to see if I can remember what was happening October 6th, 2003. Well, duh! That was the day I started my blog.

731 days during which I probably

worked close to 4,000 hours (167 days)
slept for 5,600 hours (233 days)
watched 2,800 hours of television (117 days)


Last year on this day, I posted about My Movie DataBase and my personal top ten movies of 2004 as of that date. So, in keeping with tradition here are my top ten of the year so far:

Batman Begins
The 40 Year Old Virgin
Interpreter, The
Kingdom of Heaven
Madagascar
Must Love Dogs
Serenity
Sin City
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, The
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith

Which Serenity character are you?

You scored as Zoe Alleyne Washburne. The Soldier. You are the second in command, and that is fine. You like a chain of command, but only when the one in charge has earned your respect. Those who earn your love or loyalty will find no one better to guard their back.

Which Serenity character are you?
created with QuizFarm.com

*I was busy this weeked so I haven't seen the movie yet, but I've heard great things*

Superman, Superbucks

The budget for Superman Returns is nearing $326 million, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire's budget is $305 million. Add the cost of Titanic and Spiderman 2 (only $200 million each) and you have four movies that cost over $1 billion to make.

Geeking out over Harry Potter

The last four weeks of my life have been dominated by Harry Potter books. I started reading the first one on August 13th, and am nearing the end of book five today (600 out of 870 pages). On Wednesday, I saw the trailer for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in the theater and have now watched it several times on Netflix. It opens by showing Harry in each of the three previous movies and then showing the longer-haired version of him that will be in the new movie. They show Ron and Hermionie the same way, and then quick shots of various parts of the Triwizard tournament, along with Dumbledore's ominous quote. In order to fit all 734 pages of the book into one movie, neither the Dursleys nor Molly Weasley will be in this one. I wish they'd keep it all in, but I realize how confusing the story would be if it was split into two movies. I really can't wait until November 18th!

It's been one week since you looked at me...

Last Wednesday I saw Must Love Dogs with my sister, the MiddleChild. It was your typical rom-com but had some extra comedy in it, especially the opening sequence.

Thursday, Mom, MiddleChild and I went to the Minnesota State Fair. I had one of those Nut Rolls and a basket of scallops and chips. We visited the dogs, horses and cows and pet all of the ones we could reach.

Friday, I went to the bachelorette party for Wedding #2. We were instructed to dress up, and it's a good thing because I probably wouldn't have been admitted to 'drink' (the name of the bar is 'drink') wearing my typical casual Friday outfits. It was packed as usual in there, which is so rare with the places I frequent in my old age. Loud music, sweaty strangers and overpriced rail liquor is no longer my idea of fun. But, on the rare occasions I still participate in that debauchery, I have a good time despite it all.

Saturday was shopping (fabric and a Kodak photo printer that I returned) and another movie, The Brothers Grimm. I'd say it's 2 out of four stars, because there were so many ways it could have been so much better. There were too many characters that were unnecessary and we never had time to get to know or like the leads. Something tells me this movie was very different before it went into the editing room.

Monday I had my first meeting of Intro to Drawing. I hope to minor in Studio Arts, which means 5 art classes. We have to do 5 blind contours, 3 modified contours, and ten regular contours over the next 2 weeks. In class, I did a contour of a plastic army man that I really like, even though his head is completely wrong.

Tuesday I went back to Best Buy to return the printer that was not compatible with my camera. Kodak Digital Cameras older than two years appear unsupported as far as accessories go. I also went to Michael's to get all of my drawing supplies, which was almost as much fun as getting them in Diagon Alley. I got a salad and went to Fish Lake Park for a picnic and to repack my supplies into an arty box that I painted black, green and copper. I went home and did one regular contour of a shirt on a hanger.

July at 85

That's 85 MPH, not 85 degrees, since I have been enjoying the heat. It seems like July just started and it's already gone. For me, July consisted of the following (in no particular order):

-being unimpressed with the newly remodeled Walker Art Center
-going to Duluth on a slightly random Saturday
-falling behind on my Calc 2 homework, but holding my own on the tests
-eating at Erte, McCormick and Schmick's, It's Greek to Me and Tiburon
-trying to keep my apartment clean
-spending an afternoon on Medicine Lake, only sunburning my arms
-helping redo my mother's kitchen and bathroom (sanding, painting, tiling)
-not getting a good view of the fireworks downtown because MPD closed the Third St Bridge "for security purposes"
-intending to see Fantastic Four but ending up getting passes to The Island while standing in line (too much action ruins a good story)
-playing inselkampf, ItsYourTurn and KOL
-installing and playing Sims 2, passed on by my sister
-watching Disc 2 of Wonderfalls, the last three discs of Freaks & Geeks, and all of Entourage: Season 1
-work, school, sleep

Over the next three months, I have a record setting four weddings to attend. Two are cousins and the other two are friends, and all are at least an hour away. I'm not complaining, though, just marveling at how weddings always come in clumps.

Order the DVD, meet the star

Amazon.com is enlisting celebrities to help deliver some of it's products to celebrate their 10th anniversary.

Chicago

Tuesday I flew into O'Hare, landing at around noon. I rode the Blue Line downtown to my hotel, but it was too early to check in, so I left my suitcase there and headed over to Grant Park. I perused my Not For Travelers book and decided to take a free trolley to Navy Pier and get some late lunch. That turned out to be the one and only time I rode the free trolleys, since they had no air conditioning and were always way too full. I had a 3 day transit card, making the busses as free as the trolleys, so I got off at the next stop and walked north over the river. I caught a bus that brought me right to Navy Pier. I checked to see what was playing at the IMAX theater, which turned out to be Batman Begins. I had thought about seeing it while I was in Chicago, since I always see a movie when I am on vacation. It was very crowded, they had assigned seating and it cost about $22 after ticket soda and popcorn. Despite all of that, I loved the movie, especially Liam Neeson and Gary Oldman. I headed back to the hotel after stopping in the Crystal Gardens. It was very hot and humid while I was in Chicago, but as long as you could get into the shade, it wasn't that bad. The wind from the lake keeps you cool. I waited a bit too long to head out for dinner, since it was about 8:30 by the time I headed back into the Loop to find a restaurant. I ate at a bar and grill called the Exchequer, which looked like it could have held a few Mafia meetings in it's heyday.

Wednesday was my 28th birthday and I went to the Field Museum since I was disappointed I'd missed it last time. Although the Maccu Picchu exhibit was gone, it was still an eye opening place. They have a hall of gems with all kinds of precious stones, metals and even replicas of famous diamonds. There is an entire section of jade artifacts, a mock up of a whole African village, and more stuffed and mounted animals than you can imagine. They even have the skeleton of a black right whale on the ceiling. I was resting on bench when I overheard a security radio someone to call 911 and then a man yelling, "I just had to use the washroom." and "I just got out of jail." He was the same guy who had tried to sell me copy of the Onion by the jade stuff earlier. The special exhibit that I picked was the dinosaurs from China. They had about 15 skeletons of dinosaurs that ranged in size from eagle to horse that were all found in China. Behind most of them is a mural depicting what they think the animal looked like when it was alive. The best preserved and most complete T-Rex skeleton ever found, "Sue", is also at the Field. It is freaky to look at something that is not only so ancient, but was also alive at one time.

In the gift shop, I came across a book called 'What Every American Should Know About the Rest of the World'. I expected some partisan slant, but it has turned out to be pretty neutral while pointing out that most of the world's woes are related to oil, religion or the arbitrary borders and leaders that were inflicted on each country in the last century.

For dinner that night, I went to a place downtown that is 3 Italian restaurants in one building, and I went to the one in the basement, La C.... I had some of my favorite foods: scallops (with tomato, garlic, pasta and olive oil), Chianti and cannolli.

Thursday I went to the Lincoln Park Zoo, which is free and located in, you guessed it, Lincoln Park. They had an entire building filled with smaller primates, including sugar gliders and colubus monkeys. The polar bears and seals both have an underwater viewing area where you can watch them swim, and they seem to put on a show for the visitors. The big cats were all inside due to the heat, and most of them were sleeping, except the tiger. The weirdest animal was probably the Sand Cat, which looks like a regular housecat with a slightly larger head and more muscles. As I was heading back downtown, I saw the same huge group of tourists you see everywhere waiting for the free trolley and looking jealously at those of us who got on the bus instead.

Friday I went to the Adler Planetarium and the Shedd Aquarium. At the planetarium, I saw a show called The Stars of the Pharoahs, which was the best part. They discussed what the Egyptians thought of the sky, some of their legends about the gods as well as the many ancient buildings that are aligned with various constellations. The other exhibits seemed geared mostly towards kids, but also seemed to bore most of the kids I saw there.

Sitting in front of the Shedd Aquarium is one of the most vivid memories I have of my trip to Chicago in 1991. It was just as I remembered, and all week I had been enjoying the view of the Lake from the Museum Campus, which juts out on a peninsula. When looking back to the Loop from the campus, you see some of the tallest buildings in the world right next to a calm, picturesque lake. I got some good pictures of some jetskis playing around near the harbor.

Inside the Aquarium, I ran out of room on my digital camera that holds about 250 pictures. I had to delete some duplicates every once in a while. The coolest animals are always the rays, Skate and Sting, in the Caribbean reef. There is a hallway that is set up like the Amazon, complete with different tanks showing the varying water levels and reptiles in the Amazon. I saw poison frogs, a caiman and an Amazonian Python that was so big you couldn't find it's head. I saw a show with Pacific White-Sided dolphins, which look like the Atlantic Bottle-Nosed but have a big white stripe on their side. They also had Beluga whales, sea otters and a huge sea lion in the Oceanarium section. The penguins were being fed and monitored when I saw them, and a tour guide walked by and explained how penguins cool themselves by raising their wings. He also said that a penguin is full grown by the time it is 3 months old, so it's hard to pick out the younger ones. As I headed out to my hotel near the airport on Friday evening, downtown was getting more crowded by the second, since Taste of Chicago had started that day. That was obviously the reason I couldn't find a hotel in the city on Friday night.

My camera is being fussy about sending the pictures to my computer, so I can't upload any of them right now. I'll post them as soon as it behaves.

You have been chosen

Trailer for The Island

Firefly reruns on TV

FIREFLY (FOX) - The Sci Fi Channel has landed the repeat rights to all 15 hours of the short-lived FOX series (and basis of the upcoming "Serenity" feature film). The network's July schedule lists the series as joining its Friday lineup on July 22 at 7:00/6:00c where it will precede original episodes of "Stargate SG-1," "Stargate Atlantis" and "Battlestar Galactica."

Serenity Trailer

Serenity, the movie version of Joss Whedon's short-lived series Firefly, comes out in September. You can watch the trailer here. Can't wait...

Silent Bob Speaks

Read the blog post from Kevin Smith where he talks about getting to see Revenge of the Sith sooner than all of us mere mortals. My inner geek got a rush when I read that he loved it, and what he says about his wife is so sweet: "I love talking to Schwalbach. I can have endless conversations with her - which might have a lot to do with why I married her."

On the Road Again

Last night, I returned home from six days in Dallas, visiting my sister and brother-in-law with my mom. We missed our flight back because we stopped for some food at the airport, but American got us on another flight pretty quickly. I half expected them to tell us we had to buy new tickets, since it was our fault, but we got standby tickets with no argument.

We went to the Fort Worth Stockyards, the Fort Worth Zoo, and White Rock Lake. On Saturday, I met a friend for lunch and we went to see Sahara, which was exactly what I expected. He tears it to shreds here, which is a much more technical review than I would have given, but it expresses my thoughts of the movie pretty well. I don't usually go for the action/adventure dramas, but I give them a chance when the locale and actors sound like they won't put me to sleep. We did get a very nice view of a Tuareg city, and some highly inappropriate butt-rock songs.

This friend is someone I have been talking to online for about 4 months, and this was the first time we met in person. Meeting new people is not high on my list of enjoyable things, but this time it was well worth it, since we had a great time despite the movie.

Sin City

Whoa! Violence was never made so pretty. For the last two days, all I have been able to say was, "Damn that was a good movie!", but I seem to have recovered. There were so many things I just did not expect to happen, and a few times I didn't even believe what I was seeing on screen. The surprise for me was that I didn't hate Jessica Alba. If she can pull off her role in the Fantastic Four, I'll hate her even less.

850 Lucky People

will get to attend Vulgarthon 2005, which includes a screening of and Q&A on Chasing Amy.

Fantastic Four

Check out new stills from the upcoming Fantastic Four movie.

Diner

This movie was a big bore. We have several characters that are barely there, that we hardly know and consequently don't care about. Gutenberg is an easily annoyed loser that makes his fiance take a football trivia test to see if he will marry her. Gee, he must have them lining up around the block. They don't even make him learn any kind of lesson at the end. Stern is a man trapped in an unhappy marriage, but we have no idea why he's unhappy. Rourke is a slimy player who uses people and doesn't learn his lesson, either. Reiser is supposed to be funny, but is just sad and annoying. Bacon is a loose cannon that has some family issues that are never explored. Daly is a guy home from college who has a problem, but we don't really care about the woman he's got the problem with, since she is a very one-dimensional character.
At one point, there is a musical number that serves no purpose whatsoever. I couldn't believe this was put in the Comedy genre.

Top Ten of 2004

Aviator, The
Before Sunset
Closer
Garden State
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Incredibles, The
Motorcycle Diaries, The
Sideways
Spanglish
Troy

Firefly

I saw the first disc of Firefly, with the Pilot episode, The Train Job and Bushwhacked. I'm no Joss Whedon fan, but this series is great so far. It's wonderful that FOX saw fit to cancel it mid-season. At least there is a movie coming out.

Cinema

Check out The Online Film Critics Society's "Top 100 Overlooked Films of the 1990s"
I've seen sixteen of them, but only liked ten, Joe vs the Volcano and Mystery Men in particular.

Since the year is practically over, everyone is scrambling to name the best movies of the year. I'll be waiting on that, but Sideways will certainly be on my list, and I'm not alone.

My Series of Unfortunate Events

Bad - I miss the bus this morning
Good - I drive into work
Bad - I leave my cell phone at home
Bad - The line at the bank is too long for me to make a deposit
Good - I go out after work, but only have 3 light beers andthen I see 'Closer', which is an excellent movie
Bad - I realize my keys are on my desk when I go back to my car at midnight
Good - The cute parking guy gives me a lift on his golf cart back down to the skyway
Bad - The guard won't let me up to my floor without my floor code, which I do not remember. I would call someone who knows, but don't have my phone
Good - I can just take the bus home
Bad - No keys means I can't get in my apartment, and no phone means I don't have the emergency maintenance number
Good - I can just go to Shannon or Gee's house, which are only blocks from mine, and call a coworker or maintenance from there
Bad - It is midnight on the day the bus route is changing, so I don't know where to catch the bus
Worse - I realize I still have $300 dollars in my wallet because I couldn't wait in line at the bank. At this point, I am convinced the stars have aligned to have me robbed on my way home
Good - I walk home and it is not very cold
Bad - I hope either Gee or Shannon answers the door, since it will be 12:30 by the time I get to their houses
Great - Right before I buzz Gee's apartment, I remember to look in my wallet for my spare set of keys. Guess what is under my $300?

Blogumentary

In my very own city of Minneapolis, City Pages is hosting a documentary film festival called Get Real. They will be showing one about blogs at 7:30 tonight, November 5th, at Oak Street Cinema. I would go see it if I could, but I have to rehearse my scene for Acting class. If you can't go either, at least check out the website and the article in City Pages.

Okay, you talked me into it.

This is my 2004 year-to-date top 10:

Before Sunset
Garden State
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Hidalgo
King Arthur
Passion of the Christ, The
Saved!
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Spider-Man 2
Troy

Movies, more than you ever wanted to know

You know about the Internet Movie Database, but did you know I have my own personal movie database? If you know me, that may not surprise you. Anyway, I am working in it today, so here are some fun facts:

• I have seen 315 movies made between 1980 and 1995.
• I've seen 329 movies between 1996 and 2000. (I moved out of the house in '96, and I started seeing at least one movie a week at that point. This rate is about 1.2 per week.)
• I saw 110 made between 2001 and 2003.
• The first movie I remember seeing in a theater was The Care Bears in 1985.
  

I got these numbers by searching for various date ranges and including minimum numbers of votes on IMDB's power search page. Then I went through each list, marking everything 'Saw', 'Want to see' or 'Do not want to see'. I try to keep my Wants updated when I see a movie. So, below is one of the results of my database. It's my Top Ten by Year. Please note: some years don't have ten, some have more, some have less, most have ten.

2003
Beyond Borders
Finding Nemo
Holes
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Love Actually
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Thirteen
Under the Tuscan Sun
X-Men 2

2002
About a Boy
Bourne Identity, The
Brown Sugar
Four Feathers
Good Girl, The
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The
Scorpion King, The
Spider-Man
Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones

2001
Bridget Jones's Diary
Crazy/Beautiful
Enemy at the Gates
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
A Knight's Tale
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Pearl Harbor
Riding in Cars with Boys
Shrek
Someone Like You...

2000 (*I saw all 5 Best Pictures Nominees this year)
Almost Famous
Amores perros
Bring It On
Chocolat
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Gossip
Love & Sex
Quills
Where the Heart Is
X-Men

1999
Anna and the King
The Best Man
Dogma
Drop Dead Gorgeous
Galaxy Quest
Girl, Interrupted
Man on the Moon
Office Space
Sleepy Hollow
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace

1998
20 Dates
Can't Hardly Wait
Ever After
Hope Floats
Lola rennt (Run, Lola, Run)
Playing by Heart
Return to Paradise
Shakespeare in Love
Sliding Doors
The Wedding Singer

1997
As Good As It Gets
Chasing Amy
The Fifth Element
The Full Monty
Gattaca
Good Will Hunting
Mononoke Hime (Princess Mononoke)
My Best Friend's Wedding
Picture Perfect
Soul Food


1996
The Birdcage
Black Sheep
Children of the Revolution
Evita
Jerry Maguire
Romeo + Juliet
Scream
Stealing Beauty
Swingers
A Time to Kill

1995
The American President
The Basketball Diaries
Dead Man Walking
Desperado

1994
Clerks
Forrest Gump
Interview with the Vampire
The Lion King
Muriel's Wedding
Pulp Fiction
Reality Bites
The Shawshank Redemption
Stargate
Trapped in Paradise

1993
Coneheads
Dazed and Confused
Groundhog Day
Joy Luck Club, The
Jurassic Park
Mrs. Doubtfire
Pelican Brief, The
Philadelphia
Schindler's List
Untamed Heart

1992
Como agua para chocolate (Like Water for Chocolate)
Cutting Edge, The
Death Becomes Her
Encino Man
Far and Away
Few Good Men, A
Last of the Mohicans, The
Malcolm X
Singles
Wayne's World

1991
Addams Family, The
Boyz N the Hood
City Slickers
Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead
Only the Lonely
Regarding Henry
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
Silence of the Lambs, The
Thelma & Louise
Toy Soldiers

1990
Bird on a Wire
Dances with Wolves
Edward Scissorhands
Ghost
Hunt for Red October, The
Joe Versus the Volcano
Men at Work
Mermaids
Pretty Woman
Pump Up the Volume

1989
Batman
burbs, The
Christmas Vacation
Dead Poets Society
Heathers
Look Who's Talking
Parenthood
Say Anything...
Steel Magnolias
When Harry Met Sally...

1988
Big
Coming to America
Great Outdoors, The
Married to the Mob
Mystic Pizza
Rain Man
She's Having a Baby
Willow
Young Guns

1987
Dirty Dancing
Moonstruck
Outrageous Fortune
Overboard
Planes, Trains & Automobiles
Princess Bride, The
Secret of My Succe$s, The
Some Kind of Wonderful
Three Men and a Baby
Wall Street

1986
About Last Night...
American Tail, An
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Karate Kid, Part II
Labyrinth
Money Pit, The
Pretty in Pink
Stand by Me
Top Gun
Three Amigos!

1985
Back to the Future
Breakfast Club, The
Brewster's Millions
Color Purple, The
European Vacation
Jewel of the Nile, The
Ladyhawke
Legend
Pee Wee's Big Adventure
St. Elmo's Fire

1984
Gremlins
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Karate Kid, The
Moscow on the Hudson
NeverEnding Story, The
Romancing the Stone
Sixteen Candles
Splash

1983
Big Chill, The
Christmas Story, A
Mr. Mom
Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi
Superman III
Vacation

1982
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Officer and a Gentleman, An

1980
Nine to Five
Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back
Superman II

I haven't done the 70's or any earlier decades yet and I am still working on 2004 year-to-date. 1981 just wasn't my year for movies. This post is too long already.

Troy

I guess the preview for this is being played with the new Matrix movie:

Troy

Synopsis: In 1193 B.C., Prince Paris (Bloom) of Troy stole the beautiful Greek woman, Helen (Kruger), away from her husband, Menelaus, the king of Sparta, setting the two nations at war with each other, as the Greeks began a bloody siege of Troy using their entire armada, led by Achilles (Pitt), that lasted over a decade.

Starring:
Brad Pitt
Orlando Bloom
Peter O'Toole
Diane Kruger
Sean Bean
Saffron Burrows
Julie Christie
Brian Cox
Brendan Gleeson
Garrett Hedlund
Director:
Wolfgang Petersen

Pitt and Bloom? Talk about Eye Candy!

Beyond Borders

On Sunday I saw 'Beyond Borders' with Angelina Jolie and Clive Owen. If you think there's any chance that you'll like the movie, you really should see it. I guess it did badly (2 million?), but I thought it was very good, like best-so-far-this-year good. I can't see how someone wouldn't be moved after seeing this movie. The storyline wasn't flawless or anything, but the scenery and the political situations made up for any thin plot points or character cheesiness. For most of the movie, she is working for the UN, a job I'd love to have. I was glad I saw it alone though, and I appreciated having the time to reflect on it during the drive home, instead of discussing it with someone. That's part of the reason I like seeing movies alone. Some people think it's odd that I do that, but I especially like seeing serious movies by myself. I have made the mistake of seeing scary movies alone (Scream), which I will never do again. I don't see very many, and I prefer to have a cuddly man to hide behind if I have to see one.

My terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day

Okay, I didn't write yesterday as I was in a horrible mood. I'm not a morning person and when I have a bad morning, I usually have a horrid day. It didn't end so badly, though. The night before, I watched Losing Isaiah. That's a damn good movie. Halle Berry does a great job, in fact I think that was her breakout role (she's still good- see 'Monster's Ball' and 'X-Men' 1 & 2). I already knew it was going to be good, and I even had it on my Netflix, but it was on BET, so I caught it. I don't care for Jessica Lange, but I seem to see a lot of her movies. I saw 'A Thousand Acres' because I had read the book about a year before it came out, and I love King Lear, which the book was based on. The movie wasn't too good, but the book by Jane Smiley was great. Later, I read her book 'The Greenlanders' which was surprisingly good. It's about several generations of a family that lives in Greenland around the year 1100. You find out what day to day life was like for people at that time. I have a copy of 'The Age of Grief', but I haven't read it yet. The cover makes it look kind of depressing (as if the title didn't do that well enough).