Current Mood: Confused

So I had a dream the other night about a scene from No Country for Old Men, where the intense guy with the 70’s hair demands that the shop owner bet on a coin flip but doesn’t tell him what he’s betting on.  I haven’t seen the movie yet, but it seems I want to so much I’ll fill in plot points from the other stories I’ve had in my head recently, most notably the Ender and Shadow series’ of books from Orson Scott Card, as I surmised that the guy was an assassin going around killing all these old men because a war was going to start and they had been part of Ender’s “jeesh” a long time ago, and therefore dangerous to the warmongers.

If you’re very confused right now you probably haven’t read Ender’s Game.  Kindly go do so and come back…I’ll wait.

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New Transformers clips!

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Saw The Departed tonight. Aside from non-Bostonians trying to do Boston accents, it was a very good movie: 9/10. Lots of twists and turns, and the juxtaposition between Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio’s characters was very well done. I’ll be trying to find meaning in the virtual orbits they did around each other for a while.

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They’ve announced the sequel for Batman Begins. One problem with having big name actors portraying the superheroes and supervillains is what I call “Mask Off Syndrome”, where the filmmaker has to come up with reasons for them taking their masks off so the actors get as much “face time” as possible.

In Spider-Man 2 the hero lost his mask while saving an elevated train, and later took his mask off to convince Octavius to save the day. The Superman movies don’t have this problem because he doesn’t wear a mask and people want to see Superman more than Clark Kent anyway. At the end of Batman Returns Michael Keaton ripped off his mask while he was still in costume, which looked ridiculous.

In Batman Begins Bruce Wayne took centre stage as the story of his origin and quest for justice was told. It all worked in the framework of the story. I’m worried that in the next film there will be less reason for him to spend time as Bruce Wayne, so they’ll do something silly to have him take his mask off while in costume.

Oh well…I guess we’ll see.

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Saw Pirates 2 last night at the Cottonwood theatre. It was quite good; a worthy sequel. It is definitely the second in a trilogy.

We walked into the theatre to find the only seats together were right in the front row. By halfway through the movie my neck was sore and by the end I had a major headache. I couldn’t make out all the action because we were so close, and several times I just couldn’t make out what they were saying. Going to Silver City and Colossus has really spoiled me.

Oh, and the dumbasses who want to make comments while the movie runs. Luckily they shut up once the movie really got going so I didn’t have to get all uppity on them.

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I watched Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire last week, and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe this weekend.

HP4 was good, 4 out of 5 stars. Even though I haven’t read the book yet, they obviously had to cut a lot out. One glaring change was the lack of John Williams’ always-great music, although Patrick Doyle’s score was all right.

Chronicles of Narnia 1 was good, 3 out of 5 stars. The movie started out a 5, then lost a star when the beaver spoke. The technology to make animals talk and look natural is not *quite* there, but it’s close. Its score dropped to 3 when I realized they were making the battles kid-friendly; the only blood you see in the movie is when someone gets their lip cut. I know it’s a kid’s story, but if you’re looking for Lord of the Rings (the trailers are definitely offering this movie in the same vein), this isn’t it.

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I just watched two fan films with jaw-dropping special effects. If fans can do this now, it won’t be long before we throw off the Hollywood yoke and get some really good “communist” entertainment going!

Here they are:

- Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning
Despite the silly name, the acting in this spoof is passable and geeks get the answer to a long-standing question: who would win, Star Trek or Babylon 5 (including Crusade)? Unfortunately in Finnish, but with subtitles. Full-length feature!

- Star Wars: Revelations
Takes place between the first and second trilogies. Acting’s not great, but nice (if dark) special effects.

While I’m thinking about it, have a look at these other favourites of mine:

- 405 - Created on home computers. Holy crap!

- Grayson - What if Batman was murdered and Robin wanted revenge? Keep an eye out for the guy playing Superman…exactly what an older Superman would look like.

- Legacy of the Jedi - First Star Wars film to show dual-wielding light sabres. Also, a surprise!

- TROOPS - The one that started it all!

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Go see the movie; it’s good!

You scored as River Tam. The Fugitive. You are clever and dangerous, which is a nasty combination. The fact you are crazy too just adds to your charm. They did bad things to you, but you know their secrets. They will regret how they made you. River Tam 69% Hoban 'Wash' Washburne 63% Simon Tam 63% The Operative 56% Zoe Alleyne Washburne 50% Inara Serra 50% Kaylee Frye 50% Shepherd Derrial Book 44% Capt. Mal Reynolds 44% Jayne Cobb 44%

Which Serenity character are you?
created with QuizFarm.com

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Going to see Fantastic Four and Batman Begins back-to-back right now.
I’m wearing my FF shirt!

Follow-up: FF was good…BB was great! Phenomenal casting, and it didn’t even feel like 140 minutes. When a movie leaves you wanting more but not feeling shorted, it’s done its job.