Category Archives: movies

Generally a movie review, but maybe just some info on something upcoming.

Trailers vs. Previews

Posted on October 4, 2007 | Leave a comment

I love movie trailers, I could watch them all day at the theatre, at the QuickTime site or on AppleTV. And I like TV previews for shows coming next season.

But I can’t stand TV previews for the next week. I’ll generally leave the room if other people are watching or skip over them. Occasionally I’ll catch them (and occasional they’ll excite me) but usually I’ll pass. I think it’s that they give away too much of the plot of the show and depending on the show, I don’t feel like I need to watch it (I guess). I just watched the show, if that’s not enough to get me to come back next week the preview probably won’t.

Speaking of trailers, have you seen:

  • Iron Man
  • The Nines (which had a very limited release, not in MI yet)
  • Beowulf
  • Feast of Love (which I didn’t realize opened last week)

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    Waitress

    Posted on July 2, 2007 | 2 comments

    So I went to see Waitress, starring Keri Russell, at the Main Art Theater (in Royal Oak, MI). I like Keri, unfortunately there is something about the parts she plays that I generally don’t like. But the reviews have been giving her great acclaim for this movie. Rightly so, she did an excellent job and I really liked her and her character in this film.

    She plays a small-town waitress in a rotten marriage who makes pies. These aren’t ordinary pies, they’re extra-ordinary pies. She thinks these pies out according to her mood, they might be called:

  • Falling in Love Chocolate Mousse pie.
  • Bubble-gum Mermaid Pie.
  • Pregnant Miserable Self Pitying Loser Pie – Lumpy oatmeal with fruitcake mashed in. Flambé of course!
  • I Hate My Husband Pie – You take bittersweet chocolate and don’t sweeten it. You make it into a pudding and drown it in caramel.

    And everyone just thinks they are the best thing ever. She’s trying to save money and wants to win a $25,000 pie contest so that she can finally leave her husband.

    The interactions with the other waitresses and with Joe, the old coot in one of the booths, (played by Andy Griffith) are excellent and I laughed aloud in the theatre many times. Her Ob-Gyn is played by Nathan Fillion and they have some hysterical interactions and strange conversations, so strange it makes me wonder if they had a script, or if they didn’t if they re-edited it to make it so goofy. I loved it!

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    What the Bleep do We Know?!?

    Posted on May 3, 2006 | 2 comments

    So on the flight home I watched What the Bleep Do We Know!? which was semi-hosted by Marlee Matlin (it’s part story and part interview). It was an odd different show about thought and reality (with a little quantum thought/mechanics thrown in). When I say “and” it’s night really the right term since it’s pretty much the same thing as far as the show is concerned. The show appeared to be something that might have been for PBS but someone decided it might make a good movie instead. I think around here it just got released at the arts theaters.

    It’s very interesting. Especially if you like to think about how things (reality) are put together or have ever wondered if we are in a (the) matrix or what you might be doing in a parallel universe right now.

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    If life were a movie…

    Posted on March 25, 2006 | 4 comments

    So you know how when you’re watching a movie and something stupid happens with a computer, this is either:

  • A person saying something dumb about how it works.
  • Someone type some command or run some software that just doesn’t make sense.
  • The computer gives some weird error that just doesn’t make sense (or that it wasn’t given enough info for it to give an error like that).

    The attempt to burn a disc failed. The device failed to calibrate the laser power level for this media.And of course you think “that doesn’t make sense” or “people are actually going to believe that now”! I know I’d think something like that if I saw a message like this one, “The device failed to calibrate the laser power level for this media” , I mean how crazy is that? You’ve never really get a message like that, right?!?

    My Powerbook (12 inch, 1.5GHz, superdrive) gave me that message today and I just couldn’t believe it. I had to try two other CDs from the same package and then go try them in another burner (which worked fine). I stuck another CD in here and it worked just fine, how bizarre?

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    Tsotsi wins Oscar for best foreign language film

    Posted on March 5, 2006 | Leave a comment

    So the the guy who accepted the oscar for Tsotsi (Director Gavin Hood?) for the best foreign language film was very interesting. He starts by saying ‘I have a speech written in my pocket but the TelePrompTer tells me I only have 38 seconds so please go to tsotsi.com for a list of everyone I need to thank.’

    He then goes on to that the two stars and asks them to stand up and asks the cameras to point at them. Then says “10 seconds” and thanks a few more people. And wraps it up…

    It was just a different speech than usual and educational for me as well (to how things work up there). And the site was very slow after he gave the web address.

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    Ten Favorite Movie Characters

    Posted on November 16, 2005 | 1 comment

    Okay so it’s more than 10 characters but only 10 actors/actresses:

  • SanDeE – L.A. Story – Sarah Jessica Parker
  • Marty – Beautiful Girls – Natalie Portman / Mathilda – Léon – Natalie Portman
  • Kat Arujo – Mystic Pizza – Annabeth Gish
  • Bill & Ted – Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure
  • Bruce Wayne – Batman – Michael Keaton
  • Dr. Daniel Jackson – StarGate – James Spader
  • Doug Dorsey – The Cutting Edge – D.B. Sweeney
  • Danielle De Barbarac – Ever After – Drew Barrymore / Holly Pulchik-Lincoln – Boys on the Side – Drew Barrymore
  • Lucy – Stealing Beauty – Liv Tyler / Faye – That Thing You Do – Liv Tyler
  • Marty McFly – Back to the Future I/II/II – Michael J Fox

    From Ten on Tuesday.

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    War of the Worlds – Review

    Posted on July 2, 2005 | 2 comments

    WaroftheworldsaniWow!!! I was highly entertained. I did walk in with low expectations but still it was non-stop action and the effects were incredible!!! The plot was a little a lot thin: bad weekend Dad trying to outrun the destruction to save and bond with his kids at the same time. You can see the trailers at the Quicktime site. There’s an official web site but it’s way too busy (slow) with flash animations to be of any use.

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    Spanglish

    Posted on January 2, 2005 | 1 comment

    So I just saw Spanglish and Adam Sandler can really act. This is definitely a drama, not a comedy (although I laughed a lot). I had a few edit issues that seemed out of place but there was nothing else to complain about. A lot happened in the two hour movie that probably took place over six(?) months. If you think you’d enjoy it, you probably will. Just remember it’s not a slapstick Adam Sandler movie.

    Spanglish James L. BrooksBut I’m not even writing this to give you the review that you see above, I’m writing this because I like one line that Adam Sandler says. I’m intentionally not quoting it exactly but it was something like “but if that happens then I’ll have to work more and not get to do the stuff I like”. Okay so that makes it sound more selfish when it was really more sappy (but it really wasn’t because I changed the words to not give too much away)t. Here’s the point, it made me think more about my recent post and me not getting to do the things I want to do in life. We’re not even talking about stuff like getting married or having kids, just stuff that I enjoy. I need to figure out a way to do more of that stuff.

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    Posted in me + myself + i, reviews

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