The weather has finally cooled down!

[zrath]

Well, now that I'm no longer busy meltin', I better get to updatin', it's been a while.
Let's start off with some Netflixing:


Harold And Kumar Go To White Castle (Unrated)
I usually don't go for college/road-trip comedies, but the trailer for this film made it look actually funny.
And the fact that they actually said "that Korean guy from 'American Pie', and that Indian guy from 'Dude, Where's My Car'"
in the trailer caught my eye. Here's a movie that's not afraid to tiptoe around the race issues! I guess...
So eventually, I rented it, and my brother and I settled down to watch it. And we laughed! And laughed!
Because, dammit, it's funny! Harold and Kumar get high one Friday night and decide to go to White Castle after seeing
the most amazingly erotic burger commercial ever seen on TV. Heck, it made me want to get some too! And I'm a die-hard
In-N-Out Burgers freak! Classic set-up: two protagonists on a quest, who must endure various trials and tribulations
(and stereotypical nonsense on every front), and who keep meeting the same group of strange characters throughout.
Yes, this IS from the same director as "Dude, Where's My Car". But this ain't no Bill And Ted rip-off.
So anyway, lots of fun, low on the gross-out factor, and full of skewered stereotypes! Awesome!

Sahara
I figured this one would suck, but it's not bad. It's kinda like a modern-day Indiana Jones meets Jacques Cousteau.
The main guy is some kind of archeologist/diver/treasure hunter who used to be a Navy SEAL, or something.
His sidekick is a childhood friend who also went to the Navy and probably was a SEAL too, something I kept forgetting
during the movie. See, I expected the sidekick to be the usual bumbling idiot. He is goofier than Mr. Hero, but when
the going gets tough, the sidekick kicks ass right along Mr. Main Man. This is a whole new sensation for me.
I recommend this movie for Civil War era ironclad fetishists, and for fans of desert movies.
As for the rest of youse, this should help pass the time until "Indiana Jones 4" comes out (if ever).

Hostage
This Bruce Willis vehicle was totally drowned in a sea of bigger budget flicks, so I bet a lot of people didn't see it.
Which is a shame, because it's a pretty good and taunt thriller. And it's a great example of how a bad situation can
get totally out of hand and escalate to the point of hopelessness, as in not knowing how to get out of it in one piece.
In the opening act, Bruce (sporting a kickin' salt and pepper beard) is seen trying to talk down a man who's holding
his own wife and son hostage. Bruce is an LAPD detective and this sort of thing seems to be his specialty.
However, this is one he can't win. Guy shoots the wife and kid. Bruce has a breakdown. He quits LAPD and takes a job
as police chief of a small town North of L.A. It's nice and quiet there, a good place for him and his wife to raise
their son. Everything is cool for a year or two (maybe more, I forget).
Then a trio of kids decide to do some crimes, man! They're in it for the kicks!
Sorry, too much "Wild Rebels" on MST3K.
Anyway, there's a lot more to it than that, you have to see the film.
The character development and plot evolution are quite good. This is intelligently written stuff. Yeah, I know. Surprise!
Another nice thing about the movie is the opening credits. They're very innovative. Again, see the film.
I recommend this one without reservation. It's good stuff!!

The Machinist
This one was bizarre. So you've got Christian Bale, looking like a walking skeleton, working some anonymous machinery job.
He hasn't slept for a year, and he's starting to hallucinate. Or is he? I kept watching in morbid fascination, hoping
the movie would eventually make some sort of sense. Was he being tricked? Was he dead and in hell? I didn't know!
Brief flashes of "Dark City" and "Memento" passed through my mind. At the end, it all fell into place and made sense.
If you want to see something really different, this is a pretty safe bet.

The Ring Two
This sequel felt more like a spooky fairy tale than an out-and-out horror movie.
You need to have seen the original to fully comprehend and appreciate this one.

Alexander (Director's Cut)
Oliver Stone. I hadn't seen anything by this guy in quite a while. I missed out on "JFK" and "Nixon".
But this looked cool and the sib wanted to see it, so I had to check it out. Though I must say that Colin Farrel is an odd choice
for the lead role. Brian "Boombastic" Blessed is in the movie for all of 15 seconds, argh! Pretty good cast overall.
The movie feels to me like some kind of weird "Apocalypse Now" where Alexander takes his troops and goes tear-assing
around Asia looking for the shit. The battles get progressively insaner and bloodier. The horror, the horror...
And Alexander is so damn gay! Okay, bi. But yeah, it was okay back then for the Greeks to be like that.
But man, the Indians he had just conquered really didn't like that. The Persians seemed to really like him though.
During a heated exchange betweem Alexander and his Greek troops, you can see his Persian guards slowly manoeuvre into
a protective ring around Alexander. All these guys with black curly hair and assyrian beards really stand out from the
Greek regulars. Fabulous costumes, super special effects. It's really quite the treat.
And yet, I must say I like "Troy" better. And I like "Gladiator" better than "Troy".
This movie is definitely worth seeing once. It is an epic, for sure.


I haven't gone to see a movie in a theater yet. I missed out on "Charlie And The Chocolate Factory".
I'm hoping to see "Lord Of War" soon. And maybe find a friend to go see the new Wallace & Gromitt.
However, I did go see this:

Magnificent Desolation: Walking On The Moon 3D (IMAX)
OH. MY. FRIGGIN'. GOD.
Okay, it's narrated by Tom Hanks, and it's got some wacky zany moments and stuff.
But when you're on the Moon...

YOU'RE ON THE FRIGGIN' MOON!!

Oh, and there's really good info on all the Apollo missions.
Best 40 minutes and $10 I ever spent...

Comments

[kensan-oni.livejournal.com]

What is cool about Sahara is that it is loosely based on a book (I didn't even know this when I saw it). They changed about the last half of the movie from the book, which is a good thing, cause the book would have made things just too expensive for the movie. Both are equally good,though, in different ways. I recomend reading the book if you have the time. (Not the movie novelization, but the real one)

[dronon.livejournal.com]

There's a documentary called "For all mankind", not about the moon missions per se, but about how the astronauts felt during the moon missions. Not for everyone, but introspective and full of atmospheric Brian Eno music. (I pretty much avoided seeing Apollo 13 because I didn't want to smear my memory of it.) I wonder if there's any overlap with it and this IMAX film.

[zeeth_kyrah]

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: video release Nov 8.