elementary
Was expecting to enjoy
this, but not quite as much as I did. Hot damn, what
a fun flick...
legacy
So then, just watched the teaser trailer. Like, five times.
Hated it at first, wasn’t sure about the style
(biker suits with slightly lame projected faces?)
and everyone knows Light Cycles can’t do curvy
turns. But then something strange started
happening.
You know, that getting hyped up and excited thing.
Bodies morphing into the bikes? Rad. New version of
discs? Very rad. Flynn being the maybe baddie? OMG
rad.
Also, LOVING the logo treatment and the dark feel.
Please don’t end up being shitty.
Please.
file under wtf
I blame the car fu and crazy eye candy and the way it full-heartedly embraced the wackiness of the original subject matter. Also, was prepared for it to be complete ass. Huh.
up and away
wow
A wonderful (and powerful) 42 second film by director Chris Milk, with a beautiful mix of imagery and music. And Pauly Shore. I’ve already watched it a bunch of times today, and it still gives me chills.
papers
I’ve heard great things about The Yakuza Papers - a box set of five 1970s Japanese movies chronicling the rise of post-war yakuza gangs - and was looking forward to start watching them last weekend. The plan was to sit down for 30 minutes or so for lunch on Sunday, before diving back into Lich King. Yeah, that didn’t happen.
I am so, so glad I asked for this for the holidays (and equally as glad that my keen wife picked it up for me). It only took a few minutes of watching before I realized why the director, Kinji Fukasaku, was such an influence on modern cinema.
Characters were being introduced (and killed) with breathtaking speed (each with a shocking “pause” to dramatically convey the details), fights were constant, deals brokered and betrayals stacked on top of one another without pause... It was almost dizzying. I would have been pissed off by the overwhelming amount of information that was flying by, if I wasn’t having such a good time watching. And, despite my plan of only watching a little bit, I ended up finishing off the first film without pause and had to force myself not to put in the second...
If you have the chance to watch The Yakuza Papers, and don’t mind 70s-style cinematography and subtitles, please do. It’s wonderful.
lifted and floored
Saw The Dark Knight on Sunday, and it’s still in my thoughts.
A lot.
I know it’s easy to hop on the bandwagon and say it’s a great movie, but it really might be one of the better “films” I’ve ever seen. It fucked me up like The Departed did, left me drained in a fulfilled but depressed way. Not just because of Heath Ledger’s incredible take on the Joker, but also because who...or, better yet, “what” won at the end.
This was not a gentle movie in any sense, especially in terms of its brutal performances, many plot twists and overwhelming sound and cinematography - it hit me hard and often. But, in doing so, it moved me.
I really, really wonder how they’re going to follow this up.
wow
Fantastic. And wonderful. All the crunch-related stress that’s been building over the past few weeks just melted away while watching...
Hot damn I love Pixar.
things
Yeah, it was crazy. And
amazing. And moving. And overwhelming. In fact, I
really enjoyed watching the movie at the time - the
visuals and music were stunning - but it wasn't until
several hours later that I realized how much I loved
it. Like, you have to spend some time processing
everything you were just assaulted with before being
able to appreciate its greatness.
So, the next day I bought the soundtrack on iTunes
(direct iTunes link), and have been
listening to it like mad.
Oh, while on iTunes I noticed they carried a few
Yoko Kanno CDs as well, so I picked
up this:
CM Yoko (direct iTunes link) is all
commercial music (like, for TV commercials), but
it has super neat (and incredibly varied) stuff.
One of the tracks, though, is crazy good. I really
want to know what kind of advertisement
"Exaelitus" was for...
Also, holy crap, I'm already over 80 hours for this
week. Yay for crunch. Game is going great though!