Just as muddled as the movie.
But also, just as good.
I completely dig some of the concepts in this storyline, I even would watch 'The Power' if it were made. However, you have to enjoy the movie in order to enjoy reading this graphic novel.
The whole concept of Fluid Karma is just so inventive, and as much as I hate to say it, Justin Timberlake's character is awesome. Ugh -shutter- I never thought I would like anything that had to do with him. Ronald/Roland Taverner is awesome as well. Very well put together storyline when you look at it as a whole after letting your brain absorb everything.
Not as good as Donnie Darko, but a very good vision of the forthcoming apocalypse.
9/10 for the graphic novel, 9/10 for the movie.
Friday, April 25, 2008
King Kong (Peter Jackson's)
Review of the second half of the film: That's what I wanted to see. Very good, though I don't think I completely agree with Jack Black's casting. Adrien Brody was great, as was Naomi Watts. Peter Jackson's direction was as good as was expected. But I still can't wrap my head around Jack Black's casting.
Review of the first half of the film:
Two words - More Kong!
If I wanted dinosaur things, I'd watch Jurassic Park.
If I wanted creepy bugs/spiders/things with tentacles, I'd watch The Mist again.
I wanted a big freakin' gorilla.
Anyway, I wasn't too fond of the movie, but it was entertaining at parts. 5/10.
Review of the first half of the film:
Two words - More Kong!
If I wanted dinosaur things, I'd watch Jurassic Park.
If I wanted creepy bugs/spiders/things with tentacles, I'd watch The Mist again.
I wanted a big freakin' gorilla.
Anyway, I wasn't too fond of the movie, but it was entertaining at parts. 5/10.
The Bus Driver Who Wanted to Be God and Other Stories
"The Bus Driver Who Wanted to be God and Other Stories" is a collection of short stories by Etgar Keret. My two favorites are the title story and the story for which I bought the book - Kneller's Happy Campers, the short story that was the basis for Wristcutters: A Love Story.
The language in the stories is amazing, and as far as I can tell, I don't think that the translation lost any meaning.
Breaking the Pig and Korbi's Girl were some of my other favorites, but they were all good in their own respect.
If you are a fan of Wristcutters: A Love Story, it is well worth reading, if not just for Kneller's Happy Campers. I still like the movie better than the story, but just because there is a lot more stuffed into the movie, whereas the story is kind of just the bare bones. The movie also has an ending which I like a lot more. ^.^
I give the book as a whole a 7/10.
I also picked up a copy of Pizzeria Kamikaze, the graphic novel based on the story of Kneller's Happy Campers. The graphic novel was nice, and the illustrations brought what Keret initially imagined to life. Not too much different here from the story, including a lot of the words. It's like they just copy-and-pasted the words from the story.
I give the graphic novel a 7/10.
Now, as for the movie, I gave a little bit of my feelings a while ago when I listed my top 20 movies of 2007. However, I will just add a little bit more to what I had to say. I have fallen in love with the characters in this story. It really has made me value this life a lot more, even. The actors and actresses all did wonderful jobs in bringing Keret's characters to life. They screenplay was beautifully adapted.
The movie receives a 10/10.
The language in the stories is amazing, and as far as I can tell, I don't think that the translation lost any meaning.
Breaking the Pig and Korbi's Girl were some of my other favorites, but they were all good in their own respect.
If you are a fan of Wristcutters: A Love Story, it is well worth reading, if not just for Kneller's Happy Campers. I still like the movie better than the story, but just because there is a lot more stuffed into the movie, whereas the story is kind of just the bare bones. The movie also has an ending which I like a lot more. ^.^
I give the book as a whole a 7/10.
I also picked up a copy of Pizzeria Kamikaze, the graphic novel based on the story of Kneller's Happy Campers. The graphic novel was nice, and the illustrations brought what Keret initially imagined to life. Not too much different here from the story, including a lot of the words. It's like they just copy-and-pasted the words from the story.
I give the graphic novel a 7/10.
Now, as for the movie, I gave a little bit of my feelings a while ago when I listed my top 20 movies of 2007. However, I will just add a little bit more to what I had to say. I have fallen in love with the characters in this story. It really has made me value this life a lot more, even. The actors and actresses all did wonderful jobs in bringing Keret's characters to life. They screenplay was beautifully adapted.
The movie receives a 10/10.
Apocalypse Now
My girlfriend had to write a paper for her British Literature comparing this and Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness." I used that as the perfect excuse to watch this movie again instead of working on my own paper. Marlon Brando, in his plump years, delivers what I consider to be one of his best performances in his amazing rendition of Kurtz. I loved that Coppola cast him in the role; he was perfect and so convincing as the renegade colonel. Charlie Sheen has Platoon but Martin Sheen has this. He really showed some of his best acting in this movie, especially in the beginning scene, where he shows just what a soldier can turn into when he comes back from war. The last thirty minutes are some of the creepiest shots to ever be on film. You want to see horror, don't watch Saw XXVII; watch the last bit of this movie, and it will blow your mind. Kurtz sums up this movie in his final lines, "The horror...the horror..."
9/10.
9/10.
Monday, April 21, 2008
The Shawshank Redemption
I know, I know, I claim to have seen a lot of movies before, but for the first time the other night I finally watched The Shawshank Redemption. It's hard to believe I had never seen it before.
It was an amazing movie, I thought. It really captured the essence of the U.S. prison system, which is indeed full of corruption. Tim Robbins gave one of the most amazing, convincing performances I've ever seen. Morgan Freeman's performance was up to his standards, amazing as usual. He never lets me down.
Thoroughly impressed with the screenplay - it was extremely well-written, and probably THE best adaptataion of a Stephen King novel (Cujo being the worst).
This only leaves Darabont's The Green Mile to be seen. I definitely need to see that after watching The Shawshank Redemption and The Mist. He will definitely be put on my watchlist. If rumors are true, I would love to see his adaptation of Farenheight 451.
I give this movie a 10/10 for its stellar performance, amazing writing, and extraordinary direction. If you have not yet seen this movie, watch it now!
P.S. The Mist, also pretty decent. One of the best twist endings in a horror movie as of late. 8/10 for that one.
It was an amazing movie, I thought. It really captured the essence of the U.S. prison system, which is indeed full of corruption. Tim Robbins gave one of the most amazing, convincing performances I've ever seen. Morgan Freeman's performance was up to his standards, amazing as usual. He never lets me down.
Thoroughly impressed with the screenplay - it was extremely well-written, and probably THE best adaptataion of a Stephen King novel (Cujo being the worst).
This only leaves Darabont's The Green Mile to be seen. I definitely need to see that after watching The Shawshank Redemption and The Mist. He will definitely be put on my watchlist. If rumors are true, I would love to see his adaptation of Farenheight 451.
I give this movie a 10/10 for its stellar performance, amazing writing, and extraordinary direction. If you have not yet seen this movie, watch it now!
P.S. The Mist, also pretty decent. One of the best twist endings in a horror movie as of late. 8/10 for that one.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Atonement
Just finished the movie. It was a very good movie indeed. It had its strong points and its weak points, definitely.
The plot was very well-constructed, especially the ending. I liked the ending very much. Most of the weakness came in the middle of the movie.
The score was very good, I liked the typewriter sounds throughout the movie, especially after how the movie is wrapped up, it brought a whole new meaning to the sounds.
Keira Knightley had a very strong performace, as did James McAvoy. Romola Garai had a very impressive performance as well, not what I expected from her, as I had never seen her before.
One of the weak points for me was that it tried too hard in creating twists and turns in the layout of the scenes, showing things, then going backwards. This was not a movie where there was any benefit in doing that. In some movies, that works very well, but in my opinion, not so much in this one.
Very good if you are in the mood for this kind of movie. 7/10.
The plot was very well-constructed, especially the ending. I liked the ending very much. Most of the weakness came in the middle of the movie.
The score was very good, I liked the typewriter sounds throughout the movie, especially after how the movie is wrapped up, it brought a whole new meaning to the sounds.
Keira Knightley had a very strong performace, as did James McAvoy. Romola Garai had a very impressive performance as well, not what I expected from her, as I had never seen her before.
One of the weak points for me was that it tried too hard in creating twists and turns in the layout of the scenes, showing things, then going backwards. This was not a movie where there was any benefit in doing that. In some movies, that works very well, but in my opinion, not so much in this one.
Very good if you are in the mood for this kind of movie. 7/10.
It was a perfect day
Watched Enchanted last night. Cute movie. I hope it doesn't sound gay when I say that... I would have gotten the soundtrack earlier when I got the soundtrack to There Will Be Blood, but that definitely would have been gay.
Here is an excerpt of something I am writing right now:
It was the perfect day.
The sun shone brightly; the clouds were lost beyond the mountains and thick forest that lined the backside of the campus. The smell of the morning dew was so prominent, it could be sensed through a closed window.
Ken awoke to the sound of the creaking of the wooden steps in the old dormitory. He had dreamt he was riding a unicorn, which, in place of a horn, had a black rose growing out of the top of its head. They had flown together to the mountain top where a cult was congregating to burn a man alive. This is when Ken shot out of bed at the sound of the creaking steps. The third step always creaked.
He got dressed hurriedly, throwing on his favorite grass-and-paint-stained jeans with holes that allowed his pockets to come through and show on the outside of his pants. He threw on a checkered belt and a t-shirt that read “You’re all going to hell, and I’m driving the bus.”
He walked to the next room to see if Tom had awoken yet. When he heard gunshots and explosions, he knew Tom had yet again stayed up all night playing another one of his video games.
“Tom, let’s go get some breakfast, I’m starving,” Ken yelled through the door, which was covered in tampons from the immature girls next door to him. The door jerked open, and in less than three seconds, Tom was fully clothed, standing in the doorway with keys in hand, ready to go.
“Hungry much?” Ken asked him, laughing.
“O’ course, Sir Kenneth,” Tom answered him, smiling.
As they walked down the stairs, Ken asked Tom, “Why the fuck do they call it New Zealand?”
“Ummm… I don’t know… Because the name ‘Zealand’ was already taken?”
“Bullshit. There is no place called Zealand. New Jersey, New Yrk, New Hampshire. All of the originals are places or regions in the motherland. New Mexico, well, that one is obvious. There’s a real Mexico just below us. But I’m telling you, there is no such thing as Zealand. Don’t contradict me.”
“Alright, alright, I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were that serious about this whole ‘Zealand’ thing,” Tom answered, rolling his eyes as he walked out the oak double doors of the dormitory building.
Upon entering the dining hall located right next to the old dormitory, Ken first made his way to the coffee pots. He proceeded to smell the coffee in each of the nine pots in an attempt to find the strongest. There were always variations; he could tell. When he first started drinking coffee, he used a lot of cream, and a lot of sugar, but in the last few months, he gradually decreased his usage to get it to how he drank it now – black and strong.
“Once more into the break, dear friends,” Tom said as he walked over to Ken.
“What?”
“It’s from a Shakespeare play. Henry the something.”
“Oh, if you’re referring to the quote from Henry V, the third act, it’s ‘unto’ the breach. Dumbass. And anyway, what relevance does the quote have to anything going on here? Do leave me now, good gentleman,” Ken told him.
“What?”
Ken walked away to find a table when he saw Mike and Tim sitting at the bar-style seating along the back wall. “Good morrow, gentlemen,” he said as he sat down besidethem, Tom following close behind.
“Hey,” was all they replied.
“It’s too early for your wit, Ken,” Tom told him.
“Hold my seat,” Ken replied as he got up to get some bacon. He always liked to joke about how he could feel the grease clogging his arteries as he ate it.
Sitting at a table all alone in the middle of the Dining Hall was Miss Stefanie Z. Ken never knew what the ‘Z’ stood for, and never bothered to ask.
“’Tis a beautiful morning, is it now?” Ken asked her as he walked in her direction.
“Yes, Ken, ‘tis,” she said mockingly. “Can’t you speak normal English once in a while?”
“I do speak ‘normal’ English. What you speak is the bastardized American version of the beautiful English language. Have some respect for it once in a while, since England is in fact the founding country of this land. Though, for some reason, I can’t help but speak this bastardized language most of the time. I try not to whenever possible, but this country has corrupted me with its despicable ways of ruining everything that is good in this world. I preach what is good, but find myself slipping away and falling into the same rhythm of most Americans, with an increasing distaste for literature, a knack for eating more than I should, and a shortening of my speech because I am too lazy to add four more words to a sentence, just to make it grammatically correct.”
“Finished ranting yet?” Stefanie asked him. “I did stop listening after the first sentence, so you can save your breath.”
“Thanks Stef. Thanks for caring,” he said to her, laughing, as he walked away, unaware that she was serious.
As he returned to where everyone was sitting with a plateful of bacon, sticking his tongue out at Stefanie as he passed her again, he realized that they were all gone. Angrily, he threw his plate down on the countertop, shattering the glass plate. He sat on the barstool and grabbed a slice of bacon from amongst the shards of broken glass and shoved it in his mouth, along with tiny bits of glass he hadn’t realized were sticking to the bacon. He followed the slice by drinking the entire cup of coffee. As he slammed the coffee mug down, it also shattered.
“Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to come with me,” someone said from behind him. He turned around to stare right into the face of Ogre. Or, at least that’s what they called the 6’10” security guard who looked like Shrek who worked on campus.
“C’mon, Ogre, I didn’t mean to do it. Here, I’ll give you a couple bucks.” Ken started reaching for his back pocket to get his wallet.
“What did you call me?!” The fat face of the security guard started wrinkling as he scowled at Ken, almost looking like a pug’s face.
“Um, sir, I did not call you anything,” Ken told him, not at all realizing that he had in fact called the man ‘Ogre.”
“I need you to come with me,” the man said, grabbing Ken from the chair.
Almost falling, Ken told the man, “Alright, I’m coming, I’m coming!” As they walked through the dining hall towards the door, the security guard holding him by the arm the whole time, Ken saw Tom, Mike, and Tim huddled around a table, snickering as they saw Ken getting dragged across the hall.
Here is an excerpt of something I am writing right now:
It was the perfect day.
The sun shone brightly; the clouds were lost beyond the mountains and thick forest that lined the backside of the campus. The smell of the morning dew was so prominent, it could be sensed through a closed window.
Ken awoke to the sound of the creaking of the wooden steps in the old dormitory. He had dreamt he was riding a unicorn, which, in place of a horn, had a black rose growing out of the top of its head. They had flown together to the mountain top where a cult was congregating to burn a man alive. This is when Ken shot out of bed at the sound of the creaking steps. The third step always creaked.
He got dressed hurriedly, throwing on his favorite grass-and-paint-stained jeans with holes that allowed his pockets to come through and show on the outside of his pants. He threw on a checkered belt and a t-shirt that read “You’re all going to hell, and I’m driving the bus.”
He walked to the next room to see if Tom had awoken yet. When he heard gunshots and explosions, he knew Tom had yet again stayed up all night playing another one of his video games.
“Tom, let’s go get some breakfast, I’m starving,” Ken yelled through the door, which was covered in tampons from the immature girls next door to him. The door jerked open, and in less than three seconds, Tom was fully clothed, standing in the doorway with keys in hand, ready to go.
“Hungry much?” Ken asked him, laughing.
“O’ course, Sir Kenneth,” Tom answered him, smiling.
As they walked down the stairs, Ken asked Tom, “Why the fuck do they call it New Zealand?”
“Ummm… I don’t know… Because the name ‘Zealand’ was already taken?”
“Bullshit. There is no place called Zealand. New Jersey, New Yrk, New Hampshire. All of the originals are places or regions in the motherland. New Mexico, well, that one is obvious. There’s a real Mexico just below us. But I’m telling you, there is no such thing as Zealand. Don’t contradict me.”
“Alright, alright, I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were that serious about this whole ‘Zealand’ thing,” Tom answered, rolling his eyes as he walked out the oak double doors of the dormitory building.
Upon entering the dining hall located right next to the old dormitory, Ken first made his way to the coffee pots. He proceeded to smell the coffee in each of the nine pots in an attempt to find the strongest. There were always variations; he could tell. When he first started drinking coffee, he used a lot of cream, and a lot of sugar, but in the last few months, he gradually decreased his usage to get it to how he drank it now – black and strong.
“Once more into the break, dear friends,” Tom said as he walked over to Ken.
“What?”
“It’s from a Shakespeare play. Henry the something.”
“Oh, if you’re referring to the quote from Henry V, the third act, it’s ‘unto’ the breach. Dumbass. And anyway, what relevance does the quote have to anything going on here? Do leave me now, good gentleman,” Ken told him.
“What?”
Ken walked away to find a table when he saw Mike and Tim sitting at the bar-style seating along the back wall. “Good morrow, gentlemen,” he said as he sat down besidethem, Tom following close behind.
“Hey,” was all they replied.
“It’s too early for your wit, Ken,” Tom told him.
“Hold my seat,” Ken replied as he got up to get some bacon. He always liked to joke about how he could feel the grease clogging his arteries as he ate it.
Sitting at a table all alone in the middle of the Dining Hall was Miss Stefanie Z. Ken never knew what the ‘Z’ stood for, and never bothered to ask.
“’Tis a beautiful morning, is it now?” Ken asked her as he walked in her direction.
“Yes, Ken, ‘tis,” she said mockingly. “Can’t you speak normal English once in a while?”
“I do speak ‘normal’ English. What you speak is the bastardized American version of the beautiful English language. Have some respect for it once in a while, since England is in fact the founding country of this land. Though, for some reason, I can’t help but speak this bastardized language most of the time. I try not to whenever possible, but this country has corrupted me with its despicable ways of ruining everything that is good in this world. I preach what is good, but find myself slipping away and falling into the same rhythm of most Americans, with an increasing distaste for literature, a knack for eating more than I should, and a shortening of my speech because I am too lazy to add four more words to a sentence, just to make it grammatically correct.”
“Finished ranting yet?” Stefanie asked him. “I did stop listening after the first sentence, so you can save your breath.”
“Thanks Stef. Thanks for caring,” he said to her, laughing, as he walked away, unaware that she was serious.
As he returned to where everyone was sitting with a plateful of bacon, sticking his tongue out at Stefanie as he passed her again, he realized that they were all gone. Angrily, he threw his plate down on the countertop, shattering the glass plate. He sat on the barstool and grabbed a slice of bacon from amongst the shards of broken glass and shoved it in his mouth, along with tiny bits of glass he hadn’t realized were sticking to the bacon. He followed the slice by drinking the entire cup of coffee. As he slammed the coffee mug down, it also shattered.
“Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to come with me,” someone said from behind him. He turned around to stare right into the face of Ogre. Or, at least that’s what they called the 6’10” security guard who looked like Shrek who worked on campus.
“C’mon, Ogre, I didn’t mean to do it. Here, I’ll give you a couple bucks.” Ken started reaching for his back pocket to get his wallet.
“What did you call me?!” The fat face of the security guard started wrinkling as he scowled at Ken, almost looking like a pug’s face.
“Um, sir, I did not call you anything,” Ken told him, not at all realizing that he had in fact called the man ‘Ogre.”
“I need you to come with me,” the man said, grabbing Ken from the chair.
Almost falling, Ken told the man, “Alright, I’m coming, I’m coming!” As they walked through the dining hall towards the door, the security guard holding him by the arm the whole time, Ken saw Tom, Mike, and Tim huddled around a table, snickering as they saw Ken getting dragged across the hall.
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