Two "magician" movies in one month. I can remember seeing trailers for The Prestige and thinking it was a ripoff of The Illusionist... atleast thats what my expectations were going into it. At it's root The Illusionist is a story of forbidden love while The Prestige deals with the unhealthy obsession for discovering secrets. Both walk the line of not knowing if the magic being performed is real or supernatural; this fact being my favorite part of both films.
The conflict brought on by the love story in The Illusionist was effective, but I found the enduring feud in The Prestige to be more compelling. It helps that Christopher Nolan directed it since I loved Memento and Batman Begins, who obviously has a knack for unraveling "secrets" on screen. There were plenty of twists and turns in the plot to keep you guessing and I found myself constantly wondering "how'd they do that... what is the source of the magic?"
After viewing both films, The Prestige held more substance for me. If not for the simple notion that two magicians are better than one (well there were more than two... but you get my point).
There's something lame to be said about seeing a horror movie on Sunday night instead of Friday. I can honestly say that The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning would have be 100x better if I saw it opening night with a packed audience. Absolutely no one made any loud remarks, screams, laughs, fart noises, or jokes during the flick. I really look forward to that sort of banter during a bad horror movie and left disappointed.
I must have seen the original Tobe Hooper masterpiece around 5 years ago when my girlfriend at the time picked it up from Hollywood Video. Everyone I knew swore by it and I was just a little late to the party having never seen it. The charm of seeing it on VHS with obvious playback problems really added to the snuff film feel of it. You almost wanted to believe that this sort of insanity actually went down while someone taped it.
I knew the remake would never capture that, but it faired well if you saw it for what it was and ignored the original. This prequel felt exactly like the remake except that it bored the hell out of me. This was suppose to be the origin story of Leatherface, so going in I expected to see some gruesome happenings that ultimately molded the chainsaw welding beast. Got none of that.
It was sort of cool to see how the characters got to the place that they were in the remake, but really who cares. R. Lee Ermey was great once again if only a tad over the top. The gore was a bore and nothing I haven't seen before. When a movie about zombies has better deaths by the hand of a chainsaw than a Texas Chainsaw flick red flags go up. Sorry dudes.
Mediocre at best. I'm guessing Saw 3 is going to be a disappointment as well this Halloween.
I don't know what the old folks going into this movie thought they were in for... but I believe it was the same bunch that walked out of Eternal Sunshine for the Spotless Mind I saw years ago. Even if it sucked I wouldn't walk out after spending close to $10 for a ticket. Sure I have no problem paying double that for a band and leaving before they play, but this is totally different =).
Not sure what else to say about this one. I liked how it was in English, French, and Spanish. I liked most of the characters. Some of the character devolpment was lacking, but forgivable. It was enjoyable to watch and really the only thing that urked me was the too Steph's lack of communication. There were a couple of moments I just wanted to shout at them to wake up and say one sentence to avoid certain situations. But I guess that would cut the film in half.
I need a new wardrobe, and to move to France now.
Since two of my entries in the last contest had some mild success and nabbed me some wins. Figured I'd give a go at another vox inspired contest and see whats up. Cute isn't necessarily my forte, but whatevs. Here are some quick Adobe Illustrator creations I wiped (i mean whipped... hah) up... more to follow I'm sure.
Not really something I'd choose for my own blog, but I think they are soothing and have enough mass appeal. Maybe I'll do a few more if work isn't so hectic tomorrow and I have a minute to brainstorm.
What movie would you really recommend renting or seeing this weekend?
Well lets see. Saw two films at Regal this weekend. Friday was Invincible with Mark Wahlberg and toight was Beerfest I really wish I kept my fridge full of beers because playing quarters and pong sound like a fucking blast right about now. And I hate fuckin' beer.
Invincible was decent, you know the drill... inspiration football underdog movie based on real events. It's basically Rudy but not as lame. Although I was looking for the "slow clap" and was sort of disappointed with it's absence. I will say, the two dumb jerks behind us talking through the entire movie and singing all the lame 70's era music pissed me off. Yet the dumb 16 year old jerks behind them who did the loud obnoxious fake laugh at non-funny parts to parody the two jerks who wouldn't shut up.... totally redeemed the experience for me.
Broken LIzard definately hit a homerun with Beerfest and gave me back the 1hr and thirty they stole when I saw Club Dread a few years back. -phew what the runon sentence??? It's consitently funny from start to finish with some choice moments. Out of all the comedies I've seen this summer Clerks 2 still tops. There's something about super crude and sexually ribbed jokes/gags that just capture my heart. Oh joy.
Well here are some quick banner ideas. They won't win because they aren't "VOXY" enough. Maybe next time I'll drop in some more gradients, vectors, and a smooth pastel palette to paint me a lovely web 2.0 piece of art. =)
