03 of 30 - IV - Movie Reviews

[aggienaut]

Yesterday's 30 in 30 Report:
   Updates by: ironlioninzion, bartgroks, beastmario, eazyt, witless_nerd, abunchofcrap, xaositecte, newcomer thanew and joining us from the land of other blogs, Jeff4mvh.
   My favourite of yesterdays: beastmario, on the benefits of blogging.

   Anyway, we've survived our first weekend now. It is ancient livejournal wisdom that weekends are always slow for the blogosphere. Too many people have too many distractions. Our soothsayers tell us therefore not to waste our good ideas on the weekend, but rather hold out for the weekdays. I haven't tested it, but some successful experts recommend 8am Monday morning as the optimum time to post, followed by the other weekday mornings. I haven't had a chance to research this myself however.


In the real world today (and I don't mean the one on TV in which Darnell Holloway seduces people) I went for a walk in the forest with my parents. Then we went to the Persian market and got some exotic comestibles. Then I picked blackberries from the bramble next to the house. Its loaded with big juicy blackberries right now.


   Anyway, today I am going to review some movies I've seen recently.
Movie Reviews

The Departed: I found The Departed to be extremely excellent. Kristy also thought it was very good but felt it wasn't quite as good as Goodfellas, which is also directed by Scorsese. Personally however I found it to be as good as one could ask for. Had some excellent twists. I give it an A+, though I was kind of confused in the beginning, due to an initial inability to tell DiCaprio and Matt Damon apart. d=

Pirates of the Caribbean III - Worlds End: Well, they didn't commit any acts of piracy, they weren't near the Caribbean at all in this movie (and I don't think I'd be terribly spoiling it if I pointed out that they aren't at "the world's end" for very long in it either for that matter), but hey. Though the previous two had also been very Disney-eque, for some reason the Disneyness really bothered me in this one. Maybe I was just in a more cynical mood. On a more spoiler-oriented front, Elisabeth is a total slutbag, kissing the Admiral randomly --I know they had some minor history in a previous one, but my recollection is just that she was supposed to marry him and didn't like him at all, or something-- and trying to kiss Jack once she was married. And that marriage during a battle, that was a real groaner for me.
   So there's Nine Pirate Lords, all of a sudden, but two of them, Captain Barbarossa and Captain Sparrow, happened to have been from the same boat? Its a small world (after all) I guess. And the Calypso storyline could have been completely removed. The only effect it had on anything else was creating the whirlpool arena for them to fight it out in. I'd imagine they could have sailed around and found one anyway without her.
   Any maybe I'm a huge nerd, but in the end, why the English send their flagship out all alone? Makes absolutely no sense. Frankly I would have rather seen the two fleets go at it en masse. THAT would have been cool.
   Annd what were they fighting for, really? We got a few Mel Gibson style speeches about "freedom" in. But what kind of freedom are the pirates fighting for? The freedom to waylay innocent merchantmen and relieve them of cargoes and lives? I give it a C-

Once - I saw this movie the other day that was produced by the Irish Film Board. It was a love-story involving a street musician. Anyway, it involved more people playing music than I wanted to sit around and watch, but at least the broke with the usual and didn't resolve the love story with a happy ending. C

300 - I downloaded 300 last week to see what it was all about. I got bored with it halfway through and turned it off, which is not something I normally do. AND I'm probably more a fan of war and ancient-setting movies than your average person. In other words, this movie fails at life. F-.
   But DO watch this hilarious parody of 300 ("United 300"), to which I give an A.

28 Weeks Later - As you may recall, I already reviewed this one. I just thought I'd add it to this list and give it a grade. D

Stranger Than Fiction - I absolutely loved Stranger Than Fiction. It was a brilliant balance of self-awareness, irony, humour, and everything excellent. You should see it. A+

Previously...
   Four Years Ago Today: UCDMUNC 2003 - The inaugeral (and best?) session of the Model UN conference now known as DMUNC
   Three Years Ago Yesterday: Commercials I Hate - Now there's an idea that can be used again... 30 in 30 I - apoplecticfittz' Gummie Bear Theatre
   Two Years Ago Yesterday: 30 in 30 I - Textmessege Dump - I clear out my phone's inbox by transcribing textmesseges I couldn't bear to delete onto lj. Squirrels are prominantly featured.
   Year Ago Yesterday: 30 in 30 III - My Day 2 Favourite is apoplecticfittz's Anti-Sodoku entry
   Year Ago Today: Dress Your Best -- Or Not! - Pictures from the "Dress Your Best, Or Not" Party, some more on blogging 30 in 30 III - orwell_troll illustrates how a little multimedia can go a long way, with his plusgood entry and the 51st state

Comments

[tingsquared.livejournal.com]

Oh man - I actually was assigned an episode of Real World during my last week at the TV analysis place. I paused the Tivo and tilted my head when the girl said "Darnell." Very hilarious.

[emosnail.livejournal.com]

Yeah me too, I was like "wait waait thats..."

So like Darnell, shows up on the Real World, seduces someone, causes drama. hah.

[neugotik.livejournal.com]

how do i get into the 30 in 30 run-off? not sure what the point is but you lately responded to one of my polls, thus getting my attention, and I always post more then 3o times in a month, any regular month, so .. what do I do next and what's it all about? heh. ;)

[emosnail.livejournal.com]

Hey. Generally, all you have to do is declare in an entry your intent to participate (and make sure it comes to the attention of other participants.. usually via me, which you are doing now.. yeah -- also posting a little hello in 30in30 couldn't hurt), and go from there!

Most of our participants write much less than an entry a day and so its an increase for them. Seeing as you definitely seem to post several times a day, and we don't want to overload everyone (since part of the fun is keeping tabs on what the other participants are writing about), I'd say either designate one of your posts every day as being a "30 in 30" post, or reduce to one post a day.

Anyway, welcome aboard! Also if you have any friends who might be interested in doing it please invite them!

I could challenge an army of persions too if I had CGI Abs.

[xaositecte.livejournal.com]

300 really needs to be seen in a theatre to be appreciated. Downloading and watching on your computer steals the majesty from it all.

Re: I could challenge an army of persions too if I had CGI Abs.

[emosnail.livejournal.com]

Yeah, in 300s defense, I think the quality of the version I downloaded was particularly poor. d=

[ironlioninzion.livejournal.com]

Ditto on Elizabeth being a slutbag.

I had trouble figuring out who to root for in the whole movie, since there was such this tangled series of alliances.

[emosnail.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I liked the tangled alliances though, that was kind of fun. The only one I can really say I was definitely rooting against is Mike Turner, or Max Turner, or whatever the hell Orlando Bloom's character was named. He was just way too clean-cut and smarmy for me.

I think if I was rooting for anyone, it would be Lord Cutlery Bucket, the main bad guy. Because sometimes its just fun to root for the bad guys. And anyway, he stood for law, order, and the economy!!