frame²

I reluctantly saw this one on Christmas. I was with mom and her boyfriend and kinda felt bad. I hardly see them and they were begging to see Valkyrie but I had already promised to see that with someone else. Feeling cornered I very reluctantly agreed to see emotionless Keanu Reeves act as an alien trying to teach us a lesson.

I gotta say... I was WILDLY surprised at how much I enjoyed this. I sat in the theater being a hardcore fan of the original and was expecting a bomb, but at the very least I still remained open-minded, which is how you should view this movie if you want to enjoy it. The graphics are phenomenal, even though I thought GORT was a little over the top.

The storyline changed quite a bit. The general tone of the movie was very different as well, but it was very fitting for something that would be likely happen today. When Klatu mysteriously arrives he is welcomed with scientists in hazmat suits, tanks, cops, guns pointed at him, helicopters, etc. Basically the movie sends the message that we're trigger happy Americans who want to shoot down anything that threatens it may be far more superior than we are.

This movie is worth checking out. The acting isn't spectacular but it isn't horrible. Who else would you cast to play an emotionless alien who doesn't understand the concept of human feelings. You're basically watching Neo, from Matrix, in a different environment and script. So if you have an interest in seeing this please go with an open-mind. If you're going in expecting an homage to the original you will be disappointed. This is more of an update on how it would spin if it were modern.

People have dubbed her to be the next Amy Winehouse, but I think she's better. Her voice is fantastic with the husky old style jazz voice. The video is beyond anything creative/ingenious I've ever seen.

Can't make up my mind on which I'm more blown away by... the video or the song. Love both equally but together they make one powerful collaboration.

Enjoy!

Jeff Dunham is a ventriloquist. Jeff Dunham is a comedian. Put the two together and you get one hell of a show.

He works with ventriloquist dummies with 5 very different personalities. My favorite is Peanut. The purple headed, green haired looking muppet. He's the annoying sibling everyone has had. But by the end you can't help but to cave in and keel over from laughing so hard, because the stuff they do is so ridiculous. Gets in your face about everything and pesters you with the "song that will never end", but extremely lovable.

Surprisingly his jokes aren't all that "edgy", and not in a bad way. And I say that it's surprising simply because these days stand-up comedians have to be talking of such issues that are more adult related, like Chris Rock or Richard Pryor. The fact that he can tell these jokes without having to go extreme is a talent in itself.

Jeff Dunham brings a refreshing presence to the act. His characters are well put together, as is his interaction with his characters, like Achmed for example. The suicide bomber who failed out of school because he was "practicing" for his test.

Random FYI: I HATE Dane Cook. He's SOOOO not funny. Takes freaking forever to deliver the punchline. That's all. Just wanted to share.

:D

There's an ugly rumor going on the net right now that Eddie Murphy has been cast as the Riddler, in the sequel to the Dark Knight. Ewwwwwwwwww and no no no no no no no no! The rumor was posted by the Sun, and the whole article reads as either really bad journalism or great hoax.

They ended the article with, "Everyone’s excited to see what he does as the Riddler." Really?!? Who?!? The 5-year old's who loved Daddy Day Care?

Word is that Johnny Depp (Surprised? I'm not) is a strong candidate to being the Riddler. I'm afraid he's gonna bring another Jack Sparrow to the screen and then it's just a waste. I'm going with my original submission that I think Jude Law would be fantastic.

Another rumor is Shia Labeof, which has also been discounted as being just a rumor. I like Shia, but I'm not too crazy with him as Robin. Actually I have no idea who a good Robin would be. I'm thinking someone sliiiiightly younger than Shia. Shia seems a bit too old for the role.

And the last rumor set by the Sun, is Rachel Weisz... as Catwoman. Meh. Hoping this one is a rumor too. I voted for Jennifer Connelly or Charlize Theron even. Maybe even Milla Jovovich.

I'm hoping that this segment of the trilogy will be a lot better than KH2. I feel the developers made a big mistake making the version that came out on the GameBoy a prerequisite to play, in order to understand KH2. It was a bloody nightmare! I had to have my sister on standby to understand what was going on, and even then I'm left with a lot of questions.

My other complain with KH2 was the fact that there really wasn't a lot of action. I wanna say 40% of the time was spent reading.

Upon viewing the trailer for KH3, it seems as though they're taking a different direction. Rumor's are that it's Riku's side of the story. But the graphics and artwork are a lot darker (go figure) and very true to the Final Fantasy style. The only thing that throws it off is the Disney side. Hahaha. You'll see what I by the end of this trailer. Fair warning: It is about 6 minutes long, but very very worth it, I promise:

I had an interesting conversation with a coworker at job2. She was excitedly telling me she bought a new 8MP digital camera for $300. When I scowled at her news she asked why. I politely informed her she doesn't need 8MP, unless she's a professional photography.

Yes it's true when taking photos, the more pixels you have the better the quality. But the average point and shoot camera user doesn't need that amount. What're you going to do with all those extra pixels?

I have a 2MP camera. (I never got around to updating my camera.) With 2MP the highest quality print I can print is roughly a 5"x7" print. 8MP will get you bigger than a movie poster print. What average person actually prints their photos from the photo machine, or at home for that matter at that big of a capacity? And so, the manufacturing companies have made profits on the idea that more is better. In reality, it's really unnecessary, further proving that we're a country that likes being overly indulgent.

My next case is the HDTV's. 720p vs 1080p. I've gotten into countless debates with people about this. It's the same concept as the digital cameras. Getting a 32" HDTV with 1080p is POINTLESS. You will never see the difference. NEVER. Just because you have more pixels in a smaller screen doesn't mean it'll increase the quality of the picture. If anything it should make it more fuzzy because there's too much for the screen to handle. But it does sound cooler saying, "I have a 32" HDTV with 1080p", right?

To drive the point even further home, I had a conversation with an honest salesperson (hard to believe, I know) one time, and he even said that regular television won't catch up to the 1080p standard until years later. The only way you'd be able to actually SEE the quality of 1080p is on Blu-Ray.

I stumbled across this article which gives really informative easy-to-understand concepts on the whole HDTV thing. As for the digital camera thing, there really isn't much you can do. These days the market only sells what's the highest available. But given the option you should spring for the clearance items of the lowest #MP camera available.

Attempting to kill time I went through my ON Demand and stumbled upon this show.

It's about Paul Watson and his staff aboard the ship the Sea Shepherd. Aboard the ship they circle Antarctica to chase off the Japanese whale hunters. Paul Watson is the co-founder to Greenpeace, and was later voted out for being too aggressive in his fight against whaling, poaching, shark finning and habitat destruction.

For several years, Watson's group of staff and volunteers have engaged in a campaign almost every winter to find and stop Japanese ships that hunt whales in the name of research, attempting to stop them by any non-violent means necessary. The eclectic group — labeled activists, heroes and/or eco-pirates — leave port in Melbourne, Australia for a two-month campaign that is dangerous, controversial and has garnered international media attention. Sea Shepherd's dedicated, international crew have spent their holiday the last several years and risked their lives at the bottom of the Earth to save whales. -Source

This show is really compelling. Compelling enough that my sister and I looked at each other with the opening sequence and contemplated going vegetarian, after seeing the inhumane manner in which these majestic creatures are being slaughtered for monetary... err.. "scientific" purposes.

The Japanese have used the loophole that whales can be hunted under the restrictions that only a certain number are killed for the purposes of scientific research. Each of their ships have "RESEARCH" painted on the side as to make it okay. As they kill them they hold up signs for the helicopters that say things like "We are collecting samples for DNA". Really? You need the whole body for DNA?

Okay, enough with the ranting, back to the show.

My only complaint about the crew is that well... they're not the best decision makers in the world. It's frustrating to watch them stand around and have the passion to do what they want, but not really have the structure or guidance. For example:

The captain is nuts, and the boat is filled with the worst decision makers... EVER. I'll give him credit for being gutsy and going out and doing what he does but he takes the term of standing what he believes in to the core. They find the location of a whale hunting ship and after several attempts to make contact with them, he comes up with the plan to send two of his crew members aboard the ship so they can be held captive, then he can call the media and say the Japanese ship has two of his crew members kidnapped. Great marketing strategy but otherwise extremely risky.

It did work. But the two guys were held on the Japanese ship for about 2½ days. During those days negotiations reached diplomatic proportions. The government got involved when an agreement couldn't be made on how to return the hostages. The Australian Coast Guard stepped in to pick up the hostages and return them to their home ship. The captain decides to get some shut-eye because he's been up for 56 hours.

While he's asleep they see in the horizon the Japanese ship. They feel it's taunting them and vote whether they should make an attack. A crew member advises they just got done negotiating to get their fellow crew members back, to make an attack against them before the dropoff would be counter-productive. They vote against her, and she suggests they ask the captain what to do. The captain says it's up to the first mate, and goes back to the sleep. The attack goes into action.

They send their little boat after the ship, and the helicopter hovers over keeping watch. He notices they are going in the opposite direction. He lets the ship know, and they try getting radio contact. No response. After repeatedly trying to get their attention the helicopter has no choice but to turn back. The boat is missing for about 2 hours. The first mate doesn't wake up the captain. The communications officer comes in the midst of all this and organizes a search and rescue, also suggesting they call the coast guard. The first mate is furious that he even organized such a thing without going through the chain of command.

The boat does come back. They forgot they had the SAT phone. SERIOUSLY?!?!? Anyway the communications officer gets demoted in the morning when the captain hears what happened.

The whole feel of this operation feels like a bunch of college students who are naively pursuing a cause. Great, but it just doesn't feel well thought out most of the time.

I swear it was purely coincidental that I got another Netflix movie with Tom Cruise in it. Or maybe I went through one of my crazy movie binges and picked all the movies with a certain actor I was thinking of at that time.

Anyway this move was pretty good. I liked going through it.

My friend and I agreed that it was impossible to get over the image of Tom Cruise in gray hair. It just seemed... too MUCH like a character. Maybe it was the "cheap" gray suit. Something about his costume design just wasn't well thought out and we couldn't figure it out. Usually they will do it on purpose to portray some characterization, but in this case it just seemed like a bad wardrobe job.

This is the type of action movie I usually end up cringing at in the end. You have Jamie Foxx who is a meek cab driver throughout the entire movie, and when he finds out the woman he has a possible love interest in is next on the hitlist, he magically becomes a great action hero. I hate when they go realistic for three-quarters of the movie and then get all fantasy for the last quarter. Throws me off.

I also feel like there were chunks of this movie missing. They didn't put much thought into the script at all. Vincent (assassin, played by Tom Cruise) has this complex job description and they don't really go into depth about him at all. I personally would like to know how he started getting into this line of work, and why? Nevermind the why, that's obvious. Father issues.

To wrap it up, this movie was alright. Not great, and not bad.

Waste. Of. Time.

This movie was a big joke. I actually thought this would at least be fun/amusing to watch at the very least but I got robbed of 2 hours.

Good thing is the movie moved along really fast. But the damn thing moved so fast, there really wasn't anything to follow along with. He runs into the son he didn't know he had. Helps him get his mother and old colleague out of danger by helping the Germans find a legendary lost city to return a crystal skull to get ultimate power of it, blah blah blah.

And that's it. Oh wait, I forgot, there's a car chase scene in the jungle.

The ending to the whole thing was just comical. Aliens?!? After the skull is restored to the body, they all condense into one live alien and the ship comes out of the ground and returns home...

I wanted to not care for this movie, because, well.. it's quite obvious. Tom Cruise. He's been a big huge media joke, since his couch jumping event. But this movie proves how great of an actor he is.

The idea of Tom Cruise playing a decorated Captain in the late 1800's was really not convincing. It was hard to take him seriously, but as the movie progressed you are captured by the people/characters involved to tell this story.

Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise) is a decorated Captain who makes his living telling stories of fight the natives, alongside Colonel Custer, when he in reality he is haunted by what he has done. You see his flashbacks as him viciously killing the Indians in a savage matter. Especially since the ones that guilt him everyday were the families of the Indians, not the warriors themselves. The Indians weren't the savages... the soldiers were. War is ugly.

While captured by the samurai's led by Katsumoto Nathan learns another side to the war. He learns of the samurai's ways of fighting and is deeply touched by how respectful they are, even to their enemies. They consider fighting on the battlefield to be the highest form of honor and fighting with swords is much more personal, as it should be. If you're fighting for something it should be hand to hand combat, right? To die on the battlefield is not a fearful thought but a welcoming thought. You died fighting for something. But to be alive at the end of a losing battle is shameful. Often seppuku (suicide performed by stabbing oneself in the abdomen) is taken place.

This film was sooooooo well done I can't even begin to explain. Everything was done so beautifully and the script was flawless. The bond that Katsumoto and Nathan have was touching and in a way romantic in the most non-gay way, which is another great example of how well done the movie was. Asians have very intimate friendships and it's so hard to explain. They had conversations as friends, and comrades and as teacher to student, and as enemies. They both learned from each other and relied on each other, regardless of the fact that they were enemies beforehand.

The king being so young plays a bigger part that most people missed. Katsumoto turns to him in the council meeting begging him to let him enter the council meeting as a samurai as the way the old country was. The king wanting to please everyone and not knowing what to do cannot look at him in the eyes, resulting in the arrest of Katsumoto which starts the war against him. Had he grown up and taken responsibility for what he really believed in as Katsumoto begged him to, in a conversation previously taken place, a lot of damage would've been avoided.

I consider the scene with Taka and Nathan one of the most beautiful/sexiest scenes. Right before the battle scene as Nathan leaves early dawn to prepare for the fight, Taka stops him and asks him to wear the armor of her former husband... that Nathan killed in a battle early on in the movie. She removes his current garbs and gracefully dresses him in the samurai armor her husband used to wear. They kiss softly and he goes on his way not caring if he was to die on the battlefield, but for the first time wanting to fight.

On the battlefield it's obvious they are outnumbered. Nathan tells the story of the 300 Greeks who held off an army of over a thousand. Katsumoto asks what happens to the Greeks. Nathan replies every single one of them died. Katsumoto smiles at the answer.

In the final moment of the battle they are left with about a dozen or so men. They charge full force and the automatic machine weapons are brought out killing the last remaining men. Katsumoto reaches for a dagger to commit seppuku. Nathan tries to stop him and Katsumoto begs him. "You have your honor back, let me have mine." As the opposing soldiers see this and Katsumoto dies in the arms of Nathan, they all kneel as a sign of respect to the fallen samurai's.