Want the movie now

Star Trek trailer

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince trailer

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

Stardust

http://www.stardustmovie.com/

Run, don't walk, to see this film. It is a beautiful little fairytale full of princes and witches and pirates and romance and sword fights and all those wonderful other things that fairytales are full complete with happily ever after.

----------------
Now playing: Bif Naked - Lucky
----------------

Movie Saturday

Spent the afternoon and evening at the movies. First up was the new Harry Potter film.



Next up was Transformers.



I have to admit that I much more enjoyed Transformers than I did the Harry Potter. I was just in the mood for a rousing good action flick.

Both are good. I enjoyed myself.

And now I'm going to make myself sick on ice cream. The perfect end to a perfect day.

300

This is one of those movies I would say is for the young. I expected to dislike it since I really disliked Sin City which was also a movie for the young done by Frank Miller as this one is. Unfortunately, I really enjoyed this one. It was a live action graphic novel. It was visually stunning. If you enjoy graphic novels, I'm willing to bet you will enjoy this movie.

Movies: 137* out of 239

The following is taken from Teresa Wetzler's blog. I was also curious…

“It’s been said that allegedly if you’ve seen over 85 movies you have no life. Mark the ones you’ve seen. There are 239 films on this list. Copy this list, go to your own blog, paste it in and put x’s by the ones that you have seen. Add them up, change the header adding your number, and post it.”

(X) Rocky Horror Picture Show
(X) Grease
(X) Pirates of the Caribbean
(X) Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest
( ) Boondock Saints
(X) Fight Club
( ) Starsky and Hutch
(X) Neverending Story
(X) Blazing Saddles
(X) Airplane
(X) The Princess Bride
( ) AnchorMan
( ) Napoleon Dynamite
(X) Labyrinth
( ) Saw
( ) Saw II
( ) White Noise
(X) White Oleander
(X) Anger Management
(X) 50 First Dates
(X) The Princess Diaries
(X) The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement

Total so far: 15 out of 22.

(X) Scream
( ) Scream 2
( ) Scream 3
( ) Scary Movie
( ) Scary Movie 2
( ) Scary Movie 3
( ) Scary Movie 4
( ) American Pie
( ) American Pie 2
( ) American Wedding
( ) American Pie Band Camp
(X) Harry Potter 1
(X) Harry Potter 2
(X) Harry Potter 3
(X) Harry Potter 4
(X) Resident Evil 1
( ) Resident Evil 2
(X) The Wedding Singer
(X) Little Black Book
(X) The Village
(X) Lilo & Stitch

Total so far: 25 out of 43. This is not looking good.

(X) Finding Nemo
(X) Finding Neverland
(X) Signs
( ) The Grinch
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
(X) White Chicks
(X) Butterfly Effect
(X) 13 Going on 30
(X) I, Robot
(X) Robots
(X) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
(X) Universal Soldier
(X) Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events
( ) Along Came Polly
(X) Deep Impact
(X) KingPin
(X) Never Been Kissed
( ) Meet The Parents
(X) Meet the Fockers
( ) Eight Crazy Nights
(X) Joe Dirt
(X) King Kong

Total so far: 42 out of 66.

( ) A Cinderella Story
(X) The Terminal
( ) The Lizzie McGuire Movie
( ) Passport to Paris
(X) Dumb & Dumber
( ) Dumber & Dumberer
(X) Final Destination
( ) Final Destination 2
( ) Final Destination 3
( ) Halloween
( ) The Ring
( ) The Ring 2
(X) Surviving Christmas
(X) Flubber*
( ) Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
(X) Practical Magic
(X) Chicago
(X) Ghost Ship
( ) From Hell
(X) Hellboy
( ) Secret Window
( ) I Am Sam
(X) The Whole Nine Yards
( ) The Whole Ten Yards

Total so far: 52 out of 90.

(X) The Day After Tomorrow
( ) Child’s Play
( ) Seed of Chucky
( ) Bride of Chucky
(X) Ten Things I Hate About You
( ) Just Married
(X) Gothika
( ) Nightmare on Elm Street
(X) Sixteen Candles
(X) Remember the Titans
( ) Coach Carter
( ) The Grudge
( ) The Grudge 2
(X) The Mask
( ) Son Of The Mask
( ) Bad Boys
( ) Bad Boys 2
( ) Joy Ride
( ) Lucky Number Sleven
(X) Ocean’s Eleven
( ) Ocean’s Twelve
(X) Bourne Identity
(X) Bourne Supremecy
( ) Lone Star
(X) Bedazzled
(X) Predator I
(X) Predator II
( ) The Fog
(X) Ice Age
( ) Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
( ) Curious George

Total so far: 65 out of 121.

(X) Independence Day
(X) Cujo
(X) A Bronx Tale
(X) Darkness Falls
( ) Christine
(X) E.T.
( ) Children of the Corn
( ) My Bosses DaughterOb
(X) Maid in Manhattan
(X) War of the Worlds
(X) Rush Hour
(X) Rush Hour 2
( ) Best Bet
(X) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
(X) She’s All That
(X) Calendar Girls
( ) Sideways
(X) Mars Attacks
(X) Event Horizon
(X) Ever After
(X) Wizard of Oz
(X) Forrest Gump
(X) Big Trouble in Little China
(X) The Terminator
(X) The Terminator 2
(X) The Terminator 3

Total so far: 86 out of 147.

(X) X-Men
(X) X-2
(X) X3
(X) Spider-Man
(X) Spider-Man 2
(X) Sky High
( ) Jeepers Creepers
( ) Jeepers Creepers 2
(X) Catch Me If You Can
(X) The Little Mermaid
(X) Freaky Friday*
(X) Reign of Fire
( ) The Skulls
(X) Cruel Intentions
( ) Cruel Intentions 2
( ) The Hot Chick
(X) Shrek
(X) Shrek 2

Total so far: 99 out of 165.

( ) Swimfan
(X) Miracle on 34th street*
( ) Old School
(X) The Notebook
(X) K-Pax
(X) Krippendorf’s Tribe
(X) A Walk to Remember
(X) Ice Castles
( ) Boogeyman
( ) The 40-year-old Virgin
(X) Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
(X) Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
(X) Lord of the Rings: Return Of the King
(X) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
(X) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(X) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Total so far: 111 out of 181.

(X) Base-ketball
( ) Hostel
( ) Waiting for Guffman
( ) House of 1000 Corpses
( ) Devils Rejects
(X) Elf
(X) Highlander
( ) Mothman Prophecies
( ) American History X
( ) Three
( ) The Jacket
(X) Kung Fu Hustle
(X) Shaolin Soccer
(X) Night Watch
(X) Monsters Inc.
(X) Titanic
(X) Monty Python and the Holy Grail
(X) Shaun Of the Dead
( ) Willard

Total so far: 117 out of 200.

( ) High Tension
( ) Club Dread
( ) Hulk
( ) Dawn Of the Dead
(X) Hook
(X) Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
(X) 28 days later
( ) Orgazmo
( ) Phantasm
(X) Waterworld
(X) Kill Bill Vol. 1
(X) Kill Bill Vol. 2
(X) Mortal Kombat
( ) Wolf Creek
(X) Kingdom of Heaven
( ) The Hills Have Eyes
( ) I Spit on Your Grave
( ) The Last House on the Left
( ) Re-Animator
( ) Army of Darkness

Total so far: 125 out of 220.

(X) Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace
(X) Star Wars Ep. II Attack of the Clones
(X) Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith
(X) Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope
(X) Star Wars Ep. V The Empire Strikes Back
(X) Star Wars Ep. VI Return of the Jedi
( ) Ewoks: Caravan Of Courage
( ) Ewoks: The Battle For Endor
(X) The Matrix
(X) The Matrix: Reloaded
(X) The Matrix: Revolutions
( ) Animatrix
( ) Evil Dead
( ) Evil Dead 2
( ) Team America: World Police
(X) Red Dragon
(X) Silence of the Lambs
(X) Hannibal

Grand total: 137 out of 239 unless you count the fact movies marked with * have two versions each that I've seen. In that case it would be 140 out of 239.

Huh . . . I've always known I have no life. Now I have proof positive.

Another blah day

. . . although this one was slightly more productive than yesterday. I actually managed to do a load of laundry. Guess that means I have to go to work tomorrow.

I also watched Hellboy. That was quite a good movie, even on the small screen. This one, as well as Spider-Man 2, show that you can tell a comic book story and make it have plot and character development and not just be a mindless special effects fest.





And after I finished with Hellboy, I watched Out of Time starring Denzel Washington, Dean Cain, and two women I've never heard of. I had the feeling watching this movie that maybe they were going for a kind of noir thing, but I don't know that they succeeded all that well. Or maybe I was expecting too much. I don't know. Not that it was a bad movie. I enjoyed watching Denzel sweat getting caught. It just seemed too easy and too obvious.

The Village

I saw the movie today. Suffice it to say that I enjoyed it and I appreciate the means to an end approach the movie is. I can't really say anything about the movie without giving away the film's secret which must be seen to be truly appreciated. The only thing I will offer up here is that in one scene very early in the film the word "scared" was used. I found it to be jarringly anachronistic. I wonder if anyone else in the world will have been bothered by its use. I also wonder if its use was deliberate.

Cowboy Bebop, The Movie

I finally got around to watching it. Well, almost all of it. The DVD wouldn't let me watch scenes 14, 15, and 16 on my player even after I cleaned the disc. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality. It was much better than I was expecting a "cartoon" to be. I watched the film dubbed in English with English subtitles. That was interesting. Very often the dialog on the dub had almost nothing to do with the subtitles. I strongly suspect that if I'd watched the film in Japanese with just the English subtitles I wouldn't have liked it very much. The subtitles were very minimalistic.

Murder on the Orient Express

I watched a modernized remake of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express last night on the telly. It starred Alfred Molina as Hercule Poirot. It was totally bland and dull and uninspired. Instead of Poirot being this prissy little busy-body with a ridiculous moustache, he was . . . Alfred Molina . . . using a laptop . . . and having an implied liaison with a woman at the end of the film.

If you're going to watch Murder on the Orient Express, watch the Albert Finney version. That one had character.

King Arthur

I saw this film on Saturday right after I watched I, Robot. Given the horror of what went on the first time I saw King Arthur, I had to see it again just to see whether I liked it or not.

And I did like it although it is a flawed film. One reviewer I read, cited Clive Owen (Arthur), Mads Mikkelsen (Tristan), and Stellan Skarsgård (Cerdic) as the actors in the film while the rest of the cast "mistake facial hair for acting." This gave me a chuckle because I found Clive Owen to be rather wooden in the part. He was the least expressive of any of the actors including the ones with beards.

I honestly think the film has been done a disservice by the publicists handling it. It is not a summer blockbuster. It is a much smaller, more intimate film. It is gritty and lacks the overdone special effects of a blockbuster. The movie also lacks the star power of a summer blockbuster. All the actors, with the possible exception of Keira Knightley, are virtually unknown to most of the American movie going public. Those of us who watch BBC America or A&E may be familiar with Clive Owen and Ioan Gruffudd, but I couldn't put a name to any of the other actors. I also think that publicizing it as the "true" story of King Arthur is a further disservice. Actually, I think it would have been better for the film if it had been called Artorius Rex instead of King Arthur since the film does not address any of the passion and conflict between love and duty that the "not true" story of Arthur does. A lot of the angst that makes the Arthur legend what it is is missing from this film. So is the romance.

But despite all these flaws, I truly did enjoy the film. It will definitely find its way into my DVD collection.

I, Robot

Call me dense, but I can't figure out what to do at the official movie site. It was obviously designed for far more clever (patient) people than I.

Any which way, I saw the movie on Saturday. It was exactly what I was expecting it to be . . . a Will Smith movie. I enjoyed it for what it was not what it wasn't. At no time did I ever harbor any illusion the film would have anything to do with any of Asimov's robot stories. For a while there when the previews first started, I didn't even think they had the Three Laws right. But for a mindless Saturday afternoon matinee, it suited just fine. I do have to admit that the character I liked best was Sonny (who was voiced by Alan Tudyk.)



The gist of the whole movie involves Will Smith's character figuring out what's really broken in the world that is 2035. Not exactly rocket science, but . . .

RoboFlop - The mechanical heart of I, Robot. By David Edelstein

I love a good, scathing review.  I haven't actually seen the movie yet, but I harbor no illusions about it having anything to do with Asimov's stories.

Sunday with the best friend

Let's see . . . what did we do?

I took a few pictures of various and sundry things while she took video of my cats. We then looked at the pictures I took and the video she took. I also got to watch video of her husband feeding their goats and their cats and some of the puppies they have running about. By the time we stopped playing with the cameras and went for breakfast, it was almost lunch time.

After filling up on food and checking the mail, we went to see King Arthur. I strongly suspect that I probably would have really enjoyed the movie if I'd been able to watch it in peace. However, a grandma and her half dozen grandchildren decided to sit behind us in the theatre. There was one child who obviously had some sort of respiratory problem. Every couple of minutes or so, it sounded like a goose honking behind us. Then there was the five year old who kept up a running commentary through the entire film despite being told repeatedly to be quiet and watch. And of course grandma didn't turn her cell phone off so it had to ring right in the middle of the film. Not only did the woman answer the phone, but she actually chatted for a few minutes. Then there were the little girls who had to go to the bathroom multiple times during the film. And the little boys who had to kick the back of the seats. Actually, now that I think about, I'm not even sure that it was King Arthur we went to see. It felt more like Nightmare on Elm Street.

After the movies we went back to the house. I fell asleep while she watched one of the Harry Potter movies on TV and played with the cats and took pictures of my house so her husband can see where I live now. When I finally woke up from my nap, we finished watching Two Weeks Notice and then off we went to dinner at Chili's - fajitas for her and a bacon burger for me. We went back to the house after dinner. I did a load of laundry so I would have clean clothes to wear today and we watched Seabiscuit. That was a wonderful little film. We both enjoyed it very much.

The best friend left this morning at the same time I went off to work. I think we had a fun visit.

Saturday with the best friend

My best friend came up for the weekend. Friday we had dinner at my favorite local steakhouse, did laundry, and watched the Star Gate: SG1 season premier. I hadn't a clue what was going on since I hadn't watched any of the last season and I'm not really an SG1 watcher in general.

Saturday we had breakfast at my favorite local restaurant to have breakfast at and then we drove to that Barnes & Noble I always go to to have a cuppa at Starbuck's and shop for books. I can never go into a B & N without buying books. Sometimes I do more damage to my finances than others. Yesterday I lucked out - five hardback books for $45. I bought -

King Arthur and the Grail Quest, by John Matthews
Monday Mourning, by Kathy Reichs
Put a Lid on It , by Donald E. Westlake
A Spy for the redeemer, by Candace Robb, and last but not least,
Dungeon, Fire, & Sword: The Knights Templar in the Crusades, by John J. Robinson.

I talked my best friend into buying The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold and she bought one of *those* books she always buys for herself. I don't even know what the title is or what it's about.

After B & N, we drove over the overpass to the mall and walked around till we were ready to drop. Mostly we looked at purses even though neither of us was in need of a new one. They've redone the food court at the mall. It's no longer as large or full of diverse selections as it was. After walking ourselves silly, we really wanted a drink and a pretzel but there were no pretzels to be had. So we went driving in search of someplace we could get something to snack on that didn't involve sweets. Wound up exploring a bit of the area and settled on going to the Cracker Barrel for Stewart's root beer and onion rings. My best friend bought a very pretty multi-blue quilted bag she found there.

Refreshed, we drove down to the outlet mall and wandered through the little remainder bookshop they have there. The only thing I picked up there was a $5 copy of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon. After digging around that shop, we went on the great bathroom scavenger hunt. None of the stores in the outlet mall have public restrooms and the public restrooms at the mall were taped off with yellow tape and traffic cones. We wound up at a Whataburger where we also bought drinks to refresh us on the drive home.

And then we drove home but we didn't actually go home. We went to the movies. Saw The Terminal because it was one we could still get into without missing anything, especially the previews. A movie just isn't a movie if you miss the previews. After a day of shopping, The Terminal was the perfect movie to watch - light-hearted and pointless and mindless and feel-good. We enjoyed it very muchly.

Finally, there was home to wrestle with the kittens and wind down before bed.

Spider-Man 2

I finally got to see the movie yesterday. For a comic book film, it was exceptionally well done. There was plot. There was character development. There was humor. There was just a hint of cheesecake.



And there was that freight train I'm sure was intended to be foreshadowing about the story / villain of the next film.