The Hangover (2009) R 100min
Director Todd Phillips continues along the lines of his previous comedies, “The Old School” (2003) and “Road Trip” (2000).
The plot: The movie opens with one of the groom’s friends calling the bride and telling her the Doug is not going to make it. Because they lost him. In Las Vegas. After a crazy bachelor party night, the tree wake up in a trashed hotel room, with Mike Tyson’s tiger in the bathroom and a chicken walking around. They have to retrace their steps to find him on time to return to the wedding.
The good: Few chuckles here and there. I liked Heather Graham who played a hooker with a heart of gold and Zach Galifianakis’ character was entertaining. Rob Riggle (from “The Daily Show”) had a couple of funny moments on the screen. Great set up and opening. Nice twist with the second Doug. I liked that every character has some profound personality problems.
The bad: This comedy is not funny at all. However it is full of gross-out moments, including male nudity, fight scene ala ”Borat”, urination, blow job etc. etc. Where fantasy of script writers ran out, they substituted jokes for gross scenes that were passes for funny. The was no genuine laughter in a relatively full theater, but there was a lot of howling, Ooooos and Aaaas and “I can’t believe he just did that”. Except for Zach Galifianakis who played a colorful (but forgettable) character with a court order prohibiting him from being closer then 2000 feet from any place where children congregate, the characters are not particularly interesting. I asked three of my friends, what was the funniest moment in the movie? “They stole the police car”. Yawn.
The summary: One of the worst slapstick comedies I’ve seen. Not funny and gross. Take “Dude, Where Is My Car” and take away the humor. Is this what’s passing for funny these days?
The cast: Phil Wenneck - Bradley Cooper | Stu Price - Ed Helms | Alan Garner - Zach Galifianakis | Doug Billings - Justin Bartha | Jade - Heather Graham | Tracy Garner - Sasha Barrese | Mr. Chow - Ken Jeong | Mike Tyson - Mike Tyson
The crew: Director – Todd Phillips | Writers – Jon Lucas, Scott Moore.gif "The Hangover (2009) R 100min")
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Was excited to see Iron Man-2 finally, on the opening day, after long wait – in IMAX. I liked it. It’s good, but don’t set your expectations too high if you want to really enjoy it. The movie feels like it’s composed of a lot of individual scenes and bits and pieces, but the whole picture is a bit chunky – a lot of characters were introduced, but they did not have a chance to fully open up or really do anything. Perhaps it’s a set up for a sequel, perhaps it was just cut badly. The latter is more likely, since there were quite a few continuity problems.
The plot: Six months after the end of the first movie, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is a celebrity for using his Iron Man armored suit to help negotiate peace between major world superpowers, thus bringing the longest period of peace on the planet (no major wars for the whole 6 months?). But every hero has enemies. Senator Stern (Gary Shandling) demands that “dangerous” suit be transferred into control of US government. Meanwhile the arc reactor that keeps his heart running is slowly killing him. Believing his death is imminent, he appoints his assistant Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) the CEO of Stark Industries, replacing her with Natalie Rushman (Scarlett Johansson). Meanwhile, the son of disgraced physicist Anton Vanko, who collaborated with Tony’s father on original arc-reactor design, creates his own arc-reactor, and becomes the anti-Iron Man, and brings full might of his vengeance on Tony Stark.
Cast: Tony Stark – Robert Downey Jr. | Lt. Col. James ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes – Don Cheadle | Natalie Rushman/Natasha Romanoff – Scarlett Johansson | Pepper Potts – Gwyneth Paltrow | Justin Hammer – Sam Rockwell | Ivan Vanko – Mickey Rourke | Nick Fury – Samuel L. Jackson | Agent Coulson – Clark Gregg | Jarvis – Paul Bettany | Christiane Amanpour
Crew: Director – Jon Favreau | Screenplay – Justin Theroux | Producers – Victoria Alonso, Louis D’Esposito, Susan Downey, Jon Favreau, Kevin Feige, Alan Fine, Eric Heffron, Jeremy Latcham, Stan Lee, David Maisel, Denis L. Stewart | Music – John Debney | Cinematography – Matthew Libatique | Editing – Dan Lebental, Richard Pearson | Paramount Pictures
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Disneynature’s “Oceans” came out on the “Earth Day” Thursday, 2010, just like last year Disney’s “Earth” came out on the same date also. A small disclaimer: I have not seen Disney’s “Earth”.
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Just saw Avatar in I-MAX 3D. Here’s a quick 10-point review.
1. The plot: it’s a lot like “Dances with wolves”: a white man wins the trust of the tribesmen and is accepted into the tribe as equal (becomes “one of us”), but later has to chose a side.
2. Capitalism is awesome: shareholders’ interests are above all. Screw indigenous people (”savages”) – men come with heavy equipment (and guns), “humanely” displace indigenous people into reservations and plunder their natural resources. History of American continent. Well, history of the world, really. Luckily for natives, through some magic the mother nature itself joins the uprising – animals come out of the jungle to crash soldiers in a stampede – like in the “Jungle Book”?! Alas, “the balance of life is restored”. Huh?
3. Fantastic visuals! Especially in 3D. Amazing integration of people into 3D CGI environment (or vice verse), better then in “Transformers”. A lot of attention is paid to tiniest details, though some detail is not shown in order to obtain PG-13 rating. Also, I was glad that 3D things don’t come out of the screen – wouldn’t want any of the animals from that planet sneeze on me or touch me with their tails. Cameron’s 3D visuals does immerse you into imaginative, but fake world. It just does not feel real at any point. Shrimp-people in “District 9″ were much more real then monkey-people in Avatar. Avatar is an example of “style over substance” movement in Hollywood.
4. Other then “Daces with wolves”, two other movies come to mind in comparison: “Planet of Apes”, except most humans are bad guys and the “monkey people” need a rebel human to direct their uprising, and “The Last Samurai”, in that the human “needs to learn the ways” of the locals, become part of the tribe, and accept their way of life over his old way of life.
5. There are some nice action scenes, but first and foremost it’s a [sci-fi] fantasy movie.
6. Humans are plugged into their avatars – Matrix style.
7. Very enjoyable adventure filled with action, fantasy, humor and eye-candy. Not much drama though. Most suitable for young teenage audience, but adults will have fun too.
8. A lot of relationships, acting and action in the movie is rather schematic, but in a sweet way and often makes people laugh with it’s naivete.
9. Good acting, however it’s more over the top then not, and animated characters are, well… more animated then humans in the movie.
10. G-strings?
Director – James Cameron | Writer – James Cameron | Jake Sully – Sam Worthington | Neytiri – Zoe Saldana | Dr. Grace Augustine – Sigourney Weaver | Colonel Miles Quaritch – Stephen Lang | Trudy Chacon – Michelle Rodriguez | Parker Selfridge – Giovanni Ribisi
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As I already told, Sony and Netflix recently became partners, and Netflix subscribers can now stream movies from their “Watch Instantly” queue on PlayStation 3.
While Sony is working on new firmware update for PS3 that would allow full Netflix support, current Netflix subscribers with PS3 will have to use a specially-formatted Blu-Ray disc that they can order for free from Netflix.
And I just received this disc in mail.
Before today I was still able to watch Netflix on my PS3 by using PlayOn media server installed on my home PC computer, which was used to transcode Netflix movies and stream them from PC into PS3. But with new Netflix disc I can now watch movies on my big screen TV without necessity for having the PC turned on – the movies and TV shows from my instant queue are streamed directly from Netflix onto PS3!
So here it is, the red envelope! There’s a label on it that says, “Do not return to Netflix!”. I just put it into PS3, and it displayed a code that must enter on Netflix website to activate my Watch Instantly Blu-Ray disc. This operation was easy, even easier then I could expect. Right after I entered http://www.netflix.com URL in the browser, the website automatically took me to the right page, and as soon as the code was entered on the website, the PlayStation 3 displayed my instant queue. That’s right, the website and my PS3 were “talking” to each other!
The interface displayed DVD covers of movies in my queue, and clicking on them opens a menu: “Resume playback”, “Watch from the beginning”, “Delete from the queue”, “Rate the movie”. Yes, I can manage the queue and rate movies from PlayStation 3 menu! Brilliant! This menu also displays synopsis of the movie/show.
Playback began within seconds, and the quality is as good as watching the movie on the computer – if you ever streamed movies through your web browser using Netflix’s ActiveX component. Actually, the quality depends mostly on the quality of the source and the resolution the movies was digitized into a stream with. For example, an old Alfred Hitchcock’s movie I saw was acceptable quality (although with noticeable pixel-blocking), and tonight I also watched an action/kung-fu movie and the quality was not worse then DVD.
There are now HD movies streaming from Netflix to XBox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles. I can’t determine what resolution they actually are streamed at, but the bandwidth they use is between 1.3Mbps and 4.5Mbps, and they look great and never stutter – no buffering problems.
I’m a little happier now.
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Netflix today announced a real with Sony that will allow streaming Netflix movies to PS3 consoles. Support for streaming Netflix has already been implemented in XBox 360, Netflix-branded Roku media player, some TV-sets and some LG and Samsung Blu-Ray players, and recently, TiVo. As I previously wrote, it was already possible to stream Netflix onto PS3 using 3rd-party software such as PlayOn media server from MediaMall.
According to the public announcement, starting November Netflix clients with $9/month subscription will be able to stream Netflix movies into their PS3 consoles for free. No PC necessary. However, until Sony releases a free update that includes Netflix into the menu structure of PS3, the users will have to use a special Blu-Ray disc to chose a movie from their Netflix “Watch Instantly” queue. It’s merely a hack – for now, until Netflix support is fully integrated into PlayStation 3’s firmware.
Netflix members and PS3 system owners can now reserve a free instant streaming disc for PS3 systems by going to http://www.netflix.com/ps3. Upon availability, the instant streaming disc will be delivered for free by first-class mail, generally one business day after members request it.
So in a month or so, PlayOn media server software will become obsolete. Save $40 and wait for firmware update. You can still use PlayOn for streaming photos, music and videos from your PC, but there are better media servers out there for doing just that.
Considering the recent $100 price drop on all PS3 consoles, the latest move should better position Sony in competition with Microsoft’s XBox 360.
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Shipments of Sony PlayStation 3 Slim console began today, August 31. I had mine pre-ordered on Amazon.com, so I received mine today. I could have received it three days earlier if Amazon printed address label more clearly – the postal office was ready to ship it back to sender because of “incomplete address”.
The new version of the console is called “Slim” for several good reasons: it’s 33% thinner and 36% lighter then all the previous PlayStation 3 models. It uses less energy, offers 50% more hard drive space (120GB) then the latest 80GB model, and costs only $299 after recent $100 price cut by Sony across all models. After the price cut, I figured it’s finally worth the money, given it’s both gaming console and a Blu-Ray player. Visually the major differences are, obviously, in size; also the case is no longer glossy-black and has cheaper look. The console still has two USB ports in the front. The power toggle button is no longer touch-sensitive – it was replaced with an actual pressable button.
Two years ago I had a bad experience with PS3 60GB model, so I was waiting for this price cut and a thinner model for a long time. Alas, it arrived. The box it arrived in is also thinner then the original 60GB model’s box. The box included a USB cable, a component video cable and the new Dualshock 3 controller. HDMI cable was not included.
Set up about 30 minutes. It included taking away my D-Link media server and Toshiba HD-DVD player out, plugging in PS3 and Logitech PS3 adapter for Harmony remote, downloading and installing latest firmware 3.0, and registering for PlayStation(R) Network. Most of the time was spent trying to enter user data for a new PlayStation(R) Network account one letter at a time.
I didn’t try to play any games yet except for a demo of some game I downloaded and it seemed to work, but I deleted it immediately. I haven’t played any DVD or Blu-Ray disks yet. But I did try to stream a movie from my Netflix WatchInstantly queue: Guy Ritchy’s “Revolver”. For those interested how I do it – I use PlayOn media server. Playback started within 5 seconds, was smooth – no jitters, great quality of sounds and good video quality.
Oh, I forgot to mention that I spent at least half an hour reconfiguring Harmony universal remote to use with PlayStation 3. Those who are familiar with Logitech Harmony remotes know that this process is quite simple: remove all devices and activities, add a new device and the software programs the remote with the necessary infra-red commands to turn your TV, amplifier and game console on and swicth the TV and amplifier to proper inputs automatically when you want to start a certain activity on the remote, such as “Watch TV”, “Play a game”, “Watch a digital movie” etc. Overall, the process worked, but I feel I’ll need to spend another hour customizing the on-screen menu on Harmony remote to match the convenience of the Sony’s PlayStation 3 remote for Blu-Ray.
When playing back streaming media, the unit stays quiet and cool – so the major complaint I had two years ago about PS3 60Gb model has now been eliminated. Whether it will become loud and hot when playing games – I will let you know on this blog.
PlayStation 3 Slim streams Netflix and Hulu movies very happily, and what makes me even more happy is the ability to use my Harmony universal remote with it.
A new 250GB model of PlayStation3 Slim comes out on November 3, 2009, and its suggested retail price is $349.99
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Sony just released news that it will slash prices on its PS3 consoles by $100 (100 EUR in Europe) on all versions of PS3 consoles. Some retailers have dropped prices a few days earlier, probably due to the rumor that a price cut was imminent. Apparently, Sony is trying to improve sales of its console, which was underselling compared to Microsoft XBox 360 and Nintendo Wii.
Another news is that PS3 Slim console has been unveiled at last, at shipments will begin approximately in September 2009. Amazon customers can pre-order the new PS3 Slim console already for $299 with free shipping.
How different is PS3 Slim console from the previous versions? First of all, it has 120GB hard drive – 50% more space then the most popular of PS3 systems, the 80GB model. Slim model is also 33 percent smaller and 36 percent lighter then the 80GB and 160GB models. And it’s still a fully-features PlayStation 3 model, with Blu-Ray player, USB ports, Wi-Fi adapter and 1 gigabit ethernet connectivity. No luck with a memory card reader or compatibility with PlayStation2 – just like in the year-old “fat” models.
** UPDATE **
Although officially shipments of the new PlayStation 3 Slim console were not supposed to begin until August 31, 2009, the system I pre-ordered on Amazon a week ago has been shipped to me today (August 26, 2009) via USPS. The suspense of waiting for the precious package has begun…
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I already uploaded the pictures to Facebook, so here’s the link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2029903&id=1198149366&l=d18f0eccf2
The photographs were taken with Canon EOS 20D attached via T-mount to the T-port in the rear of Meade ETX-125 telescope.
The videos are on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spb5083Wq5U and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKTxx9yxw3M
The videos were taken using a-focal focusing through the 26mm eyepiece with Canon SX 200 IS new camera that came out in April. It can shoot HD videos in 720p, but the sensor is not sensitive enough for sharper pictures.
By adding the 3x Barlow lens I was really able to bring the details of the planet, but due to Earth’s fast rotation it was very hard to keep up with the planet as it moves out of the view in a matter of seconds – a big challenge without auto-tracking feature of the telescope engaged.
Enjoy and leave your comments! LMK if you have any questions!
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The plot: After mammoth Manny (Ray Romano) met Ellie (Queen Latifah) in “Ice Age: The Meltdown”, the previous episode, the couple now expects their first baby-mammoth. Manny is anxious to make sure for the arrival of the baby. Saber-tooth tiger Diego (Denis Leary) is tempted to leave the pack, and sloth Sid (John Leguizamo) also decides to form a family, and steals some dinosaur eggs. Sid hides them in the under-ground world he accidentally discovered, but the mother-dinosaur wants her eggs back, and “the herd” has to rescue Sid. While dodging other dinosaurus-predators, “the pack” meats a dinosaur-hunter — one-eyed weasel known as Buck, who becomes their guide.
10-point review:
1. Many laugh-outloud moments, mostly thanks to the new Scrat’s adventures.
2. Some dialogs and jokes were for adults only. For example, Manny’s “I thought you are the one with hormonal dis-balance” was rather off-putting. Milking of the bull joke is so old it’s not funny anymore.
3. The movie has a lot of heart, but the first movie had more. All baby-animals are adorable. Even the scary dinosaurs are not particularly scary and deserve compassion – they are so unlucky to be predators, but with a little understanding they too deserve a place on the planet
4. A whole different world, a tropical paradise - under ice? I think it’s the only way to explain the presence of dinosaurs, because they were extinct a long time before mammoth walked the Earth
5. Kids, even very little ones, I mean 3-4 year-olds, also laughed and followed the movie up until Buck character was introduced.
6. Buck was so weird he felt so out-of-place. It seemed like he was from a completely different movie, and so were a few pop-culture references and jokes, such as parody of “red-wire or blue-wire” time-bomb scenario.
7. Buck (voiced by Simon Pegg) didn’t look like a weasel. He was more like a upright-walking hyena that behaves like a pirate.
8. Nobody ever gets seriously hurt – they bounce back (just like little kids), and nobody gets eaten – even if they are swallowed they are immediately regurgitated.
9. The animation is not exactly state-of-the-art, but it’s good and lively, just like in the previous two movies.
10. Song choice was not that great. The first movie had the best songs.
It’s a very pleasant and entertaining film. Scrat is the best!
Memorable quotes:
Manny: [From Trailer] “After we rescue Sid, I’m going to kill him.”
Sid: [from trailer] “I’m too young to be eaten!”
Crash: Dude, You’re awesome! You’re like the brother I never had!
The cast: Manny - Ray Romano | Ellie - Queen Latifah | Diego - Dennis Leary | Sid - John Leguizamo | Eddie - Josh Peck | Crash - Seann William Scott | Scrat - Chris Wedge | Scratte - Karen Disher | Buck – Simon Pegg
The crew: Director – Carlos Saldanha & Mike Thurmeier | Producers – John C. Donkin, Lori Forte | Original music – John Powell | Art Direction – Mike Knapp | 20th Century Fox Studios | Blue Sky Studios
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Michael Bay continued working on the sequel, “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen“, a.k.a. “Transformers 2” in association with Hasbro written by Ehren Kruger, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman.
The plot: After Optimus Prime destroyed the Cube in the previous movie, the Decepticons have no choice to keep their race alive and dominant but to piece it together again. The information about the location of the vital piece of this energy source is in Sam Witwicky’s head, and Decepticons would have to kidnap him to get this information. Surviving Decepticon leader Skorpinox steals Megatron’s dead body from a secret US base and revives him using his own spark. Now Megatron and Starscream are coming back to Earth with force for another epic battle with humans, who forged an alliance with Optimus Prime and his friends. The whole universe is at stake.
The good: Beautiful photography. Fantastic landscapes and space-scapes, and just like in the first movie, CGI robots perfectly integrated into the environment. Obviously, a lot of thought and R&D budget went into figuring out how these robots are going to look and move and interact with surroundings. This episode also has not one, but two hot chicks.
The bad: Yes, I know, “IMAX Experience”. But don’t watch it from the front row. I don’t know how much this movie looked from the back of the theater, but from the 3rd row it looked like there wasn’t much going on in the movie except transformers changing shape and rolling over each other in the dust in a ball of metal parts. It’s like watching someone play an arcade game. The Decepticon that looked like a hot chick and had a very long tongue was quite freaky, and in one of the shots reminded me of “Terminator 3″. The Skorpinox’s spaceship looked like a rip-off from “Aliens”. The Autobots had more toy-like qualities then in the first movie – so much so that it seemed that this episode was targeting an audience of smaller children. So were the dialogs. It was nice to see John Torturro again as the obsessed Agent Simmons (except for episode where he shows off his ass), but the other new character, Leo Spitz (Ramon Rodriguez), was a lousy comical relief. It’s not clear why he had to be dragged along on the adventures of Sam and Mikaela, because he served no purpose whatsoever. What’s with robots humping humans and dogs humping each other? Is that what passes for epic these days? Just admit that this movie has no plot. All you get to see is robots fighting and a lot of stuff falling and breaking with loud bangs. There are no characters to care about. I kinda wish the Decepticons did destroy the solar system.
The summary: Great visuals replace substance, plot and acting.
The cast: Sam Witwicky – Shia LaBeouf | Mikaela Banes – Megan Fox | Major Lennox – Josh Duhamel | USAF Master Sergeant Epps – Tyrese Gibson | Agent Simmons – John Turturro | Leo Spitz – Ramon Rodriguez | Ron Witwicky – Kevin Dunn | Judy Witwicky – Julie White | Alice – Isabel Lucas | General Morshower – Glenn Morshower | Optimus Prime (voice) – Peter Cullen | Jetfire (voice) – Mark Ryan | Mudflap (voice) – Reno Wilson | Ratchet (voice) – Robert Foxworth | Megatron (voice) – Hugo Weaving | Fallen (voice) – Tony Todd | Starscream (voice) – Charles Adler
The crew: Director – Michael Bay | Writers – Ehren Kruger, Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman | Producers – Michael Bay, Steven Spielberg, Ian Bryce, Allegra Clegg, Matthew Cohan, Tom DeSanto, Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Brian Goldner, Mohammed Hassan (Egypt), Don Murphy, Mark Vahradian | Original Music – Steve Jablonsky | Photography/Cinematography – Ben Seresin | DreamWorks SKG | Hasbro | Paramount Pictures | Di Bonaventura Pictures
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Few movies don’t have songs in them. Music and songs convey strong emotions and set or help to set the mood for a particular scene. Many bands and artists propelled their popularity when their songs were played in movies. Who have ever heard about Goo Goo Dolls before “Iris” was played in “City of Angels”? Who heard about “Phoenix” until “I’m too young” was played in “Lost In Translation”? Many movies would not be the same without music in them or without this particular music.
Then again, how many movies we’ve seen where the plot and music don’t connect at all…
Anyway, AOL Radio compiled a list of top songs from movies and this article on their blog shows top 10 songs as chosen by their users.
http://www.aolradioblog.com/2009/06/23/top-10-movie-songs/
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Talented Anne Fletcher (27 Dresses, Step Up), a choreographer, an actress and a film producer, directed “The Proposal” – a romantic comedy starring Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock.
The plot: Margaret Tate (Sandra Bullock), chief editor or a publishing house, is a monstrous boss. When her visa application is denied ans she is threatened with deportation to Canada, she forces her young assistant Andrew Paxton (Ryan Reynolds) to marry her. But the scheme does not sit well with immigration officer Mr. Gilbertson (Denis O’Hare), who is determined to prove that the couple is committing a fraud. Andrew and Margaret now have to act like a couple to deceive him and Andrew’s family.
The good: I think the best part of the movie is the chemistry between Andrew and Margaret and their body language. Ramone (Oscar Nuñez) was a great character – in the small town of Sitka, Alaska, he is the waiter, a store clerk, a stripper and a priest! Also funny how employees at the publishing house were coping with Margaret’s despotic behavior. This movie should spark an increase in travel to Alaska: the scenery was gorgeous. Nice closing sequence.
The bad: The movie is completely predictable. It’s basically “Meet the parents” with a different setup. I already knew the ending and the story line right after watching the trailer. No surprises there. Also the green-screen CGI where eagle snatched the puppy was ridiculously poor quality. Many jokes were taken too far. The naked collision scene was a dead giveaway and a forced set-up. It’s also hard to believe that Andrew, who knew Margaret for three years and hated her but stayed around because of “high work ethics” despite her being a despotic and inconsiderate, would fall in love to her in three days. Is it true that all it takes is to put a man and a woman in the same room for three days and two nights? The ex-girlfriend character was a wasted potential for extra drama. The relationship between Andrew and his father (Craig T. Nelson) was under-developed.
The summary: I went to the movie with very low expectations and only because I already promised Elena to see it with her and because I felt guilty about convincing her to see “The Hangover” previously. But I was presented with a surprise – this chick flick is actually pretty good. Could be a good date movie.
Memorable quotes:
Office employee [on IM when Margaret walks in]: “The Witch is on the Broom!”
Grandma Annie [upon being introduced to Margaret]: Do you prefer Margaret or “Satan’s Mistress”?
Random comments:
Surprisingly, the audience was about 70% male. And they laughed outloud and seemed to enjoy it. I don’t know if that’s consistent in all showings, or was it because they were trying to kill time between 8pm show and the opening of the “Transformers” – there was a lot of people in front of the theater on loan chairs.
Sandra Bullock is getting old.
Notice that the grandma was taken to hospital by a sea-plane. General aviation saves lives and really does serve America. Think about that next time your airline flight is delayed and the airline blames general aviation. According to airlines’ own data, 50% of all delays are airline’s own fault. 40% are weather-related delays (and as mid-air breakup of Air France indicates, you don’t mess with weather).
The cast: Margaret Tate - Sandra Bullock | Andrew Paxton - Ryan Reynolds | Grace Paxton - Mary Steenburgen | Joe Paxton - Craig T. Nelson | Grandma Annie – Betty White | Mr. Gilbertson - Denis O’Hare | Gertrude – Malin Akerman | Ramone – Oscar Nuñez | Bob Spaulding – Aasif Mandvi
The crew: Director – Anne Fletcher | Writer – Pete Chiarelli | Producers – Sandra Bullock, Kristin Burr, David Hoberman, Alex Kurtzman, Todd Lieberman, Mary McLaglen, Roberto Orci | Original Music – Aaron Zigman | Cinematography – Oliver Stapleton
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Director Todd Phillips continues along the lines of his previous comedies, “The Old School” (2003) and “Road Trip” (2000).
The plot: The movie opens with one of the groom’s friends calling the bride and telling her the Doug is not going to make it. Because they lost him. In Las Vegas. After a crazy bachelor party night, the tree wake up in a trashed hotel room, with Mike Tyson’s tiger in the bathroom and a chicken walking around. They have to retrace their steps to find him on time to return to the wedding.
The good: Few chuckles here and there. I liked Heather Graham who played a hooker with a heart of gold and Zach Galifianakis’ character was entertaining. Rob Riggle (from “The Daily Show”) had a couple of funny moments on the screen. Great set up and opening. Nice twist with the second Doug. I liked that every character has some profound personality problems.
The bad: This comedy is not funny at all. However it is full of gross-out moments, including male nudity, fight scene ala ”Borat”, urination, blow job etc. etc. Where fantasy of script writers ran out, they substituted jokes for gross scenes that were passes for funny. The was no genuine laughter in a relatively full theater, but there was a lot of howling, Ooooos and Aaaas and “I can’t believe he just did that”. Except for Zach Galifianakis who played a colorful (but forgettable) character with a court order prohibiting him from being closer then 2000 feet from any place where children congregate, the characters are not particularly interesting. I asked three of my friends, what was the funniest moment in the movie? “They stole the police car”. Yawn.
The summary: One of the worst slapstick comedies I’ve seen. Not funny and gross. Take “Dude, Where Is My Car” and take away the humor. Is this what’s passing for funny these days?
The cast: Phil Wenneck - Bradley Cooper | Stu Price - Ed Helms | Alan Garner - Zach Galifianakis | Doug Billings - Justin Bartha | Jade - Heather Graham | Tracy Garner - Sasha Barrese | Mr. Chow - Ken Jeong | Mike Tyson - Mike Tyson
The crew: Director – Todd Phillips | Writers – Jon Lucas, Scott Moore
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At first, Apple promised shipments of new iPhone 3G S to start by June 19th to people who pre-ordered online, and now it had shifted to “delivery by June 22″. I bet those customers whose orders got delayed are pretty anxious now. The new iPhone is a true 21st century device.
However, for me the anxiety is going to last much longer. I bought current iPhone 3G in January, so I have another year before I can upgrade it with AT&T wireless at discounted price, by which time there’s probably going to be a newer updated version of iPhone. If not, I’m still looking forward to the new iPhone 3Gs for the following reasons:
One. 32GB space is finally enough to put my music library onto it (still doesn’t leave much space for pics, video or apps, so I’ll be holding on to my 3-year old iPod for that).
Two. 3MP camera that can also shoot video and has auto-focus. Video can be trimmed directly on the phone. It can be uploaded to youtube from the phone. Question: does a camera like this require focus? I thought that in short-focus lenses everything in the field of view is in focus… And how do you change focus without having moving parts inside the camera?
Three. Magnetometer. It’s going to significantly improve navigation capabilities.
Features like voice commands I never cared about. But faster chip-set on the new phone is welcome.
More anxiety: Apple promised to release iPhone Software 3.0 on June 17th, and we are 10 hours into it on the West coast, and now they say it will be released at 1pm. However, now I am having second thoughts about downloading it on the first day. What if there are bugs? I don’t want my data corrupted or wiped out (even though I have backups). I’ll let others be test-pilots. If I could wait several months for the new version of software to come out, I can wait couple more days. But I know I’ll probably be refreshing the news RSS every 10 minutes like some people do with their stock prices…
AT&T now says it was “listening to its customers” (who had been complaining on blogs and social networks) and is now offering full subsidized pricing on the iPhone 3G S for customers who would become upgrade eligible in July, August, or September starting tomorrow, June 18.
===================================
Update.
12 hours later. Couldn’t wait anymore
I checked for news articles concerning problems with the new 3.0 software. Apparently the most common problem was not with the software but with the download – many servers were overwhelmed with download requests and service was unavailable for hours. The other problem was that some people who lost internet connection during the installation lost all their applications (as I predicted), but in most cases were able to restore them through backups stored in iTunes application.
So I figured I’d try. Backed up the iPhone again, “just in case”. Installing new OS took about 15 minutes. What’s new?
This update contains over 100 new features, including the following:
Products compatible with this software update:
* Compatible only with iPhone 3G and iPhone 3G S and requires support from your wireless provider.
** Not available in all regions or in all languages.
*** Compatible only with iPhone 3G and iPhone 3G S.
First impressions:
Stay tuned for more updates later!
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The good:
The bad:
Memorable quotes:
Simon: [to Gunman] Just go pretend to guard the guard!
Officer DeGepse: What’s the situation?
Jason ‘Jinx’ Taylor: I don’t know. We’re fine… unless you count being locked in a vault with armed assholes outside of the door.
Officer DeGepse: Excuse me?
Jason ‘Jinx’ Taylor: No, no… not you people.
Officer DeGepse: Excuse me?
Jason ‘Jinx’ Taylor: Oh god. Tell me you’re not black or something. I didn’t mean to…
Officer DeGepse: Yep. I’m black. You got it.
Officer DeGepse: I need to know if you’re still safe and secure.
Jason ‘Jinx’ Taylor: You can say I’m safe.
Officer DeGepse: Now outline the situation, please.
Jason ‘Jinx’ Taylor: I’m safe because I’m in the safe.
Officer DeGepse: [annoyed] I got the joke, sir.
The credits: Writer/Director – Andrews Jenkins | Jinx - Nick Stahl | Jessica – Erika Christensen | Simon – Gavin Rossdale (Terminator 3, xXx, The Jackal, Constantine) | Officer DeGepse - Terry Crews (Get Smart, Street Kings, Norbit, Click, Starsky & Hutch etc.) | Nick – David Carradine | Gunman – Leo Fitzpatrick | Producers – Randy Delano, Tamara Delano, Kyle Dean Jackson, Rick Lashbrook, Brent Morris, Tim O’Hair, Darby Parker, Arthur M. Sarkissian, Peter Sussman | Original Music – Didier Rachou | Cinematography – Joe Meade
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The plot: A New York subway dispatcher Walter Garber (Denzel Washington) is summonned on the radio. He is told by the mastermind of the hijacking (John Travolta) of the Pelham 1 2 3 train to follow his orders: to demand 10,000,000 dollars ransom from the mayor of New York (James Gandolfini) in exchange for lives of the hostages in the train. With the help of NYPD hostage negotiator Camonetti (John Turturro), Garber tries to outwit the hijackers, who, even if they get the cash, should seemigly be unable to escape.
The good: Great acting. Denzel Washington at his best in this dramatic role of a ordinary guy cought in unordinary circumstances. Great chemistry between his and Travolta’s character, and together they elevate this movie from an ordinary flick to a level of an interesting movie. A lot of suspense in the movie, which stems from three motifs usual for the genre – doing someting before time runs out, not knowing what’s awaiting around the corner and having to chose who lives and who dies. James Gandolfini played a colorful mayor. Good music. Great cinematography, perhaps too good for this movie.
The bad: The plot is pretty linear. There were several moments in the movie where I really expected some sort of a twist, but apparently in vane. I expected something like “Inside Man”. Other hijackers are not really characters – they are pawns, soldiers without a face. One of the great moments in the movie was wasted when Ryder (Travolta) forces Garber to publicly admit to taking a bribe – all this build-up in character and chemistry doesn’t go anywhere – the movie simply switches to car crashes and chases. There are also a lot of potential connections hinted at throughout the movie, such as connections to Wall Street, mayor, some prisoners - but they don’t matter much in the end. The ending could not be more linear. **Spoiler** in the original, Ryder was British… No matter. The point about the ending I wanted to make was that original ending was better in that Garber doesn’t have to kill Ryder – he remains without blood on his hands.
The summary: This contemporary remake of 1973 thriller is quite entertaining and will look good in theatres and on DVD.
Memorable quotes:
Garber: Are you a Yankee fan?
Mayor: No… I mean, of course!
Cop to Garber: Stay cool and don’t worry. Just don’t fuck up.
Cast: Walter Garber - Denzel Washington | Ryder - John Travolta | Phil Ramos - Luis Guzmán | Bashkim - Victor Gojcaj | Camonetti – John Turturro | Mayor – James Gandolfini | John Johnson – Michael Rispoli | Delgado – Ramon Rodriguez | Regina – Tonye Patano | Therese (Garber’s Wife) – Aunjanue Ellis
Crew: Director – Tony Scott | Screenplay – Brian Helgeland | Novel – John Godey | Producers – Richard Baratta, Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Michael Costigan, Don Ferrarone, Tony Scott, Steve Tisch, Barry H. Waldman, John Wildermuth Jr. | Original Music – Harry Gregson-Williams | Cinematography – Tobias A. Schliessler
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This video comparing “Forrest Gump” to “Curious Case of Benjamin Button” - both written by the same screen writer [Eric Roth - Munich (2005), The Good Shepherd (2006)] - was brought to my attention by a co-worker. It’s pretty funny. Watch!
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The long-awaited sequel to the Terminator trilogy was directed by McG, written by John D. Brancato and Michael Ferris. Starring Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Moon Bloodgood, Helena Bonham Carter and Michael Ironside.
The plot: After the Judgement Day, John Connor (Christian Bale) is now the leader of the resistance. Well, one of the leaders. In fact he is not a leader – he’s a soldier that everybody listens to, but he’s still subordinate to the command center, which is somewhere on Earth, and in hiding. Mostly the resistance is busy shooting at targets of opportunity, but not very effectively. But at least resistance have got a lucky break – a way to disable the machines temporarily, which should give the resistance an edge in fighting the machines. Everything is set up now for a final attack on Sky-Net’s core, but John Connor finds out that Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin) is actually taken prisoner by the machines and is held there at the machines’ base. John Connor must save his future father before the imminent attack on the machines, and he gets help from an unexpected friend – a cyborg.
The good:
The bad:
The summary: This is the least interesting of the terminators – the other ones were basically chase movies, but this one doesn’t have as much chase anymore.
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