Movies

Movie Recap: Avatar

mig14 — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 14:56:00 GMT

I went to see Avatar for the 2nd time on the weekend, and I was again blown away by the visual impact.

It is not an original story. In fact, it's a lot like Pocahontas. Or Dances With Wolves. But any more complexity in the story would take away from the visual impact.
The technology is incredible. Seeing it in IMAX was worth it, just to better catch the miniscule details (and watching the lady in front of me swat at bugs as the flew towards us was HILARIOUS).
Sam Worthington is kind of awesome. Not that he's a Robert Redford or Al Pacino calibre actor, but I can imagine that it'd be difficult to carry a film where you don't really play yourself and where you're mostly costumed as a big blue thing. Zoe Saldana was pretty incredible too. And Sigourney Weaver pretty much rules.
The message in the film is pretty blatant, but I think that if the movie had been set on Earth, in the current decade, it would be seen as environmentalist propaganda. Instead we're all “Oh my goodness how could they destroy such a beautiful planet like that?“. Hello Irony.

That's #2!

Movie Recap: Sherlock Holmes

mig14 — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 15:31:00 GMT

Kate and I went to see Sherlock Holmes on the weekend. It was pretty good. While it doesn't have the visual appeal of a film like Avatar, it definitely has its moments.

Robert Downey Jr.'s Holmes is rather brilliant. He's such a good actor that I forgot that he isn't actually British.
Jude Law plays an excellent straight-man to Downey's neurotic Holmes. I read somewhere that the movie is really a love story between the male leads, and I would not disagree.
Rachel MacAdams was quite good as a criminal; it was nice to see her break out of the niche she had created for herself.
I'm kind of looking forward to a sequel; I think they've opened up an interesting storyline, and I hope it gets fleshed out.

There. The first post for my 101 in 1001. Ha.

2009 In Retrospect

mig14 — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 13:30:00 GMT

A couple of years ago, Meg Fowler posted this. Despite my lack of posting this year, I was looking for something to fill out that could quickly recap my favourite whatever from 2009. So I'm using it again. Here's my 2007-in-review version.

Movie of Love: District 9. Or Star Trek. Or even The Blind Side.

Song of Love: I and Love and You by The Avett Brothers. Go now and listen. it's Spectacular.

Book of Love: I can't. I tried to keep track of the books I read this year, and I failed miserably, losing count around 75 (I'm sure that I read at least 150 books last year). If I had to pick (and this is not necessarily the best book I've read, it's the one I remember best) I'd say People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks.

Album of Love: The Circle by Bon Jovi. Or I and Love and You by The Avett Brothers. Or Veneer by Jose Gonzalez

Place of Love: My car. I drive a lot to clear my head, and I especially enjoy driving at sunset.

Month of Love: Oddly enough, December (see Scrooge for further clarification)

Best Day of Love: My birthday. Because Riva and I went to see The New Kids on the Block in Saskatoon. And I touched Jonathan Knight. And we were both fangirl retardo that day. And it was beautiful.

Best Moment of Love: When I said I wanted to quit my job (on FB), and one of the boys I taught last year came right out and said that I shouldn't. I cried, but it made me realize that I have lots left to do at this here teaching thing..

Word of Love: Clever

Purchase of Love: Xbox 360. Now I can play Madden '09. Finally.

City of Love: E-Town in summer. And Seattle (especially when it wasn't snowing this year!)

Food of Love: Butter Chicken, because I only ever have it with Kate. And that's special.

Beverage of Love: Oddly enough, water. Plain old tap water.

Person of Love (someone who made a difference for you this year): Justin, despite the circumstances that brought us back together. I'm rather grateful that we're reconnecting.

Spot of Love (the best place to go to just be): Still Starbucks. Good for so many things.

Clothing Item of Love: New coat! And new mitts! And new sweater!

Random Thing of Love (anything you want):

Movies: Top 10

mig14 — Wed, 13 May 2009 15:07:00 GMT

I've been rattling this list around in my head for the last little while, trying to figure out where or if the last movies I saw should go on the list. Now that I have it settled in my head, here goes. My Top 10 of all time.....

1) Braveheart (1995)
2) Saving Private Ryan (1998)
3) The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
4) The Dark Knight (2008)
5) Blood Diamond (2006)
6) Memento (2000)
7) Gladiator (2000)
8) Beauty And The Beast (1991)
9) Black Hawk Down (2001)
10) We Were Soldiers (2002)/Jarhead (2005)

Big change from last time....

How Relevant Are The Oscars?

mig14 — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 18:46:00 GMT

It’s that time of year again. Hollywood will be giving out its most prestigious awards tomorrow night, and I’m pretty sure that no one cares.

Yet again, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences completely missed the boat. The films up for best picture are:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

As yet, I’ve seen none of them. My 101 in 1001 list requires me to watch them at some point (before October 2011), but I’m in no hurry. Why? Because I don’t care. As critically acclaimed as these films are, they did not have the star power or the economic power of the best movie of the year ($533.1 million). Collectively, these 5 movies have grossed $205.81 million. None of these movies could, in my mind, influence me in the same way that the biggest movie of the year has. That movie, of course, was The Dark Knight.

In 2008, the movie industry was rocked by two (closely-related) things: the death of Heath Ledger in January, and the release of The Dark Knight in July. Ledger, of course, was in the role of “The Joker” in The Dark Knight. Even before his death, the buzz surrounding his turn as Batman’s nemesis was unreal. In 2007, there was speculation that the role would win him an Oscar. He would go on to become one of the greatest actors in Hollywood. He would reinvent the franchise and introduce an entire generation to the Joker. Then he died. The buzz did not die down at all. It grew until July 18 2008 when audiences were first able to see his award-winning performance.

Not only did The Dark Knight shatter almost every box office record known to mankind (midnight opening, opening day, opening weekend, fastest movie to $100m, $200m, $300m $400m), it is a FANTASTIC film. There’s historically been something campy about comic book movies. They were never really meant to take themselves seriously. The lessons learned from comic book movies are generally this: heroes are good, villains are bad, and it’s always very easy to tell the difference between the two. The Dark Knight debunked that entire myth for us.

Rather than present audiences with that typical viewpoint, we hear two very poignant lines of dialogue that show us this difference. Harvey Dent says “You either die a hero or live long enough to become the villain”, highlighting the fine line between the hero and the villain. In Harvey Dent’s world, there is a grey area, but ultimately we will all fall into one of the two categories. The other example of this is Commissioner Gordon at the end of the film, saying to his son, “He's the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now. So we'll hunt him because he can take it. Because he's not our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. A dark knight.” The Dark Knight took us into our own flaws, and tried to present a world where those flaws are not necessarily bad, as long as we can recognize within ourselves that we are, in fact, flawed and can must action to do something about it.

Mack and I have talked at length about how good the film truly is. We both agree that it was completely shafted in Academy Award nominations. It received the following: Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, Achievement in Art Direction, Achievement in Cinematography, Achievement in Film Editing, Achievement in Makeup, Achievement in Sound Editing, Achievement in Sound Mixing, Achievement in Visual Effects. Of these, the only one that really matters in the eyes of critics is the acting award. Should Heath Ledger win for his portrayal of The Joker? Yes. If the buzz existed in June 2007, without anyone ever having seen the film, he should win.

The fact that Christopher Nolan was not nominated as Best Director speaks volumes about the Academy’s fear of blockbusters. In recent memory, the only blockbuster that translated into award winning was Titanic. And it was a bad film. It’s not the worst film ever made, but it is definitely not a great movie. It had huge critical appeal, a huge fanbase and ultimately became the highest grossing film of all time. TDK had huge buzz over a year before it was released, and maintained that buzz throughout the whole year, destroyed box office records and told a hell of a story. And it gets nominated for one ‘major’ award and a bunch of tech awards.

Another film that was shafted was Wall-E. With minimal dialogue from its title character, and a beautifully simplistic storyline, Wall-E really does embody the idea that less is more. Unfortunately, with the creation of the Animated Feature Film category, there wasn’t a snowball’s chance anywhere that Wall-E would end up in the Best Picture category. Instead, it will walk away with the Best Animated Feature award, if only because its competition is horrid: Bolt and Kung Fu Panda. That in itself is a travesty.

Good job Academy. Way to recognize good filmmaking when you see it.

Notes for 07/03/2008

mig14 — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 23:14:00 GMT

I WAS going to make more of an effort. Lies, all of them, lies.

Mom and I went to see Wall-E on Monday. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect; despite its 96% rating on RottenTomatoes, I was definitely skeptical. I mean, how do you make a movie with a soundtrack but no dialogue? I'll tell you how Pixar did it: BRILLIANTLY! I said to my mom afterwards that the movie was clearly an adults movie, even though it's animated. It was a very complex look at relationships and the effect that our lifestyle has on them, as well as a commentary about what will happen if we don't stop overconsuming. Standing ovation to the production crew, indeed.
Summer time seems to be ripe with comebacks. First of all, I hear rumours that my favourite QB is making a comeback. Then I heard reports from him that said “no way“. But the rumour won't go away. He keeps teasing us, which I'm pretty sure shouldn't be allowed.
There's another massive comeback in the works this summer. You all know who I'm talking about. Yup, you guessed it.....New Kids on the Block. I can't even tell you how excited I am to hear that they're touring. And I listened to their new single, and it's pretty awesome. I really enjoyed it. It's called “Summertime“, and I honestly just about died seeing them perform it on the MMVAs on June 15.

That is all for now. Peace.

Oscar Preview

mig14 — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 13:12:00 GMT

The Academy Awards are tomorrow night, and since the WGA strike has been resolved, it is actually going to be a real awards show, with real celebrities. And people like Paris Hilton.

I must admit, I've been pretty bad at watching movies this year. Sure, I've seen the major blockbusters (Transformers, Live Free or Die Hard, The Simpsons, 300, etc), but I haven't made much time to see anything outside of that.

I always find it interesting that ninety percent of the time, the Oscars are completely irrelevant to what moviegoers like. For the most part, the Oscars are largely based on what the Academy thinks, rather than what the box office numbers say.

There are always exceptions to this rule. Take, for example, the 1998 Academy Awards. The film Titanic was nominated for 14 awards, won 11 of them, including Best Picture. It was also a huge blockbuster.

This year's best picture nominees are as follows:

Atonement (#54 on the 2007 box-office list)
Juno (#19)
Michael Clayton (#55)
No Country for Old Men (#41)
There Will Be Blood (#81)

I've seen two of these films (No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood), and read the book version of Atonement. Most people that I have asked have seen Juno, and that's it. I don't think that it's entirely impossible to think that this year's version of the awards show is going to be virtually meaningless to the majority of filmgoers. It's not difficult to pick at least five movies from the past year that were awesome in their own right, but maybe were not award worthy. A quick informal poll (of Mack and myself) yielded these results:

Transformers (#3)
Simpsons (#12)
Live Free or Die Hard (#16)
Bourne Ultimatum (#7)
Pirates 3 (#4)
Shooter (#59)
Harry Potter 5 (#5)
Spiderman 3 (#1)
300 (#10)
The Good Shepherd (Not on the top 150)

All of these films were blockbusters (with the exception of The Good Shepherd and Shooter), and none of them garnered any Academy Award nominations for any of the major categories, despite making piles of money at the box office in 2007. This is problemlatic to me, mostly because there's a huge disconnect between what people watch and what seems to be "important".

I teach films in school, and one of the things that my kids have a real problem with is how the films we teach are not "relevant" to what they like. I asked some of my grade 11 kids what kinds of movies they like, and they're all about stuff like "Borat" and 'Supertroopers" and other more 'mainstream' things. I did an exercise with them at the very beginning of the semester, and gave them a list of 15 films (all Oscar nominees from the past 3 years), and less than 5 percent of those films had been seen by anyone except for me.

That's not to say that they don't watch movies, but they don't watch the films that are supposedly important. The major problem with all of this is that when I say something like "film" in class, they get irritated. They think of films as the Oscar nominees, not something that is viewer friendly, which is what they call a movie. One of the things I'm trying to do is get them to see that films are not necessarily "artsy". We're doing a novel study of 'The Alchemist" in May, and I'm combining that with a film study of "Kingdom of Heaven", in hopes that I can get them to see that all films are not "too smart" for them.

If the Academy wants to continue to be a relevant organization, something needs to be done, or else the idea of an awards show becomes almost laughable, as no one will be watching since the films mentioned don't matter to the general moviegoing population.

I AM Legend

mig14 — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 15:53:00 GMT

No, I'm not. But I'll get lots of Google hits this way. Yay traffic!

So it's the end of day 1 at my new school, Harry Ainlay (the old jokes from high school aboundon this one, but I'll rein it in). For those of you who don't know, the financial situation at McNally made it so that I was unable to stay there. Now I'm fulltime, and it's all good. It was a long day, and I'm very tird, and tomorrow is going to be another long day, but after the weekend, all will be well. Woohoo!

I just wanted to update for the three people who still read this ona semi-regular basis. I'm alive, and I AM Legend (or at least the funniest teacher ever).

Notes for 01/14/2008

mig14 — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 12:04:00 GMT

Delinquent. Deal with it.

Got told my position has been reduced to almost nothing. Hopefully something else in the district will come up.
My Green Bay Packers are amazing. Grandpa Brett was incredible on Saturday, and next Sunday they face Eli Manning and the Giants at Lambeau. Bring it. You goin' down, Eli.
Also, Peyton Manning and the Colts are done, thanks to the LT-less Chargers. Which is awesome in itself. Because I hate Peyton Manning.
The Cowboys are also, obviously, done. Thank goodness. I was tired of seeing Jessica Simpson at football games.
Went to see “Charlie Wilson's War“ last weekend. I enjoyed it immensely, and I like how they showed what the US didn't do after they helped the Afghans with their little Soviet problem. Imagine what a world we'd live in if the Americans had paid for schools and hospitals in the early 90's...

I think that's all I have. I've been a little fragmented lately (due to item #1). When I know you'll know (after I tell my mom, of course).

Things of love: 2007-style

mig14 — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 01:23:00 GMT

Like Mack, I read MegFowler, and I started my list too, but he beat me to it. I am often intrigued by her lists, and where she gets the ideas for them. This one is no exception. Without further ado, here's my list of things that I loved from 2007.

Movie of Love: Transformers was pretty much the coolest. movie. ever.

Song of Love: It's a tie between two Bon Jovi songs. Born To Be My Baby and I'll Be There For You from their album New Jersey

Book of Love: I read so much that I don't even know how to pick one....I think though, that if I was forced into picking just one, I couldn't. I'd pick two. Shake Hands With The Devil, by Lt.-Gen (Ret) Romeo Dallaire for the beauty of the final sentences of his introduction -"This book is a cri de coeur for the slaughtered thousands, a tribute to the souls hacked apart by machetes because of their supposed difference from those who sought to hang on to power. . . . This book is the account of a few humans who were entrusted with the role of helping others taste the fruits of peace. Instead, we watched as the devil took control of paradise on earth and fed on the blood of the people we were supposed to protect." and for the message contained within.
I'd also choose Ken Follett's World Without End, because I had wanted it as SOON as I saw he had published a sequel to Pillars of the Earth, and it did not disappoint in any respect, except that I finished it so quickly.

Album of Love: Um. Wow. You'd think with all of the music I have that it'd be easy to pick. It's not Bon Jovi's newest (Lost Highway). I'd have to say Seth Lakeman's Freedom Fields. Check it out. It's on iTunes.

Place of Love: The farm, where the beer is always cold, and the rednecks are out in full force.

Month of Love: August because I went camping in Nordegg and I got my big girl job at McNally.

Best Day of Love: Boxing Day. Because it's my favourite day of the year every year.

Best Moment of Love: Hearing the opening chord of "Livin' On A Prayer" at the Saddledome on July 11. Which was of course surpassed when I got to hear "Bed of Roses" at Rexall last month.
And watching Brett Favre throw that ridiculous 82-yard TD pass in overtime against Denver, FTW. That was pretty cool too. And watching him break all those records this year, and lead the Pack to a 13-3 record for the first time in franchise history. And a home playoff game.

Word of Love: "Let me think...no"

Purchase of Love: The (still unnamed) Jeep.

City of Love: E-town in the summer. And Vancouver because it doesn't snow.

Food of Love: Mangoes. Pureed, in a smoothie with raspberries. Or, y'know, on their own.

Beverage of Love: Tazo Wild Sweet Orange Tea

Person of Love (someone who made a difference for you this year): George, for always believing in me no matter what, and Brad L (former student) for reminding me that I did choose the right profession.

Spot of Love (the best place to go to just be): Starbucks, especially for marking and people watching (and meeting Kara for coffee, and a bunch of other good stuff)

Clothing Item of Love: UnderArmor hoodie. Best. Idea. Ever.

Random Thing of Love (anything you want): iPod playlist called "Mellow". I listen to it every day in the car.

There you have it folks. My 2007 love-list extraordinaire. And like Mack, I found it to be very difficult too.