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November 28, 2004

The Da Vinci Code

I read this book in one day!

So, it has to be good, right?

welll.....

...it is good.

I decided to take a break from my Uni studies to read a book 'for fun' (what a concept!), and I actually planned on reading this book in a weekend, so that it didn't completely interfere with my studies.

This was not hard to do.

The book is very fast paced, and an easy read. Not 'easy' becuase it's simple, but 'easy' becuase you can't put it down until you read what happens next.

And this continues as a cycle throughout the book, whereupon you find yourself at the end, finally finding out what happens and having wasted an entire day.

It took me approximately 7 hours to read...but don't let my speed of reading inhibit yours.

I found the characters all likeable and believable. Dan Brown uses a lot of flashbacks to give the reader an idea of what the character is like, and why their history comes into play. At first I found the flashbacks tedious, but later, I realized how necessary they were, and enjoyed them. He uses this technique as a way of letting the reader inside the mind of the character without giving a complete and full background of the character all in one chapter.

Brown also like to foreshadow what's to come. I hate foreshadowing. But I hate it in a 'good' way becuase it makes me wonder what's going to happen next. In those rare moments when I actually guessed what was coming due to the foreshadowing, I was annoyed. But overall, the foreshadowing was spot on.

Brown also has a very keen understanding of how to describe places without being tedious (unlike Dickens, who explains every speck of dirt or dust). I remember walking through the Louvre and seeing the Mona Lisa, and as Brown described it, I found myself walking through it again in my imagination. His attention to detail is superb, but again, without being boring.

The book overall is a complex game...a never ending riddle that must be puzzled out. The genious of the way that Brown displays the riddles is that he gives the reader the opportunity to figure it out before his characters give away the answer.

Involving the reader is a good thing. With the reader trying to figure out the clues, plus the attention to detail of the surroundings, it's easy to imagine oneself actually being there.

I would recommend this book...there's a new hardcover illustrated version out, if you're so inclined, but, with Brown's detail, you probably won't need the illustrations.

Read it: you'll find yourself on an adventure....and liking it.

Also, Xinher recommends this movie if you liked the Da Vinci Code.

Posted by calima at 04:26 PM

November 21, 2004

National Treasure



Nicolas Cage .... Ben Gates
Diane Kruger .... Abigail Chase
Justin Bartha .... Riley Poole
Sean Bean .... Ian Howe
Jon Voight .... Patrick Gates
Harvey Keitel .... Sadusky
Christopher Plummer .... John Adams Gates

Spoilers are between the [ ].

This movie was actually quite fun.

If you're at all familiar with Dan Brown's The DaVinci Code (and liked it), then you'll like this movie.

The idea of conspiracy theories and secret societies comes into play while hunting for a treasure that may or may not exist.

The movie is predictible in parts, sure. You have to suspend your disbelief a few times (and not just about the conspiracy theories) but it doesn't distract too much from the action.
[When they take his father's car and the FBI put out a BOLO for it, they're driving from DC to PA. Surely, at some point, a cop would've seen the car and called it in way before they made it to PA.

When they get the Declaration of Independence to the dad's house, they decode the clues on the back with lemon juice and blow dryers. Don't you think that chemical tests were done on the DofI before? I doubt that the government wouldn't have done tests to help preserve the life of the document. And, all it took was lemon juice? I realize that the Freemasons had limited resources back then, but simple lemon juice? Come on!

At the end, we're supposed to believe that the American goverment would readily agree to divide the treasure to other countries? Please. Also, like the Church where the treasure was stored wouldn't try to lay claim because it was found on their property? Call me cynical, but I can't believe it. This is the USA in 2004.]

The pacing was great. Never once did I feel like "Are we almost to the end yet?" (unlike I did when I was watching the 80,000 previews!).

The acting was good as well. Nicholas Cage managed not to stink up the movie and you empathize with his character. Sean Bean, as always, is great as the not-as-bad-as-you-think guy. [His devolution in the bad guy makes sense. He's fronted Nicholas Cage a lot of money to help fund the wild goose chase. He, looking at the big picture, knows that he won't get to keep the treasure and knows that giving the treasure to the world governments would be a good thing to do. Being the keen business man that he is, he also knows that he will get a percentage of profit from the find and that he'll make back his money. It's only when he seemingly hits a snag that he falls into the bad guy role. And I'm not trying to justify the character just because it's Sean Bean. ]

But what really rocked were the locations and the history lessons (in the form of exposition to move the plot along). I've actually never been to any of the locations in the movie (DC, PA and the locations in NYC) and this movie really makes we want to go see our history. The US, despite being a young nation, has quite a history to it and it would be awesome to see all the places shown in this movie.

Overall, I'd would recommend watching this movie at a matinee. You could even wait until it comes out on video because it's not really a movie you need to see on the big screen. But you should definitely see it.

Posted by xinh at 06:41 PM

November 15, 2004

Ju-On: The Grudge

It's hard for me NOT to compare this movie to the American version since I saw the American version first, so I'm not even going to bother to try.

Again, I'll do a general review above the cut and a spoiler review below the cut.

There was hardly any plot or character development in this film, which made it very difficult to figure out what the hell was going on.

The special effects were laughable and the creepiness just wasn't there (probably because I knew what to expect).

I read on the IMDB that the American version of the The Grudge is actually based on two Ju-On movies: The Grudge and The Curse.

Even so, this movie just isn't worth it.



First of all, there are WAY too many funky cuts back and forth in time. I mean, it's one thing to do a non-linear time line and not have title cards telling when the time frame is if the director gives clues within the scene. It's quite another thing to jump 7 years and expect us to figure it out.

Second, the special effects were lackluster. The scary dead people were very pale and white but it totally looked fake. The scary spirit wasn't necessarily scary because you could see that it was a person with black make-up on their face.

Third, why exactly did the evilness of the house wait several years to kill people? What's that about? It got tired and decided to rest? Whatever.

I seriously think that if I had seen this movie first, I still wouldn't have been as scared as I was with the American version.

And just how NOT scared am I? I'm sitting in my apartment, in the dark, closet doors ajar (not wide open mind you, but still open enough).

Posted by xinh at 03:47 AM

November 12, 2004

A Home At The End Of The World

Colin Farrell can do serious acting !

This is based on the novel of the same name by Michael Cunningham, who also wrote "The Hours" - my favourite film. This is almost as good.
Colin Farrell plays Bobby, an emotionall fragile guy whose family died one by one when he was young. He was taken in by Jonathan's (Dallas Roberts) family and the boys have a sexual experience.
A few years later and Bobby goes to live with Jonathan in New York. He falls in love with his room-mate Claire (Robin Wright Penn). Jonathan is in love with Bobby and can't handle this so he leaves and goes to live with his parents. The trio reunite when Jonathan's father dies. They argue and Claire announces she was in love with Jonathan and is pregnant. They all move in together and become an "unusual family" (as Claire puts it). There's more but I won't spoil the ending for you.
I've never seen Colin Farrell in this kind of serious role before and he is really good. It's a complicated character to play and he is very convincing. The casting was good throughout, including getting kids who looked and acted very much like their adult counterparts for the start of the film.
Highly recommended.

Posted by hurtling17 at 05:42 PM

Alfie (2004)

Not as bad as the critics would have you believe. I think this was voted Worst Remake Ever in one of the movie magazine's polls. I haven't seen the original so maybe that's why I feel differently. I'm not saying it's brilliant but it's certainly watchable.
Jude Law does a good job in the lead role. He's got the right amount of charm with an underlying dose of vulnerability which is just right. I wasn't prepared for how sad the film was going to be in places and I admit there was a wee tear in my eye at places. Susan Sarandon is perfect as the female "Alfie" who beats him at his own game.
Not bad at all.

Posted by hurtling17 at 05:23 PM

November 11, 2004

The Incredibles

Actor . . . Role
Craig T. Nelson .... Bob Parr/Mr. Incredible
Holly Hunter .... Helen Parr/Elastigirl
Spencer Fox .... Dashiell 'Dash' Parr
Sarah Vowell .... Violet Parr
Eli Fucile and Maeve Andrews .... Jack Jack Parr
Samuel L. Jackson .... Lucius Best/Frozone
Jason Lee .... Buddy Pine/Syndrome
Wallace Shawn .... Gilbert Huph
Elizabeth Peņa .... Mirage
Brad Bird .... Edna 'E' Mode


Go see this movie.

Right now. Don't delay.

Seriously. You should see this movie on the big screen and see it at full price. You won't be disappointed.

No spoilers below.

I had heard good things about this movie but I wasn't really sure I wanted to go see it. I thought I might just wait until it came out on video. I'm glad I didn't.

The animation, naturally (it IS Pixar, after all), was AMAZING. There was one scene involving the son running on water that seriously just took my breath away, it was so beautiful. I think I was concentrating more on the environment more than the action.
Because this is an animated picture and there wasn't an attempt to make the characters look "too human", the animators could have totally let a lot of things go but they didn't. Even the characters' hair was great.

The voice talents were perfect. Each actor/actress really brought their character to life and they really fit their characters. And it was the little touches that made all the difference. Like the fact that both the mother and daughter characters have a bit of a lisp (I wonder if that was deliberate on the part of the actress who played the daughter because Holly Hunter (who voiced the mother) has a bit of a lisp in her accent in real life). I kept waiting for the dad's boss (voiced by Wallace Shawn) to break out with "Inconceivable!" but he never did. But the person who stole the show for the brief time s/he was in the movie was Edna Mode (voiced by the director of the movie). All at once gruff, truthful, and hilariously happy, the character was just a hoot!

The plot was great. The movie did a really good job of showing how these "Supers" have the same problems that the normal people do. I can't say more than that without giving too much away.

And I hate to hype up a movie to such a degree that people will then have super high expectations of it, but this movie does deserve 5 halos.

Posted by xinh at 03:06 AM

November 10, 2004

Birth

Nicole Kidman plays a woman, Anna, who is planning to get married after her first husband has been dead for 10 years. Along comes a boy of 10 claiming to be her late husband and who doesn't want her to marry new bloke.
Not as disturbing as you might think. Sure, there are a couple of uncomfortable scenes, the one in the bath for instance, but overall the subject is dealt with as tastefully as it could be.
The pace is quite slow but the long shots where nothing happens are filled with evocative music. Best not to think about it too much, just let it wash over you. It reminded me of the film "It's All About Love", another one that you shouldn't think about too much or your brain will hurt.
(gripes and spoilers in the extended entry)

Anne Heche is very creepy in this. As soon as she appears onscreen, you know she's got something to do with it. Turns out not in the way you might think.
The explanation was good and I think it would have been fine to leave it like that, but they've kind of left it open. The boy still knew things that he wouldn't have been able to find out in the way that he knew the other things (trying not to give it away !), like where her husband died and how he recognized the woman that told Anna there wasn't a Santa Claus. So you'll never know if he was really the reincarnation or not. Pah.
And I really don't like Danny Huston's accent.

Posted by hurtling17 at 07:27 AM

November 09, 2004

Godsend

directed by: Nick Hamm
113 minutes

Superstars: Greg Kinnear (I love you), Rebecca Romaijn, Robert DeNiro.

____________________________________________________

I bet you a dollar if you're over 35...you probably enjoyed this movie.....

...otherwise... not so much.

Godsend is what I call an 'over xxx' age film because they predicably appeal to those in a certian age bracket. Here are the main points.

Career couple
single child
man up for promotion/job change/moving cities
mad scientist professor from 'back in college' days
kid birthdays
freak accident
cloning

I am being very vague/general when I type the above only because I am not of the stereotypical age where all of the above is important to me. I can't react obsessively to losing a child when I've never had a child to be obsessed over. I'm not married, my husband is not being plagued by a midlife career change, and if I found out I was a clone...I'd be a bit pissed off.

First thing that irritated the crap out of me in this movie is poor Cameron Bright and being given a really lame annoying character to play. First thing out of my mouth was 'Oh boy, that kid is going to get annoying really quick'.

And he did.

Second thing that annoyed the crap out of me is the fact that the couple didn't have mobile phones (you see them wayy later in the movie). If you can afford to live in the city, be a career couple, and are as old as you are... don't you think you'd freakin' have MOBILE PHONES? Get with the freakin' time and place here people. Greg Kinnear's character didn't find out about his kid dying (pre clone) until he got off work. Realistically now... if something of that magnitude happened, you'd get contacted wayyy before then. and HELLO? MOBILE PHONES? Total wtf moment.

I admit, I was creeped out. It was the audio that got me not the actual content. I'm not one to easily predict the outcome of movies very easily (I'm too open to hoping to be caught off guard) but I nailed this one. I feel a bit bad that I didn't give this movie a better chance to redeem itself but 5 minutes into the movie I wanted to turn it off.

Way. Too. Predicable.

And poor poor Cameron Bright. I'm soooo sorry you got a shit character to play. I hope your career keeps going and is as bright for you as your last name.

1halo 4 pitchforks

Posted by prism at 11:48 PM | Comments (2)

But I'm a Cheerleader

Directed by: Jamie Babbit
85 minutes

Superstarrs:

Natasha Leonne (american Pie, party monster), Clea Du Vall (Girl interruped, the grudge, 21 grams), out of drag RuPaul (I love you RuPaul!!!), Melanie Lynskey (Sweet home alabama, coyote ugly, everafter).....

_____________________________________________

Step One: Admit you're a homosexual.

I like this movie because it starts off as kinda annoying in that sugary 1950's, everything's aiight in the world kinda way and then, because I had no idea what direction the movie was going to go, everything made sense and I figured it out. I do recall saying something like 'ahhh I get it now'. Took me a second.

So, Natasha Leonne's character Megan is just your ordinary average christian cheerleader. She's got good grades, she's dating a star football player, and she's popular. I wouldn't be suprised if she baked cookies and rescued animals from burning buildings either. She's just *that* perfect.

Unfortunately, unbeknownst to her, her parents and her friends have noticed something a bit...strange about her. Quickly everyone gathers together for an intervetion technique.

Straight is Great!

That's right folks, she gets sent to True Directions, a gay gone straight rehabilitation program, structured to get the gay out of kids before they get sent into the real world.

The pure rediculousness and total utter stereotypes is hilarious and the way the stepping programm is set up is crazy. Hooray group therapy! Hooray root problems! Men and women should be in traditional roles, something gone astray is the cause of homosexuality. It's all confusion.

But there's underlying conflicts. People shouldn't lie about who they are, but everyone's doing it so they don't get disowned by their parents. Even still love develops, and we learn that there's an 'underground homo railroad' run by two ex ex True Direction kids. These guys take the kids out clubbing so they can relax and just be who they are.

RuPaul is head of the male sector and I love him. That's about that. Nothing like seeing one of the world's biggest drag queens, out of drag, teaching gay boys how to be manly. (crotch adjust).

The overall moral of this movie, once you get over the utter sillyness of the stereotypes (totally funny), and the annoying bell music, and natasha leonne's hairdo.... is 'Just be yourself'. Don't lie to fit into society. You are your own person.

3 halo's 2 pitchforks.

Posted by prism at 11:02 PM | Comments (2)

Layer Cake

A smart British gangster movie. Well worth seeing.

Daniel Craig plays the lead role and it's not until the end of the movie that you realise you never hear the character's name. Clever little trick. He's a drug dealer who likes to keep his nose clean (so to speak) by not actually dealing with the criminals directly. The one cliche in the movie is that he's doing one last job before going straight (yeah, yeah, yeah) but his boss has other plans. He wants him to find his rival's daughter so he can hold her hostage (although we don't find this out until later) and also has a deal with an amateur who has ripped off some Serbian war criminals.
Unlike most of these "Brit-gangster" films, this one is unpredictable. You never know what's coming next and if you think you've guessed, you're wrong. The only let-down really is making a likeable drug dealer.

Posted by hurtling17 at 09:12 PM

The Grudge



Sarah Michelle Gellar .... Karen Davis
Jason Behr .... Doug
William Mapother .... Matthew Williams
Clea DuVall .... Jennifer Williams
KaDee Strickland .... Susan Williams
Grace Zabriskie .... Emma Williams
Bill Pullman .... Peter Kirk
Rosa Blasi .... Maria Kirk
Ted Raimi .... Alex
Ryo Ishibashi .... Detective Nakagawa
Yoko Maki .... Yoko
Yuya Ozeki .... Toshio Saeki
Takako Fuji .... Kayako Saeki
Takashi Matsuyama .... Takeo Saeki

I'll keep a short review above the cut for those who don't want to be spoiled and I'll do a more detailed review below the cut with spoilers.

According to the title cards in the beginning of the movie, Japanese culture states that a curse is born whenever anyone dies in the midst of a powerful rage or sadness. This curse touches anyone who comes in contact with it and usually ends in death for those involved.

Plot wise, this movie was pretty lame, hence the 3 halo rating. There were some big gaps. The dialogue and acting, at times, was laughable. The character development was fairly non-existent.

The music was suspenseful and added to the mood, but you always knew when a scary part was coming (which, in my case, worked for me, so I'm not really going to complain about that).

The visuals, however, were what made the movie. The way certain scenes were filmed were just creepy even when something freaky didn't happen.



I watched a good portion of this movie between my fingers (because it's supposed to be less scary that way). Except that it didn't really work.

Acting, Character Development, Dialogue, and Plot:

Sarah Michelle Gellar, who has shown some great acting chops on Buffy, doesn't really shine here. She does manage to look scared and freaked out at times, but most of the time, she just looks bored.

None of the other actors are really given a chance to develop their characters.
SMG's boyfriend is barely seen in the movie, yet we're supposed to buy that she loves him so much that she agreed to follow him to Japan. The main thing that bugged me is that they specifically had a scene of him smoking, but they only did it once. Basically, they only did it to set up something in the end. I hate that. Everytime we saw him, he should've been smoking. Don't break out the smoking plot device for one scene and then drop it.

The family that buys the house is pretty much there to provide a reason for the bad things to happen. You never really find out much about them. Not that you really need to because the point is really to show how EEEEVILLL the house is.

I'm wondering if the dialogue isn't so great because something got lost in the translation from Japanese to American.

The whole idea that the house is cursed and that great tradgedy (i.e., death) befalls anyone who comes into contact with it is fine, but wouldn't there be a whole lot more unexplained deaths that make people go "hmmm..."? I mean, there were cops all over the place. Wouldn't all those cops mysteriously dying or disappearing have made people figure out the connection right away?

Music and Visuals:

The music was too loud in places and pretty much told you when bad things were going to happen. Again, like I said, I'm not complaining about that because it helped me to know when to cover my eyes.

Visually, though, the film was stunning. I mean, the scenes with the little kid were just ultimately the creepiest. Because a kid who opens his mouth and yowls like a cat is freaky. Especially when his jaw unhinges. And of course, the scene where the murdered woman is crawling down the stairs is very much like the scene in The Ring when the girl crawls out of the tv.

Overall, I'd say watch this movie without the sound. But then again, that might be even creepier. You might need the music queues and the lack of plot to help keep you grounded in a bit of reality so that you're not completely freaked out.

And for those of you who don't care about a scary spoiler and how it applies to my life last night, feel free to leave a comment and I'll email you with the details.

Posted by xinh at 02:06 AM | Comments (1)

November 08, 2004

Penny Arcade


Not long ago I got to see Miss Penny Arcade 'in concert'. A performance artist...havent' really encountered one before.

Her first show, which I didn't see, seemed to have a lot of dancing, a lot of music, a lot of strobe lighting and a gaggle of gay men running around in their black pants (for you colonials, pants = underwear).

Her second show, was a bit different...

I don't know what I was expecting. I suppose something smutty and offensive. I once stumbled by accident, to her site while looking for Penny Arcade (comic strip). I'm not going to look up her site now, beucase I'm in a public place, but if I recall correctly, I thought it was porn.

Yeah. Look up penny arcade. I'm not linking it here. Sorry.

At any rate, I guess I was expecting lewd, offensive, and generally unacceptable behaviour. But what I actually saw was some pretty funny stuff.

She did a stand up routine, and, being from New York, felt free to let loose about W. Bush.

She went on about gays, and how they all blame their parents for hating them becuase they're gay. Her reply was, 'Hey! You think you had it bad? My parents just hated me, and I never knew why. At least yours had a reason.'

Her other complaint...War-inspired-Fashion. New cargo trousers, available in Navy Blue, Air Force Grey and the ever popular camouflage. 'They give us these cargo pants...you know...to make war "cool", and then they dress them up with high heels: so you can hide, but you can't run."

Hilarious.

Overall, I found her to be funny and witty. The musical interludes was a bit weird...her partner played the sitar. I don't think it fit very well with the show, but some of the bits were good.

Aside from lack of rehearsal (she had apparently written the show that day) and the weird interludes, I'd say 'Go see it!'

Oh, and a word of warning. If you offend easily...well...prepare to be offended ;)

Posted by calima at 07:01 PM