I went to see King Kong last night and I really enjoyed the movie for the most part. Peter Jackson has really done a good job in the movie as a whole. However there were some things about the movie that I liked and other stuff that I didn't like.
The first thing was putting Jack Black in a non comedy roll. I like Jack Black and I think he is fairly funny but it just didn't do it for me to see him as a weasly businessman. He does too much emoting and funny face stuff to be taken seriously for this kind of roll. I kind of wished they used someone like Paul Giamatti in this roll. I think Giamatti would have really done a great job as an oily salesman type of guy. I know this movie needed some comic relief but Giamatti has pretty good comic timing and would have nailed the role IMO. The rest of the characters were pretty decent and I liked Naomi Watts quite a bit. She had a very real damsel in distress quality that shown through in the movie.
The love story did not work for me though. Watts and Brody have almost no chemistry together and I couldn't tell why she fell in love with him. It really seemed like one of those things where it says "characters fall in love" on King Kong Script page 21 and the audience needs to take it for granted. It would have been cool to make it more old school and have the two in-love characters not even share a kiss until the very end of the movie. Just keep building up the tension and finally we get the payoff at the very end.
I also had a little trouble suspending my disbelief in the parts where she is running around in bare feet on the jungle floor. She would have been cut and bleeding in no time flat. I guess they figured that if you can believe an island full of giant beasts and dinosaurs you can believe that a barefooted woman can run around in a jungle with no problems.
King Kong really looked phenominal and again Andy Serkis does a great job of making a CGI only character come to life. The audience feels bad for King Kong and I forgot that he was all done on a computer very early on in the movie. Too bad Lucas didn't let Serkis play Jar Jar Binks when Phantom came out. Maybe we would have felt something other then abject hatred when we saw him on the screen.
The CGI was again shows that ILM can not even touch WETA when it comes to effects. Almost every CGI thing looked as real as they could have gotten it. It really felt like you were in 1930s New York and on Skull Island. Jackson is very good at these kinds of immersive films and this one is no exception.
All in all the movie was a good one and is one of the better remakes of a classic film out there. However this film was not a classic in my eyes. It is a great piece of work but I think Jack Black ruined it for me. I know that comedians have made the jump from comedy to drama but Black does not seem ready yet. With Giamatti in that roll however, this movie would have been outstanding and would have bordered on classic in my eyes. Well I'm glad Jackson could get this one out of his system so he can start working on the Hobbit. That is probably the film that I am the *most* looking forward to in the coming years.
Thursday, December 29, 2005
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Harry Potter update
I am really getting into this book. So far there are whole swaths of the book that are different than the movie. The part where Ron and Harry have a disagreement went on for weeks in the book but seemed to be only a few days in the movie.
The whole Yule ball scene was different in the book as well. It wasn't as creepy as in the movie. And it had a real the kids are growing up, but not too fast, quality to it. It was a whimsical coming of age thing and not a every man for him self makeout session. They didn't explain why that one girl was crying though which was a letdown.
The Moaning Myrtle scene was similar to the one in the movie though. With her peeping at him under the water and all. She also covered her eyes when Harry put his pajamas back on after the bath. Whatever the case it would have been good to have the movie follow the book closely because the book is very good. More when I get closer to finishing it.
The whole Yule ball scene was different in the book as well. It wasn't as creepy as in the movie. And it had a real the kids are growing up, but not too fast, quality to it. It was a whimsical coming of age thing and not a every man for him self makeout session. They didn't explain why that one girl was crying though which was a letdown.
The Moaning Myrtle scene was similar to the one in the movie though. With her peeping at him under the water and all. She also covered her eyes when Harry put his pajamas back on after the bath. Whatever the case it would have been good to have the movie follow the book closely because the book is very good. More when I get closer to finishing it.
Christmas Holiday
I had a great time this Christmas even though I never even left my house for two whole days. For dinner we had a tasty ham. We had a shrimp cocktail with nice fresh shrimp as well. We also had this very tasty green bean casserole type thing as well. My diet is still going decently even though I ate some Christmas cookies and a pumpkin pie.
Thursday, December 22, 2005
I'm Reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
So far so good. I really like Rowling's prose style. Very easy to read and very imaginative discriptions of various things. So far is is blasting the movies ass. I will have a full review when I finish the book.
Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Well here is my review of the new Harry Potter movie. I have never read the book but I have watched the other movies and enjoyed them quite a bit. I have mixed feelings about this particular movie though. Some stuff was really good but other things left me feeling kind of weird.
The movie was very action packed and they finally got rid of that insipid family that Harry lives with in the summer. I can't stand those people and I wish Harry could just move in with the Weasleys or something. In this movie it kind of implies that he does. At the beginning he goes on vacation with them to the Quidditch World Cup. This was for me one of the best parts of the movie. The whole idea of a World Cup with thousands of these wizards camped out around the grounds in magical Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion type tents was awesome.
I am going to rent the DVD and watch the scenes over again to see if there is an American Quiddich team. I would love to see how strong Brazil and Germany are in Quidditch. I also wonder if there is a list of World Cup winners and if they wear stars on their uniforms to denote how many World Cups they won. It seems Bulgaria is tough but they do have a high school kid playing at Seeker. Also who were the other two countries seeded with Ireland and Bulgaria?
It would be cool if there was the equivalent of a Arsenal, Manchester United, or a Premier League of Quiddich. Maybe J.K. Rowlings will write this kind of info into the next book. I mean Harry plays the sport so he should probably be interested in the Quiddich version of David Beckam. He would also have some Quidditch memorabilia hung up somewhere in his room. But the freaking Death Dealers with their stupid pointy hats broke everything up before I could find out any more. That made me hate them more then anything else they did in the movie.
One of the things I felt weird about is that the kids are growing up. So it was really strange to hear Ron Weasley comment about a how big a girls boobs were getting and have gratuitous shots of him checking out girls asses. You see the testosterone flowing when Harry and Ron start to dislike one another because Harry entered the Triwizard Tourney. You can also see a Ron/Hermoine relationship starting up in its early stages. Ron gets jealous of the Russian guy that asks her to the dance and Hermoine gets mad because she was relegated to last resort by Ron. We may see an embarrasing first make-out session between the two before too long. Also Harry is starting to like this one Korean girl that had an Irish accent. Could be some sparks about to fly in the near future. Even Hagrid gets hooked up with a really tall, ugly Gaintess to get his groove on with. When the thatched hut is rocking then don't come a knocking.
It also threw me off that Harrys friend that they froze in the first movie, took Ron's sister to the dance, and then came back to the their room much later with his clothes all rumpled. It was kind of implied that he got lucky with her. There was also a scene after the dance too where these girls were consoling another girl that was crying. I have no idea why she was crying or why Ron and Harry didn't seem to care that she was crying. I guess you have to fill in that part in with your imagination. Perhaps one of the Russian School boys got too handsy or maybe he tried to date rape her or something. Also the whole part where the kids were moshing to that aweful wizard band was pretty messed up.
Later in the movie there was this one scene where Harry is bathing in this bathroom and Myrtle the Ghost pops up and helps him out. The ghost I think is the same age as Harry and his friends but she still tries to check out the naked Harry through the bubbles in the pool. I remember that she even submerged to take a peek at Harry's bits and pieces. I just wasn't ready for this kind of stuff in a Harry Potter movie. This may be why this movie carries a PG-13.
I guess I am just not prepared to see the kids I have watched for 3 movies start to get older like this. It is inevitable but it was still pretty jarring.The plot was fairly good in this one even though it had some parts that were hard to understand. The entire flashback where the Russian schoolmaster is in the spiked cage was very hard to follow and it didn't seem to have a bearing on the plot. I guess you are supposed to suspect him when that one guy turns up dead. They also implied that Snape the Alchemy teacher was some kind of double agent or something. I would think Harry would confront Snape or talk to Dumbledore about it. I guess this scene was to reveal the stuff that happens in upcoming books.
Also the Protection from the Dark Arts teacher turns out to be weird-assed again. Can't they find a decent person for that job? I didn't like Mad-Eye Moody's dorky blue fake eye as well. He was a pretty menacing character but that goofy eye made me want to laugh every time I saw it. It would have been cool to just have an eye-patch with a jewel on it or even a CGI created phantom eye that would blink or something.
Voldemort was also a big letdown too with his dorky slits for a nose. He didn't seem all that menacing and didn't look a guy who is known as he-who-should-not-be-named. I guess Ralph Fiennes did a pretty good job of playing him for the most part. I may have wanted his appearance to be more like the Witch King of Angmar.In any case this movie seemed to be a pretty good entry into the Harry Potter genre of movies.
It made me want to read the book just to get more info on some of the questions I had. For instance I want to know why that one girl I mentioned earlier was crying? Also what was in the note that the Russian guy gave Hermoine? Why did their friends agree to be put in suspended animation at the bottom of the lake for that second task? And who eventually won the Quidditch World Cup?
The movie was very action packed and they finally got rid of that insipid family that Harry lives with in the summer. I can't stand those people and I wish Harry could just move in with the Weasleys or something. In this movie it kind of implies that he does. At the beginning he goes on vacation with them to the Quidditch World Cup. This was for me one of the best parts of the movie. The whole idea of a World Cup with thousands of these wizards camped out around the grounds in magical Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion type tents was awesome.
I am going to rent the DVD and watch the scenes over again to see if there is an American Quiddich team. I would love to see how strong Brazil and Germany are in Quidditch. I also wonder if there is a list of World Cup winners and if they wear stars on their uniforms to denote how many World Cups they won. It seems Bulgaria is tough but they do have a high school kid playing at Seeker. Also who were the other two countries seeded with Ireland and Bulgaria?
It would be cool if there was the equivalent of a Arsenal, Manchester United, or a Premier League of Quiddich. Maybe J.K. Rowlings will write this kind of info into the next book. I mean Harry plays the sport so he should probably be interested in the Quiddich version of David Beckam. He would also have some Quidditch memorabilia hung up somewhere in his room. But the freaking Death Dealers with their stupid pointy hats broke everything up before I could find out any more. That made me hate them more then anything else they did in the movie.
One of the things I felt weird about is that the kids are growing up. So it was really strange to hear Ron Weasley comment about a how big a girls boobs were getting and have gratuitous shots of him checking out girls asses. You see the testosterone flowing when Harry and Ron start to dislike one another because Harry entered the Triwizard Tourney. You can also see a Ron/Hermoine relationship starting up in its early stages. Ron gets jealous of the Russian guy that asks her to the dance and Hermoine gets mad because she was relegated to last resort by Ron. We may see an embarrasing first make-out session between the two before too long. Also Harry is starting to like this one Korean girl that had an Irish accent. Could be some sparks about to fly in the near future. Even Hagrid gets hooked up with a really tall, ugly Gaintess to get his groove on with. When the thatched hut is rocking then don't come a knocking.
It also threw me off that Harrys friend that they froze in the first movie, took Ron's sister to the dance, and then came back to the their room much later with his clothes all rumpled. It was kind of implied that he got lucky with her. There was also a scene after the dance too where these girls were consoling another girl that was crying. I have no idea why she was crying or why Ron and Harry didn't seem to care that she was crying. I guess you have to fill in that part in with your imagination. Perhaps one of the Russian School boys got too handsy or maybe he tried to date rape her or something. Also the whole part where the kids were moshing to that aweful wizard band was pretty messed up.
Later in the movie there was this one scene where Harry is bathing in this bathroom and Myrtle the Ghost pops up and helps him out. The ghost I think is the same age as Harry and his friends but she still tries to check out the naked Harry through the bubbles in the pool. I remember that she even submerged to take a peek at Harry's bits and pieces. I just wasn't ready for this kind of stuff in a Harry Potter movie. This may be why this movie carries a PG-13.
I guess I am just not prepared to see the kids I have watched for 3 movies start to get older like this. It is inevitable but it was still pretty jarring.The plot was fairly good in this one even though it had some parts that were hard to understand. The entire flashback where the Russian schoolmaster is in the spiked cage was very hard to follow and it didn't seem to have a bearing on the plot. I guess you are supposed to suspect him when that one guy turns up dead. They also implied that Snape the Alchemy teacher was some kind of double agent or something. I would think Harry would confront Snape or talk to Dumbledore about it. I guess this scene was to reveal the stuff that happens in upcoming books.
Also the Protection from the Dark Arts teacher turns out to be weird-assed again. Can't they find a decent person for that job? I didn't like Mad-Eye Moody's dorky blue fake eye as well. He was a pretty menacing character but that goofy eye made me want to laugh every time I saw it. It would have been cool to just have an eye-patch with a jewel on it or even a CGI created phantom eye that would blink or something.
Voldemort was also a big letdown too with his dorky slits for a nose. He didn't seem all that menacing and didn't look a guy who is known as he-who-should-not-be-named. I guess Ralph Fiennes did a pretty good job of playing him for the most part. I may have wanted his appearance to be more like the Witch King of Angmar.In any case this movie seemed to be a pretty good entry into the Harry Potter genre of movies.
It made me want to read the book just to get more info on some of the questions I had. For instance I want to know why that one girl I mentioned earlier was crying? Also what was in the note that the Russian guy gave Hermoine? Why did their friends agree to be put in suspended animation at the bottom of the lake for that second task? And who eventually won the Quidditch World Cup?
Movie Review: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
I went to see this movie last night and it was very entertaining. There were some things that made me feel that I wasn't the target audience of the movie. The plot of the movie is that four children are sent to Northern England to escape the Blitz during WWII. Not much is told about the children other then they love their mother and each one represents some sort of archetype.
There is a little girl that is inquisitive and loving, an older girl that is smart and cautious, a younger boy that needs his ass kicked, and an older boy that is somewhat courageous. They also don't look anything alike and makes you think that the mother may have had a series of husbands along the way. So the children go to this place in Northern England owned by Jim Broadbent who is playing some sort of white haired professor. The children play hide and seek and the little girl finds a weird land beyond a magical wardrobe.
Various things happen and the other kids eventually enter the world. They meet up with a fawn, some beavers, a fox, and eventually a lion. There is some betrayal as the younger boy, who needs to get his ass kicked, keeps tipping off the evil queen played by Tilda Swinton to where various people are trying to hide.
Eventually there is a very nicely shot set-piece battle between the good forces and the bad forces. The younger boy does get his, when he is stabbed in what looked like the nuts but turns out to be the lower stomach. The movie seemed to be a morality play about betrayal and people standing up for others even at great risk.
It had a very whimsical quality that would appeal to younger viewers. I don't think it worked as well as I would have liked for older viewers though and here is why. As Skunkratt from ateoate.com pointed out to me, there was a very deliberate cleaning up of the blood of the various warfare scenes. It made things seem unreal.
For instance the older kid would be running Minotaur through with his sword while it is immaculately polished the whole time. I mean there is one scene where he kills this wolf and the shot pans down so we deliberately don't see the sword stick the beast. Then he pulls it out and the sword is shining bright as day. This lack of actual blood took away some the anxious moments at the end when the characters are in danger. They have a few cuts on themselves but the suspension of disbelief was harder when everyone is battling furiously only to be seen moments later wearing bright and shining armor.
The only sense that people were dying was when the evil queen would turn people to stone and they would shatter on the ground. You know the Lion won't be bringing that guy back. I wasn't looking for a gorefest but at least dirty up the older kids uniform with some cuts and bloodstains and have some blood squirt out when things are stabbed. Not a big fountain but a few drips to push the PG rating.
The other criticism I had was for the younger girl. She did a fairly good job overall but there are some scenes where she is called on to cry over the death of some creature or another. She continues to smile while crying at the same time. It looks a little like she is laughing over the demise of the creature. It was kind of weird and was s distraction from the various sad scenes.
Overall the movie is perfect for the younger kid to early teenager. The land is very interesting and many adventures can take place there using the imagination of a younger kid. Lots of fawns, dwarves, and talking animals to keep to keep a young kids mind occupied. I would have really ate this movie up if I saw it when I was 8-10 or so. But it didn't have the appeal that the Harry Potter films have for me. Those films are made for kids but still have lots of stuff that an adult can relate to and can enjoy. Narnia not so much for me.
There is a little girl that is inquisitive and loving, an older girl that is smart and cautious, a younger boy that needs his ass kicked, and an older boy that is somewhat courageous. They also don't look anything alike and makes you think that the mother may have had a series of husbands along the way. So the children go to this place in Northern England owned by Jim Broadbent who is playing some sort of white haired professor. The children play hide and seek and the little girl finds a weird land beyond a magical wardrobe.
Various things happen and the other kids eventually enter the world. They meet up with a fawn, some beavers, a fox, and eventually a lion. There is some betrayal as the younger boy, who needs to get his ass kicked, keeps tipping off the evil queen played by Tilda Swinton to where various people are trying to hide.
Eventually there is a very nicely shot set-piece battle between the good forces and the bad forces. The younger boy does get his, when he is stabbed in what looked like the nuts but turns out to be the lower stomach. The movie seemed to be a morality play about betrayal and people standing up for others even at great risk.
It had a very whimsical quality that would appeal to younger viewers. I don't think it worked as well as I would have liked for older viewers though and here is why. As Skunkratt from ateoate.com pointed out to me, there was a very deliberate cleaning up of the blood of the various warfare scenes. It made things seem unreal.
For instance the older kid would be running Minotaur through with his sword while it is immaculately polished the whole time. I mean there is one scene where he kills this wolf and the shot pans down so we deliberately don't see the sword stick the beast. Then he pulls it out and the sword is shining bright as day. This lack of actual blood took away some the anxious moments at the end when the characters are in danger. They have a few cuts on themselves but the suspension of disbelief was harder when everyone is battling furiously only to be seen moments later wearing bright and shining armor.
The only sense that people were dying was when the evil queen would turn people to stone and they would shatter on the ground. You know the Lion won't be bringing that guy back. I wasn't looking for a gorefest but at least dirty up the older kids uniform with some cuts and bloodstains and have some blood squirt out when things are stabbed. Not a big fountain but a few drips to push the PG rating.
The other criticism I had was for the younger girl. She did a fairly good job overall but there are some scenes where she is called on to cry over the death of some creature or another. She continues to smile while crying at the same time. It looks a little like she is laughing over the demise of the creature. It was kind of weird and was s distraction from the various sad scenes.
Overall the movie is perfect for the younger kid to early teenager. The land is very interesting and many adventures can take place there using the imagination of a younger kid. Lots of fawns, dwarves, and talking animals to keep to keep a young kids mind occupied. I would have really ate this movie up if I saw it when I was 8-10 or so. But it didn't have the appeal that the Harry Potter films have for me. Those films are made for kids but still have lots of stuff that an adult can relate to and can enjoy. Narnia not so much for me.
Here is My Current Stock Watchlist
Finacials:
Goldman Sachs GS
Merrill Lynch & Co MER
Eaton Vance EV
Technology:
Digital River DRIV
Advanced Micro Devices AMD
Automatic Data Processing ADP
Marvell Technology Group MRVL
Citrix Systems CTXS
Matrixx Initiatives MTXX
ATI Technologies ATYT
Salesforce.com CRM
Autodesk ADSK
Research in Motion RIMM
Palm PALM
Corning GLW
Ebay EBAY
Basic Materials:
Nucor NUE
Steel Dynamics STLD
Schnitzer Steel SCHN
Mittal Steel MT
Ipsco IPS
Placer Dome PDG
Anglo-American Copper and Gold AAUK
StreetTRACKS Gold Shares GLD
BHP Billiton BHP
Energy:
Exxon Mobil XOM
Frontier Oil FTO
Services:
World Fuel Services INT
Starbucks SBUX
Harrahs Entertainment HET
Target TGT
Best Buy BBY
Abercrombie & Fitch ANF
American Eagle Outfitters AEOS
PetMed Express PETS
Tsakos Energy Navigation Ltd. TNP
General Maritime GMR
PetSmart PETM
Frontine FRO
Yellow Roadway YELL
Burlington Northern Santa Fe BNI
Norfolk Southern NSC
Cheesecake Factory CAKE
News Corp NWS
Charlotte Russe Holding CHIC
Consumer Goods:
Coach COH
General Motors GM
Industrial Goods:
Cemex SA de CV CX
Waste Management Inc. WMI
Ceredyne CRDN
Health Care:
HCA HCA
Biogen Idec BIIB
Elan Pharmacuticals ELN
Renovis Inc RNVS
Viacell VIAC
Celgene CELG
ETFs:
Diamonds Trust DIA
S&P Depository Receipts SPY
NASDAQ 100 Trust Shares QQQQ
iShares MSCI Emerg Mkts Index EEM
IShares MSCI Japan EWJ
PowerShares Dynamic Biotech & Genome PBE
IShares Goldman Sachs Semiconductor HOLDRS IGW
Goldman Sachs GS
Merrill Lynch & Co MER
Eaton Vance EV
Technology:
Digital River DRIV
Advanced Micro Devices AMD
Automatic Data Processing ADP
Marvell Technology Group MRVL
Citrix Systems CTXS
Matrixx Initiatives MTXX
ATI Technologies ATYT
Salesforce.com CRM
Autodesk ADSK
Research in Motion RIMM
Palm PALM
Corning GLW
Ebay EBAY
Basic Materials:
Nucor NUE
Steel Dynamics STLD
Schnitzer Steel SCHN
Mittal Steel MT
Ipsco IPS
Placer Dome PDG
Anglo-American Copper and Gold AAUK
StreetTRACKS Gold Shares GLD
BHP Billiton BHP
Energy:
Exxon Mobil XOM
Frontier Oil FTO
Services:
World Fuel Services INT
Starbucks SBUX
Harrahs Entertainment HET
Target TGT
Best Buy BBY
Abercrombie & Fitch ANF
American Eagle Outfitters AEOS
PetMed Express PETS
Tsakos Energy Navigation Ltd. TNP
General Maritime GMR
PetSmart PETM
Frontine FRO
Yellow Roadway YELL
Burlington Northern Santa Fe BNI
Norfolk Southern NSC
Cheesecake Factory CAKE
News Corp NWS
Charlotte Russe Holding CHIC
Consumer Goods:
Coach COH
General Motors GM
Industrial Goods:
Cemex SA de CV CX
Waste Management Inc. WMI
Ceredyne CRDN
Health Care:
HCA HCA
Biogen Idec BIIB
Elan Pharmacuticals ELN
Renovis Inc RNVS
Viacell VIAC
Celgene CELG
ETFs:
Diamonds Trust DIA
S&P Depository Receipts SPY
NASDAQ 100 Trust Shares QQQQ
iShares MSCI Emerg Mkts Index EEM
IShares MSCI Japan EWJ
PowerShares Dynamic Biotech & Genome PBE
IShares Goldman Sachs Semiconductor HOLDRS IGW
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