Movies On My "To See" List

The Crazies . . . I would like to see George A. Romero's original first, but seeing as how everyone and their mother has it check out on Netflix, that may not happen. Here's the trailer for you viewing pleasure.



Hopefully, I can muster up the money to see it this weekend.

Alice In Wonderland . . . Let's be for real, who doesn't enjoy the ever enjoyable Johnny Depp, or the creative imagination of Tim Burton. AiW looks like it will be a fantasy roller coaster.



The Bounty Hunter. Honestly, I expect this movie to bomb. But, I still want to see it. For two reason. One, Jennifer Aniston. Grrrrr . . . Two, Gerard Butler. Secretly, I have a small man-crush on him. Not because of 300. That movie is ridiculously overrated. I thought he was great in The Ugly Truth. I try and catch everything he's been in since that movie.



How To Train Your Dragon. I'm a sucker for a fantasy movie that looks to have promise. For goodness sakes, I want to be a fantasy author. I think HtTYD looks like it will be a fun filled adventure. I'm in drooling anticipation for this movie. Can't Wait!



Clash Of The Titans. I'm a big fan of the original. I've been a fan of Sam Worthington since Terminator Salvation. He was a sparkling diamond in the midst of a pile of shit. I hope to God it's not the same for this movie.



Kick Ass. Like a good fantasy movie I'm a sucker for a good comic book movie. Kick Ass, which is a highly popular comic by Mark Millar, looks like it's going to kick some ass. And, who doesn't love McLovin'? Look foward to seeing him in this movie.



At the top of my "To See" list is Inception. Christopher Nolan is my favorite director. The first movie I saw of his was Batman Begins. It was the truest adaptation I'd ever seen of my favorite comic book hero. After that I've seen everyone of his movies. He's yet to disappoint. Inception looks like it will be nothing short of superb. Not to mention it has a smashing cast. This movie is going to rock.



There were many honorable mentions. Movies that I will be seeing that aren't here. These are my must sees.

What are you looking forward to?

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Shutter Island - A Shuttering Review

Going into Shutter Island I wasn't sure what to think. I was looking for a movie to make me shutter in fear. Not so, I say, not so.

Shutter Island is more of a mystery/thriller. Although, the mystery turns out to be something else entirely.

Marin Scorsese is one of my favorite directors. The first movie I saw by him was The Departed. After that I watched all the movies he's made. That I could get my hands on, anyway. What I enjoyed about Shutter Island is that I didn't feel like I was watching Scorsese. A friend of mine said it felt more like a movie Stanley Kubrik, and it did, very much. Kubrik is another favorite of mine. 2001: A Space Odyssey is the greatest Sci-Fi movie made. That's beside the point. It was nice to see Martin Scorsese depart from his normal style.

The movie is set in the 1950s, and I must say, I did not feel like I was watching a movie set in the 50s. The movie made me feel like I was in the 50s. Masterful movie making.

A third thought about Shutter Island . . . Leonardo DiCaprio is the greatest actor of the last 20 years. The first movie I saw with Leo was Titantic. I was a teenager at the time, and didn't care for him. Thanks to The Departed I was convinced of DiCaprio's talent. Shutter Island is no different. Leo shines throughout the movie. His performance, in this movie, is my favorite I've seen. The great thing is that DiCaprio is not alone in his talent. Mark Ruffalo stood shoulder to shoulder with Leo. Another actor, who's performance I enjoyed, was Ben Kingsley. I can't forget Max Von Sydow. He put forth quite an enjoyable performance. Watching him throughout the movie I kept thinking I knew him from another movie. After looking up his IMDB I found he played Judge Fargo from Judge Dredd. Shamefully, Judge Dredd is in my top 5 "Guilty Pleasure Movies." Max Von Sydow is the most admirable performer in the movie. Great actor.

Shutter Island receives an A.

Check it out . . .

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Nonsensical Musing

My wife is asleep.

She's actually talking in her sleep. It's interesting to carry on conversations with her while she snoozes. I do it for the giggles.

I'm listening to Tiger Woods give his apology speech. He should have rehearsed a few times. He has not done a good job reading from his script. It's very robotic, and he has stuttered, a lot. Probably the nerves. Oh well, glad I'm not in his shoes.

I wish my computer automatically capitalized words like my phone does. I'm just lazy.

Gretta Van Sustern is one ugly woman, but I find her intriguing. Weird.

I've been working on a urban-fantasy novel. It's been fun to write. I've been working on one paragraph for about three days. I know the pros say keep the momentum going, but I think that's my personal way of kick starting it. I need rhythm in my words. Each time I sit to write I read what I wrote before. I have a rhythmic way I read, and if anything messes up the rhythm, I have to change it. I think it's the fault of Ursula K. Le Guin. Her prose is masterful. I read a reviewer say of her once, "Her prose is so good, you will lick the words off the page." I bought The Wizard of Earthsea because of that one review. I was more enthralled with her lyrical style than her story. Guiltily, I somewhat imitate her. Not blatantly. But shamefully. I feel I need to clarify. I don't rip her off. But, I like the lyrical style. I attempt to make my prose lyrical. So far, so good. I've been planning, outlining, and musing over this novel for about 3 to 4 months. I've got tons of notes. About a week and half ago I outlined the first chapter. Last weekend I finally started writing it. Thus far it's not followed my outline at all. I feel like I need a plan, but discover my story, at the same time. This style leads to a great experience. I've got a little over 900 words. I haven't written in the past few days. I'm juggling my schedule around to find more time to write, and I think I've finally found my medium. I'll start that on Monday. Weekends are dedicated to my wife. We don't get to see each other much during the week. Deservedly, she gets Saturdays and Sundays.

Tomorrow morning, my mom and I are doing a free for all Dexter marathon. Season 4. I've enjoyed the previous three seasons, and am looking forward to 4. Afterwards, I'll probably do lunch with my wife. There's this pizza place I've been wanting to try. Maybe we can manipulate our finances so we can hit it up. If we do, I'll let you know what I think.

Until next time . . .

Go with God, my friend.

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Valentine's Day

About a week ago I said I would review Valentine's Day. Needless to say I've been pretty lazy. I'll start by saying it was enjoyable. Actually, it was much better than I thought it would be. Usually I wait for rom/coms to come out to dvd. I won't lie, I was reeled in by all the stars in the movie, and I felt it had promise. I'm glad it lived up to my expectations. The last rom/com I saw that I found quite enjoyable was The Ugly Truth. Gerard Butler and Katherine Heigl had great chemistry. Valentine's Day is like a menage trois of chemistry. I was surprised with how well the movie worked with the combination of stars.

My favorite story line was the Bradley Cooper/Julia Roberts pov. Didn't go in the direction I was expecting, but the payoff for both was satisfactory. The movie is also worth seeing for a good laugh. My favorite performance had to be a draw between Anne Hathaway and Taylor Swift. Both were well acted, and very funny.

Check it out, it's worth your time.

Next movie on my list. Shutter Island. Hope to see it next weekend . . .

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The Lightning Thief Review

It's Sunday morning, I've just gotten out of church, and I'm watching The Sandlot. This movie brings back many childhood memories. I've watched it over and over throughout the years, and I never grow weary of it. My absolute favorite line from the movie is when they're in the treehouse, telling ghost stories, and Squints says, "For-ev-ver, for-ev-er, for-ev-er." Man, great memories.

I'm pretty frustrated with my blog layout. It looks like a gigantic mess. The pictures are oversized and the text is a-jumble. My wife hasn't got around to fixing it for me yet. Until she does, a mess it shall remain. I know nothing of this stuff, and have to get her to do it for me. "Learn yourself," you say? No. If I could find a way to resize the pictures it wouldn't be so bad. But I can't.

Anyway, yesterday my wife, and a couple friend of ours, went to see Percy Jackson and They Olympians: The Lightning Thief. I read the book a few months ago, and though it was nothing that would cause a literary revolutionary, I found it to be quite enjoyable. Percy is a boy that I could relate to. Who hasn't enjoyed Greek mythology at some time or another. The movie, however, I can't say the same for. Don't get me wrong it was enjoyable. I would have enjoyed the movie more if I hadn't read the book. Though I'm no fanboy of Percy I guess I'm having somewhat of a similar reaction.

I can see why it would be difficult to transition from book to film, though. The book is in all first person. I think communicating a first person story in third person would be quite difficult. The problems don't end there. Some of the acting is pretty cheesy. To me that breaks the fourth wall. All believability goes out the window. Besides that, it was choppy. I think it was a problem with the editing. The scenes didn't transition very smoothly for my liking.

The best thing about the movie is the action. You can tell the kids put in a lot of hard work. The sword fighting look natural and skillful. It made me wish that I could have been at Camp Half-Blood as a teenager.

Out of four stars I give it two and a three-quarters. That means it's good enough for a dvd, but not worth a matinee, or taking an evening to pay $8 or more. Tonight, for V-Day, my wife and I will be seeing Valentine's Day. Let y'all know how that is tomorrow.

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