Summer Movies

2008.05.27 - Tuesday

May is always the start of summer movie season. Usually it's the first month of the year when it's worth while for me to bother going to the theatre. It just seems like everything that's released during those first months of the year is boring sludge. Crime movies, romantic comedies, crime movies, dramas, crime movies, etc. All of that is behind us now!

Iron Man. Pure awesome. I admit when I first read about this project I didn't think it would work. It just seemed inevitable that a guy in a metal suit would look ridiculous on film. I was dead wrong. Robert Downey Jr. is a fantastic piece of casting, and he fits Tony Stark perfectly. The suit looks great, the plot is decent enough, the dialogue is a blast, and the visual effects are top notch. I didn't have too many complaints about this film. It accomplishes everything it sets out to do and more. I left the theatre wanting to walk back up to the ticket booth and see it again. I wish there had been one or two more action sequences, but I suppose I'll just have to wait for the sequel.

Speed Racer. Meh. This movie was pretty hit and miss for me. Some of the racing sequences are amazing, and the whole look of the film is definitely something to see. The action is clearly designed for the video game generation and I wonder if older viewers would even be able to follow the cars in some of the shots. That's not a dig, it's a serious question. If you see the film you'll know what I mean. The racing scenes can be that crazy. The film doesn't really need a story and it's almost a shame that we're forced to sit through one for most of the time. Oh, and Speed's kid brother is damn annoying. If they had removed him from the film it would have been about twenty minutes shorter and a hundred times less annoying. Bad move to keep that character around. He was annoying in the cartoon, and he's annoying here. All we want to see are more races. I'm not surprised this film has bombed at the box office. It looks wacky in trailers and obviously didn't hook many people with its off-the-wall visuals. It's too bad, but probably for the best.

Indiana Jones. George Lucas has a talent for ruining classic film franchises with follow up movies that never should have been made. This film has his stench all over it. I just can't understand why Spielberg and Ford agreed to do the movie with the story it has. It's ridiculous, and doesn't fit with Indiana Jones at all. The ending doesn't even make a whole lot of sense. Some of the action scenes are too long, too ridiculous, or unimportant. The visual effects work is great, including a flat-out amazing shot at the climax, but what's actually seen in the shot is so painful, story-wise, that the technical work is irrelevant. I was really disappointed by this movie. Don't bother.

I'm not sure if I'll get around to seeing the new Narnia film. Perhaps. I'm looking forward to Pixar's "Wall-e" and, of course, "The Dark Knight". High hopes remain for summer movie season 2008!

Half-Life 2: Episode 2

2008.05.17 - Saturday

I've just completed the second episodic installment of "Half-Life 2". Wow. Personally, I can't think of a single PC game that's better than "Half-Life 2", which in my mind comprises both of the follow up episodes along with the original game. Not only does it beat out every PC game I can think of, and most console titles as well, but it absolutely puts to shame every other first-person-shooter I've ever so much as seen a preview for. The graphics are serviceable these days but far from ground breaking. It's the gameplay, and the story. I get the same feeling playing through this game as I do being completely engrossed in a film, or being unable to put down an amazing novel. I downloaded "Episode One" this past Wednesday after I got home from work, and before I even knew what had happened it was eleven o'clock and I'm convincing myself that I'm near the end, and I don't really need that much sleep. An hour and a half later I'd finished it.

"Episode Two" pushes the story even further. Every time you play the game you pick up little bits of information, either from character dialogue or background noise, which add to the plot. People argue online about what's happened, what's happening, and what's going to happen in the game with as much zeal as viewers of a typical serialized drama series. Everything in the game takes place in a first-person view, even the dialogue scenes, and after a while it's hard not to like some of the characters. At the end of "Episode Two", one of the central characters is killed in front of you, while you're powerless to stop it. The credits roll almost immediately on the cliffhanger ending. It's frustrating and aggravating. By the end of "Episode Two", I realized I was actually starting to hate the Combine in the same way that one hates those truly excellent villains of films and books. I can't wait for "Episode Three", whenever it may be released.

For all of the game developers out there who are always talking about adding more drama to their games, or taking more from film techniques, or even literary techniques, Valve is one of the few who are actually doing it. I don't consider most games to be legitimate story-telling vehicles, but "Half-Life 2" is certainly one of them. Hell, it does a better job than most films. I look forward to more.

Stop Physics Experiment

2008.05.15 - Thursday

Stop Physics Experiment - The Petition Site

One of the great things about the internet is that it serves to expose every wackjob group of morons with every kind of ignorant, almost incomprehensible opinion. It sure makes for some great laughs for the rest of us. Be sure to check out the comments for some prime material.

"I am not versed in the way of science all that much but..."

"I do not support the Hadron experiments! Fortunately the atmosphere did not ignite during the first atomic blast."

These an a whole forty one, that's right, forty one other signatures will surely sway the planet's finest scientific minds. I'm glad I can sleep soundly knowing these kinds of watchdogs are out there, protecting me from the deadly, planet-killing experiments of scientists everywhere.

Carrier

2008.05.10 - Saturday

Carrier|PBS

I highly recommend watching this PBS documentary series. I watched all of the episodes online and enjoyed it enough to make a donation. While the series is low on technical information, that was okay by me since I've seen more than a few "how a carrier works" programs. The purpose of the PBS show is to give the viewer a sense of what life is like aboard the USS Nimitz during a deployment. The show does a good job of getting across the good and bad of life in the US Navy. I suppose people will see what they want to see, to some degree. For me, it simply gave me a greater appreciation for what these people go through to provide our security.

I was particularly heartened by the number of crew interviews where people give their reasons for joining the military in the first place. A good deal of the young, enlisted crew come from broken homes, a life of gang violence, drugs, and crime, or from poor rural towns with few prospects. They were able to recognize, either through example or common sense, where those lives were leading them. They made a choice to change that course, and almost all of them say that while the Navy may not be ideal, it has taught them to be better people. To be productive. To be responsible. "If it weren't for the Navy, I'd probably be in jail, or dead" is a common statement in "Carrier". It's nice to see hard evidence that, contrary to what some may preach, Human beings don't simply react to society's programming, unable to escape their pre-determined lot.

Serving during a deployment on a carrier is physically exhausting and mentally crippling. There seem to be a million things to hate about it. Yet these people recognize that whether they agree or not, whether they want to or not, whether they need to or not, it must be done. Some do it to serve their country, others to serve themselves. At the end of the day, I didn't get the impression that too many of them regret being there. That's a good enough endorsement for me.