It's been kind of slow, there haven't been a lot of movies out that I've really been driven to see, plus the poor selection of our local theater versus what's actually in release.
4/29 The Pirates! Band of Misfits 3-D
4/16 Three Stooges
4/2 Hunger Games
3/29 John Carter of Mars x2
3/22 The Actor
3/17 The Lorax
We caught The Lorax and The Actor when we were in Phoenix in March for Spring Break and I loved them both. Lorax was, I thought, a very good interpretation of a Seuss book. Excellent animation, good story. The Actor: definitely worthy of an Oscar. I loved the cinematography in that they did a great job of emulating what film from that era looked like. Kind of flat contrast, flickering, etc. And silent with musical accompaniment through most of it, I thought it made the sound sequences all the more powerful.
John Carter: saw it twice. A Disney exec lost his job over it: it started pre-production before he was put in charge of the movie unit, but someone's head had to roll. I heard that it was doing great numbers in Europe, but I never confirmed that. I think the main problem was they didn't know how to market it, as a result no one who wasn't familiar with the Burrough's books would have much of a clue and wouldn't bother seeing it. Very sad at how poorly it did, I thought it was a very good movie and would love to see more in the series. Willem Dafoe wore drywaller stilts throughout production and was then animated over, that by itself sold the movie to me.
Hunger Games. I haven't read any of the books, so I actually got to experience it as a newb. And I liked it. I thought the story was very good, the Lord of the Flies savagery among these young people was very well done. The archery was great, I really liked that. But I have to agree with someone else's view: they have two black kids and both of them die trying to help the heroine. That's stupid, and it sucks. I plan on reading the books, but I'm not in a huge hurry.
Three Stooges. I went in to this movie expecting stupid laughs, and that's what I got. They did a very good job of capturing the antics of the original Stooges, and if that is not your cup of tea, you're not going to bother seeing it anyway. But there is one massively redeeming sequence in it that I think makes it well worth the ticket price: Moe beats the crap out of the cast of The Jersey Shore. Man, what a wonderful sequence!
The Pirates! Band of Misfits: Aardman Animation, the home of Wallace & Grommit. Interesting story, excellent cast. Lots of fun. I actually saw it in 3-D, and they did a good job of engineering that. BUT IT WAS TOO DAMN DARK! I really hate that aspect of 3-D projection, it just isn't worth it. Since we're so restricted in the number of local screens, they typically only show one 2-D showing when a movie is out in 3-D, and sometimes the timing just doesn't work.
I'm really looking forward to The Avengers, I also want to see Safe and Lockout. Unfortunately I might also see Battleship: I have no desire to see it, but we're going to be staying with friends over his birthday, and if he wants to see it I will. But I really think this movie is going to be best as MST3K fodder.
Books 2012
4/29: The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
3/20: Ghost Story, Dresden #13
3/16: Side Jobs, Dresden shorts
3/15: Changes, Dresden #12
3/10: A Rising Thunder, Weber
3/6: Turn Coat, Dresden #11
3/3: Small Favors, Dresden #10
Not much to say about books. I finished the Dresden series, loved it. Side Jobs adds so much to the series even though it's not a novel. The stories are very specifically placed chronologically, they'll tell you 'This story takes place between X and Y'. I started reading it a while back, then when I hit a story that took place later, I'd wait until I read that book. I thought the key plot device in Changes and Ghost story was kind of predictable, but still very cool. Quite looking forward to the next one, whenever it arrives.
Douglas Adams. Every few years I sit down and re-read the entire Hitchhikers series. For me, the first and fourth books are the best. The first for originality, the fourth for Arthur Dent actually having things go mostly well for him for once, which makes the fifth book all the more sad and poignant for me. I really need to re-read the two Dirk Gently books, I loved the first one and liked the second.
Next up for books: I'm currently reading Nigel Hawthorne's autobiography, an actor who was best known for The Madness of King George and for playing Sir Humphrey Applebee in Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister. Wonderfully droll actor, great smile, apparently he completed the book just days before he died. Also have a lot of tech reading to do, and those I don't bother talking about (usually). I also want to read John Barrowman's semi-autobiography (his sister co-wrote it), he's best known as Captain Jack from Torchwood and Doctor Who. Absolutely manic, insane dude.
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