Blood Brothers - D: Alexi Tan S: Daniel Wu : In my opinion, John Woo's best movie is Bullet in the Head. It's an epic movie about three friends who leave their small village for life in Vietnam during the Vietnam War. I heard about the proposed "remake" of the film and it was even produced by John Woo and his partner Terrence Chang. The most striking difference is that Bullet in the Head is 136 mins while Blood Brothers was only 93 minutes. So what you end up having is a cliff notes version of Bullet in the Head. Due to this, all the character development is way to quick. I like the Shanghai setting and there are some really beutiful shots in the film. Over all, though, it was a major disappointment.
Maximum Overdrive - D: Steven King S: Emelio Estevez : For the longest time, this film was always considered one of the worst films ever made. I remember having fun with it as a kid and I wondered if this film would have a different effect on me. Turns out, it's a lot more fun than I remember. The dialogue is over the top southern cheese but the multiple scenes of machine on man violence is a good time. I'm also a fan of AC/DC so it's always hilarious when their songs are playing, for some reason. I will say this, the ending still sucks. Completely anti-climatic.
Wanted - D: Temur Bekmambetov S: James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie : I'm an unapologtic fan of action movies, especially those featuring gun play. I remember getting really pumped up for "Shoot 'Em Up" and being very disappointed with the lame gun fights in that movie. Well Wanted turned out to be exactly what I was hoping I would get. There are awesomely absurd action sequences in this film that I was giddy. You've probably heard a lot about Temur (of Night Watch and Day Watch fame) as a visionary and I wouldn't go that far. There is a lot of Matrix and Fight Club to the film. But sometimes you just want to see some wacky and well made and this is what it was. A fun ride that I enjoyed greatly.
I thought I'd feel you in with some movies that I've seen lately.
1. Come Drink With Me - This is an early Shaw Brothers effort from legendary Chinese director, King Hu. The lead in the film is Cheng Pei-Pei. You might know her as the Jade Fox in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. I don't think it's one of the better Shaw Brothers from the time, it still is an important movie in that he changed the way filmmakers shot the actual kung fu. This was one of the first films to use a more style similar to Chinese Opera. I'm glad I saw it though because I'm always interested in the history of different genre films.
2 North by Northwest - I so dearly loved this movie. It might be a little on the long side but you can tell Cary Grant is just have a wonderful time. He got some great dialogue from Earnest (Sound of Music, Black Sunday) Lehman. I think it's fun to know that the movie came about only because Hitchcock really wanted to make a film where the ending too place around Mt. Rushmore. Unlike most high concept films of today, they took great care in making sure they made a great movie thoughtout. One of the more fun Hitchcock films.
3. Reform School Girls - I remember seeing this when Gilbert Gotfried was hosting USA Up All Night. Great trashy women's prison B movie. Just a fun movie that would probably be worth seeing with a group of people and some drinks.
I love diet ginger ale. I especially love the Canada Dry version. I guess I'm not the only one. However, I think there is somebody out there fucking with me. The last two times I went to Dominicks by the Costco, they has barely been any Canada Dry. For the longest time there was always a ton of it. Last week they were running buy two, get two free. Except all that was left was two. That's right, I couldn't get my free ones. So I was excited about this week because I assumed there would be more. NO! There was only ONE this time. There wasn't even cans available. I think somebody is fucking with me and it's driving me insane.
Sometimes I just casually glance at jtron live journal and I have no idea what the heck his talking about. It's not so much that I don't understand his journals. It's just I have no idea where he finds these things.
Hey everybody. I mostly use this live journal to keep up the haps with my peeps but there are stuff that has gone down since the last time I posted.
1. Super hearty congratulations goes out to Deborah Hearst who kicks ass and is now an award winning address for her role in "Fat Pig." I feel even more dumb for missing out on on the play. She's talented enough where I believe we'll see her in other things. Rock on, Deb.
2. One of my great friends, Fraser, is getting married on Saturday. I've known him for a few years now and one of my best friend aquisitions. I remember him telling me that he thought I didn't like him when I first met him. I was surly back then. I'm more...agreeable now. I also learned that we're going to be in the "party loft" at the reception. Everybody on the ground below is going to be jealous of the fun we're going to have. Mazel Tov, Fraser.
3. One of my best friends in the whole universe and the man that helped usher in the post-college era recently went down with surgery to remove colon cancer. In typcial Rob fashion, he Kawada kicked the fuck out of the tumor and he's doing really well. I don't know what I would do if the tumor would have kicked out at 2.99999 but it stayed down and that's the important thing.
4. However, my friend Jesse's dad cannot say the same for his cancer. I've heard that Jesse's dad is a mench and an over all great guy. Jesse took the train out there on Tuesday and I hope his time with his dad is rewarding. I don't pray all that often because when I do I want it to mean something and I'm praying for Jesse's pop.
5. I've been with Andrea for a year and two months and it's been an amazing year and two months. I'm not a mushy guy even though we might be the cutest couple ever but I can't describe how much I love this girl. She's amazing.
6. Also, big ups to all my friends who have never let me down. I love you all.
It apears that I'll be seeing Grindhouse at the Davis Theatre Friday at 3 with Jesse, Mike and Emily. Yay!!! I also can't think of a better theater for seeing it since it's one of those non multiplex type.
This site explains how you can take a real song and put it in guitar hero II and play. So far I've seen videos of Don't Stop Beliving and Welcome to the Jungle. As soon as I can figure this all out, I'm creating Back in Black.
