We Named The Dog Indy

5/4/2012 12:04 AM Friday

AMC Metreon San Francisco, CA

Gahhh I was so excited to see this movie! I interned at Marvel Studios in the spring of 2009 doing pre-production work and a lot of my assignments centered around SHIELD. It was amazing seeing the helicarrier on screen and Maria Hill and Nick Fury and boy oh boy, it was a comic fan’s dream to see it all. Iron Man! Captain America! Thor! Black Widow! (My car’s namesake, by the way. I can’t decide whether my car’s official name is Natasha or Black Widow. I think it’s the former.) The freaking HULK!

I’ve decided to make these posts less a review of the movie itself and more about my feelings and experiences in regards to the movie. Realistically, if you wanted to read a review about a movie, you’re probably not coming to this little corner of the internet. Then again, I think I only have two followers so maybe I should just write this post with the assumption that Sarah or Chris will be the only one reading it. (I purposely omitted the and/ from the and/or. It’s simply too ludicrous to assume that BOTH of you will read this.)

It was really difficult to find someone to see this midnight showing with me. Not only because I don’t have any friends (joking) but because everyone else has a real job (unlike my host/coach “hobbies that pay me a pittance”). Luckily I was able to convince Adam to see it with me.

I got to the Metreon around 10:30 because I assumed that there would be a long, interminable line to wait in. There was indeed a long line snaking around the concession area of the AMC Metreon, but when I talked to the people waiting in it, they responded that they were waiting for the screening in theater 14. I was theater 7. To my great surprise, they had already let people into the theater for my screening. I went in and there were about ten people who had preceded me into the theater. They were all saving large blocks of seats; I’ll admit that it made me feel a tad self conscious when a bunch of people walked into my row and asked me how many seats I was saving and I only pointed at one. I was sorely tempted to gesture grandly with my arms outspread to the entire row and the row behind me, but the subsequent embarrassment when my ruse was discovered would have been way worse.

Adam eventually got there and we whiled away the time talking about USC football and recruiting. There were two Asian guys in the row ahead of me playing Mario Kart on their DSs (DS’s? DSes?) and I literally couldn’t look away. It’s not like the races were really that interesting; I think it was just the moving lights and colors that reeled me in. I guess that’s how old people feel about slot machines in casinos. *gulp* I hope that won’t be me in the future.

The movie itself was fantastic. It was actually a lot funnier than I thought it would be. Joss Whedon’s fingerprints were all over this movie and the intermittent jokes were really funny. Like laugh very loudly funny, not chuckle/heh heh funny. I had a smile plastered on my face pretty much the entire time because it was incredible to see all these characters occupying the same space, saving the same world, fighting side by side. 

The theater was unbearably hot and it got worse and worse as the movie went on. By the end of the movie I felt like I was in Florida it was so hot and humid in there. I guess the theater managers figured it was a midnight showing so they wouldn’t need to do anything, but it was a sold out theater packed with sweaty nerds so they really needed that A/C bad. By the end of the movie I was pressing my soda cup to my stomach to try to get a little respite from the heat via drops of condensation. Desperate times indeed.

The people who were there all day for the Avengers Marathon had these really cool Avengers-themed 3D glasses. 

http://collider.com/avengers-3d-glasses/141505/

Naturally I looked into the matter and apparently they were only made as a giveaway for the marathon viewers. They’re now selling on eBay for ungodly amounts of money so naturally I got it into my head that I MUST HAVE THEM. I searched for the better part of last night and this morning for them and finally I found a theater in Utah that had extras and would sell them to me. If only I could be that relentless and dedicated to something productive…

For any poor soul that’s made it this far, I’m impressed! You should definitely see The Avengers and then figure out some way to discuss it with me. I prefer American sign language, but I’ll let you decide. 

5/2/2012 12:05 PM Wednesday

Century 20 Daly City, CA

Jason Statham is a bad ass and does bad ass things. Guns are shot, people are shot, cars are shot, and then more people are shot. If you liked any of the Transporter movies you’ll probably like this movie. In fact, the central crux of this movie involves him protecting a small Asian girl, which I believe was also the case in the first Transporter movie. There isn’t much plot to speak of, but I enjoyed the snappy writing and one-liners galore. If you’re in the market for a mindless, enjoyable action movie, you could do a lot worse. 

4/10/2012 7:05 PM Tuesday

Century 20 Daly City, CA

This movie hit two points on my “stories I tend to like” checklist: it’s a fish out of water story and there are superpowers involved. On a note relating to the latter, I wish the super strength would have been featured more prominently. Jumping really high was cool, but we need some variety, man. 

Lynn Collins was nearly worth the price of admission. She’s super hot in this movie and the outfits that she wears are terrific (i.e. pretty revealing). Sure goes to show what clothing choice will do for you huh? I didn’t think she was nearly this attractive in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I thought her acting was pretty good despite not getting much help from the script. On the other hand, Taylor Kitsch was pretty bad. The script didn’t help by making him an overly reluctant hero. I get it, at the beginning of the film he was portrayed as a loner who doesn’t take sides in conflicts. That’s just who he is! But you can’t have your hero be a wimp for longer than half the movie. Maybe it wasn’t actually that long but just seemed that way because I would have been hard pressed to not immediately help a hot damsel in distress who begs you to help save her city.

The story was okay. Astral projection is always cool and I like period films, but the motivations of the bad characters were sorely lacking. I don’t really understand the motives of the god characters that were manipulating everybody. So you’re immortal and you don’t ever take sides, but you like to manage the history of the world? Why? And when you say you’re immortal, you just mean that if you lived a normal life free of conflict you’d live forever, but one stray bullet could snuff you forever. Dude, probably not a good idea to hang out on giant warships that are getting into epic aerial battles. The bad guy played by Dominic West wasn’t compelling in the least. He’s kind of an evil guy because he has a weapon that nobody else has and he scowls all the time. He was from the Jafar school of villains that requires you to marry the princess in order to steal the kingdom. I don’t understand why he needed to “justify” his takeover by marrying the princess. 

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

His plan was to marry her for some reason or another and once the marriage was official, he was going to tip these giant lenses and signal his army waiting outside to attack. So basically he was going to sack the entire city with his giant army on his wedding night, which he could have done anytime with probably the same amount of success. I don’t think marrying the princess is going to make the hostile takeover any less palatable. In fact, it’d upset me way more if my son-in-law used his army to take over my kingdom as opposed to the ruler of the rival kingdom doing it.

Even though the story wasn’t really too great, I got to see decent 3-D, Lynn Collins in barely there costumes, an awesome dog alien thing, and the best jumping powers since the Hulk and Spider-Man. I think it was a night/money well spent.

Was I glad I saw it in theaters?

Sure, I wanted to see what it was about and I don’t regret seeing it.

Would I recommend it?

Yes, but with the caveat that if you didn’t think you’d want to watch it after seeing the trailer, you probably still won’t like it after seeing the whole thing.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Completed Monday April 10, 2012

Book #6 in 2012

This was a decent story, but to be honest I didn’t think the book was as special as people made it out to be. Sure, I read it in a single sitting, but I think it was more because I wanted to beat my friend Jenny who said she read it in two or three days and was super proud of herself and also because it’s an easy read.

I’ve been fortunate enough to have read a few good series recently and this doesn’t hold a candle to the Millennium series by Steig Larsson or A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin. This may not be a fair comparison because the two series I just mentioned are regular fiction books whereas The Hunger Games is definitely a young adult novel. That being said, The Hunger Games also pales in comparison to Harry Potter both in story and also quality of writing. I also like Ender’s Game better.

Before I make it sound too negative, I want to make it clear that I did enjoy the book, I just didn’t think it was worth the mountains of hype that it received. Katniss is pretty badass, but Peeta wasn’t anything special, nor were any of the other supporting characters. It was an interesting read because I haven’t read a novel told from the first person perspective in a long time and it felt very different. I think I prefer reading stories told from a third person omniscient point of view. Kind of ironic coming from someone who write a blog, I think.

The story was most interesting to me before the tributes stepped into the arena. I thought it was interesting to read about the media’s role in the Hunger Games and also all the training that was involved. The competition itself was fine, but it got a little repetitive sometimes. It was a little disconcerting for me that once the Hunger Games were over and the “intrigue” with the Capitol started I quickly lost interest. I guess I just thought it was a huge leap of logic that the districts would see an almost double-suicide and have the instinct to rebel against the much richer and more powerful Capitol. I’m not as excited for the sequel as I was for this one, but I’ll definitely get around to reading it sometime.

Would I recommend this book?

Yes. It’s a decent story and it’s not a difficult read at all. Even if you end up hating it, it’ll probably only take you a day or two to get through it.

Would I re-read this book?

Maybe, but it’s a little doubtful.

What’s next?

I actually read The Hunger Games while I was in the middle of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, so I’ll probably finish that. I don’t normally interrupt books, but I wanted to read The Hunger Games before I see the movie.

4/1/2012 1:55 PM Sunday

Century 20 Daly City, CA

I’m not really sure what I should say about this movie. If you’ve seen the trailer, you’ve seen the condensed version of the entire movie, and I say that with the full knowledge that most trailers seem to do this, but not quite to the extent that this one does. For starters, there isn’t much in the way of character development for anyone but Perseus. In addition, the only way that Perseus changes from the start of the movie to the end *SPOILER* is that by the end of the movie he kind of likes his father, Zeus. That’s it. 

This movie had lots of set pieces and action scenes. Perseus fights giants/titans in the forest. Perseus is wandering around in a labyrinth where walls move and entire areas of the structure undergo rapid change. Perseus rides around on his winged horse, Pegasus a lot. Crazy double torso monsters fight nameless foot soldiers. It was all good fun, but don’t expect a story or interesting dialogue or characters. DO expect a crazy haircut on Sam Worthington. 

Was I glad I saw it in theaters?

Sure. I saw a matinee showing and was glad to turn my brain off for the entirety of the film.

Would I recommend it?

Sort of. Just go into the film knowing what you’re going to get (all action, no substance) otherwise you might be a little disappointed.

3/22/2012 8:35 PM Thursday

Century 20 Daly City, CA

This was a good, solid comedy that got a lot of mileage out of the premise and the performances by the two stars. I’m already kind of excited for the sequel.

I thought the beginning was amazing. It was basically everything you saw in the trailer and to be honest, it probably didn’t take that much longer to run through in the actual movie. The meat of the movie takes place when Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill are already undercover high school students, which is the way it should be. Note to other movies: get the set up out of the way quicker!

Oddly enough, I thought the action scenes were probably my least favorite parts of this movie. I guess it’s because the parts I enjoyed most were the moments of banter between the two leads and that was largely absent during the action scenes. This movie did a great job of setting up jokes that had later payoffs. 

Overall I’d say it’s probably one of the more satisfying comedies I’ve seen in theaters in a long time. If you like buddy movies, fish out of water movies, or movies where the leads say “fuck” a lot, you’ll probably like this movie.

Was I glad I saw it in theaters?

Yeah, I had been looking forward to seeing it ever since I first saw the trailer and I wouldn’t have wanted to wait for it to come out on DVD.

Would I recommend it?

Yes. While it was a tad overlong, I enjoyed the writing and the chemistry between Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill.

Conquest: Pete Carroll and the Trojans’ Climb to the Top of the College Football Mountain by David Wharton and Gary Klein

Completed Tuesday March 6, 2012

Book #5 in 2012

This was quite an easy read, much like a collection of news articles, which is directly related to the fact that both writers work for the LA Times. I’m an avid USC football fan and I can safely say that I didn’t really learn too much that I didn’t already know about Pete Carroll and his resurrection of the USC program. In fact, I’m pretty sure that I’ve learned more while reading in-depth articles online from Sports Illustrated or Sporting News or ESPN. 

Although Gary Klein is the USC correspondent at the LA Times, I didn’t get the feeling that he was present for all of the practices and/or meetings. Either that or he didn’t know how to reflect this in his writing. This stands out because I’ve read Meat Market by Bruce Feldman and that was a spectacular look at the inner workings of a program and very satisfyingly described details about college football that I had never known about before.

I know this might sound more damning than I intend it to be, but this felt like a slightly more detailed version of something you might read on Wikipedia. It certainly didn’t help matters that the typeface was so large and that the pages were so thick. I honestly breezed through this book with ease. Too much ease. That being said, I didn’t ever feel cheated while reading this book, unlike when I read Strides.

Would I recommend this book?

Maybe, and that’s only if you knew nothing about Pete Carroll or USC, yet inexplicably were very interested in their 2000-2004 seasons.

Would I re-read this book?

Probably not.

What’s next?

So much for John Dies at the End huh? It’ll be either Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell or Ender’s Shadow. Ah hell, I should just admit that I don’t know.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson

Completed Saturday March 3, 2012

Book #4 in 2012

Tumblr just crashed and I lost my 95% complete write up. I must have spent over 30 minutes writing it (with brief sojourns to Facebook, of course) and boom, all of a sudden Tumblr decides to ask me to sign in again. All was lost. I’ll rewrite my review sometime in the next couple days. Argh, I’m so upset.

3/6/2012

Lisbeth Salander. That’s pretty much it. 

A few things though:

I thought Lisbeth and Mikael’s stories had a more satisfying resolution than another of my favorite series, Harry Potter.

I love revenge stories and stories where one character is heads and shoulders smarter than everyone else. This book/series satisfied both points extremely well.

Steig Larsson, why the hell did you have to take the stairs?! (Thanks, Wikipedia.) 

The only thing about the series that kind of threw me for a loop was how every other female character that spends more than five minutes with Blomkvist ends up falling for him. Seriously? I didn’t know other men had this affliction.

I don’t think I’d like having a photographic memory anymore. 

Every skinny, short girl I see on the street nowadays makes me think of Lisbeth Salander.

Don’t mess with expert investigative journalists, especially if they’re portrayed by James Bond.

Would I recommend this book?

Yes. Read the whole trilogy.

Would I re-read this book?

I will re-read this book at some point in the future. In fact, I might re-read the last 30 pages before I go to sleep tonight.

What’s next?

I know I should read some of my non-fiction film books that I have on my list, but it’ll be difficult to transition to non-fiction after this slew of tremendous fiction novels. It’ll most likely be John Dies at the End and then perhaps I’ll move onto a non-fiction for a change of pace. Notice how I like to forget that I ever read Strides?