jedibuttercup

I dined at the parents' last night, and a friend of ours brought the video entertainment for the evening. I should have imdb'ed Attack Force before I let them put it in; it truly deserves a one-out-of-five-stars rating. Damn, Seagal's getting old. The plot summary's more exciting than anything that happens in it, and the only female character who isn't a secretary, a whore, or a hyped-on-drugs adversary dies before the end credits roll. We had a lot of fun mocking it.

Nearly as terribly plotted, but considerably more enjoyable: The Mummy: Secrets of the Medjai. All twenty-six episodes were on sale for something like $9 at Wal-Mart, and animated half-hour shows translate to about twenty-one minutes each without commercials, which is perfect for watching two back-to-back while on the elliptical machine. (The show pretty much presents like a parallel AU of the movies: most of the same characters are there, but they act like they don't remember anything that happened in them, and Evie's Irish or something instead of half-Egyptian).

I went through the first season of "Real Ghostbusters" the same way earlier in the year (the quality drops half-way through, but makes more world-sense than the Mummy series), and after watching the laughably-written but drawn-on-intriguing-backdrop Shyamalan movie that just came out, I think I'll pick up some "Avatar: The Last Airbender" next.

Any more animated series worth picking up on DVD for idle entertainment? I really didn't watch anything but the Disney Afternoon as a kid-- oh, and sometimes a little Sailor Moon or Inspector Gadget-- so I'm pretty unenlightened.

I've been to see two movies in the last week: Paul Blart: Mall Cop, to which I was invited by TS (WW buddy) and family on Sunday, and Push, which I watched last night on my lonesome.

Mall Cop? Typical twelve-year-old boy humor, but if you skip over the bar scene, the rest of it was entertaining. Not something I'd ever fic, or buy, but funny.

Push, on the other hand? Wow, a big sparkly wrapper full of nothing. Might be fun to fill in some of the gaps with fic, but I'd have to do it as a crossover, because there's just no there there under the sparse skeleton of worldbuilding required to hold the "plot" together. Still: sparkly, and I don't regret going to see it.

Pop quiz, by the way: should I track down a copy of Watchmen before going to see the movie in two weeks? My experience with graphic novels is very limited, and mostly from tie-ins available at Borders, since neither my parents nor my brother nor my closest college friends were ever into them that I knew of. I don't even know where to buy them around here aside from book stores. But I've been told Hellblazer is superior enough to the Constantine movie that I should get my hands on some, and I've heard good things about Watchmen, so....
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Okay. So how many of you caught Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog? The first time I watched it through, I had to keep pausing it every other minute during Act III to go make tea or clean or something to defuse my nerves, because (a) it's a Whedon project, (b) it's a Whedon project, and (c) it's a Whedon project. Speaking as a fan of Buffy, Angel and Firefly, I knew better than to expect a happy ending.

The second and third times through-- anticipated punch in the gut behind me-- I appreciated the humor, acting, song lyrics, scene setting, and so on much better. Say what you like about Joss's tendency to put his characters through every pain imaginable and his sometimes questionable characterization of women, he's really, really brilliant at putting on a show. I'll definitely be buying the DVD of this when it comes out. The special features on it should be entertaining.

And look: horrible_fic! There's fic already! *snort*
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Since I checked myself against the grand list of 1,001 Books to Read Before You Die a few weeks ago, I decided to go back and do the 1,001 Movies, too.

I fared slightly better, here; 78/1001 movies, whereas I only scored 64/1001 books. And I have a feeling that in this case, some of my f-list could far surpass me; I've missed a lot of the more recent-ish ones, simply because the subject matter didn't appeal.

( So here are the 78 movies I *have* seen: )

If you want to check yourself, the list of 1,001 Movies to See Before You Die can be found here. (Note: it's only current up to early 2003, when the list was apparently compiled).
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Went to X-3 today with maevebran. (It's her birthday today, BTW, in addition to my parents' 30th wedding anniversary).

( O.o )

OTOH, I did get to see the trailer for Dead Man's Chest again. OMG, I have such an unholy lust for that movie, I may spontaneously explode the day it comes out. *drifts off into thought, drooling*
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Saw two movies today with my brother: Mr & Mrs Smith and Batman Begins. Was amused by the first; I can see why Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt were accused of sleeping together by the tabloids when that was filming, what with all the violence and chemistry flying around between them in the flick. From my standpoint, it was a perfectly brainless, high-octane, happily-ending two hours of entertainment. Ended too abruptly, but otherwise one I wouldn't hate to see again.

Although, I almost choked when John Smith said of Jane early in the movie that she's "the Batman of computers". Heh. Reminded me of the day I saw Star Trek: First Contact in theater and came out only to find Steppenwolf's "Magic Carpet Ride" (featured in that movie) playing on the radio in my car. Sometimes it seems like my life is full of strange coincidences like that.

( Anyway, as for Batman Begins... )

*yawn* It's getting pretty late -- early -- whatever, I'd better log off before I ramble my way through my sleep cycle altogether, and I easily could on the topic of this movie. *grinning* Later.

That is supposed to be the grand culmination of the prequel trilogy? That is what all of the critics are cheering about?

I feel ill.

Yes, it was visually amazing; yes, it had some memorable moments. But as a whole, the movie suffered from a vacuum of soul. The grand spectacle only works if the motivations behind it are believable, and on the whole they are not. Even "carried away by emotion" and "clouded by the Dark Side" only stretch so far, you know; if we are to take the events presented on-screen seriously, then the only characters I have any sympathy for are Obi-Wan and the children, and maybe the Organas and the Larses. The rest of them deserved their fates as far as I'm concerned.

OK, I'm going to stop now before I really work up a head of steam. And I haven't even begun to touch on the logical inconsistencies yet; the emotional ones have me upset enough already.

I can't believe this is what we're supposed to accept as the grand fall of the Republic and destruction of the Jedi. Pathetic. Dazzling to the eye, perhaps, but ultimately pathetic.