Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,
Well, last night was an okay night. I ended up...well, not doing a whole lot except watching movies and the rain & thunderstorms. After a few movies, I just stood on my balcony looking towards downtown, sipping a Hornsby's Hard Apple Cider, watching the torrents of liquid sky fall to the Earth. Occasionally there you could see the electric boogaloo of the heavens towards the mountains flash through the wall of rain & light pollution...like trying to read neon through a sheet of frosted glass...just making out enough to know what it was...and let the imagination take over from there. Forms of craggy peaks, skyscrapers, clouds, illuminated only for a split second, then back to the frosty wet pane & its sweet fragrance...and then the low rumble of one of God's balls striking his celestial pins. (It's him bowling. You know that, right?) I think I stood out there for about an hour watching (except for going in for another Hornsby's here & there) but I really like the rain. As luck would have it, we've had more of it today as well here in Utah...and even on the Revival of the One Day Photo Project...but that's for another blog for you to check out, maybe loading those pictures (and stories) tomorrow. Today, I don't have much to say other than to tell you to tune into to that tomorrow...and review a few movies that I've seen in the moist weather. Yes, Jewels. I said moist...and I thought of you cringing as you read it when I typed it out. We miss you. Come visit soon.
The first movie of the evening was "Equilibrium" starring Christian Bale, Taye Diggs, Emily Watson, Sean Bean, Angus MacFadyen (no Scottish Festival today) and William Fichtner. It's set in the not-so-distant future where after the Third World War, society has restructured itself into a peaceful society by denying everybody the root of all evil...emotions. By destroying art, music, books (FINALLY) and anybody caught displaying any form of feeling is strictly punished by death. Humanity is kept null by a drug called Prozium...and there's a police force in place to keep the streets clean of any emotions. When a high-ranking cleric (Bale) misses his dose of Prozium, he finds himself being the one man who can bring humanity back to humanity...by kicking ass in a Batman meets the Matrix style. It's actually a really great flick by director/writer Kurt Wimmer ("Ultraviolet" and the upcoming Jolie flick "Salt") that mixes a lot of great action sequences with a real, hard-hitting story about what makes people human...and what's important in life, actually LIVING. As in the full gamete of human emotions - Love, hate, joy, sorrow, all the highs & lows & everything in between. It's a great flick and I suggest that you all check it out.
The second movie had a surprisingly similar message to it...but was completely different...and oddly enough, also starred Emily Watson. That movie was "Synecdoche, New York" from writer/director Charlie Kaufman ("Being John Malkovich" & "Adaptation") and starred Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Dianne Wiest. It's about a theatre director (Hoffman) who's wife left him and took his four-year old daughter with her...at about the same time that he wins a MacArthur grant (you know, for us geniuses...my check must be in the mail) and starts production on a play based on his life that is going to bring truth to the stage. To do this, he has a warehouse-sized venue in Manhattan where he's building a set that keeps expanding, with more locations, more characters, more confusion of relationships and character motivations. To watch this movie is to watch something completely different from the norm. The characters are not what you expect, time & reality seems to jump around a bit, if you walk in halfway and ask "What did I miss?" you are f**ked. Nobody will be able to explain it to you. However, the ending message is very similar to Equilibrium in that you can't merely record and try to reproduce life for others to see. You have to get out there and live it. It's done much more eloquently and artistically in this movie than I could ever hope to type out on this blog...but that's a little of what I got from it. I would say check it out if you're looking for a movie with a message that...well, kind of makes you feel bad for sitting around and watching the movie for two hours when you should be out finding the Love of your life or helping others in need or something more worthwhile. However, if you want a similar feeling...with Christian Bale kicking ass with swords AND guns, then I would suggest "Equilibrium" over this...just to keep you more entertained & less confused. Great flicks both though. Just completely different.
Now for a not so great flick, I simply watched a movie that starred the great Sir Ben Kingsley. I kind of feel sorry for this guy...and I hope that he's compensated well for some of the movies that he does. Sure, back in 1983, he played Gandhi and that certified his knighthood & established him as a respected actor forever like Orson Wells in "Citizen Kane." However, since then, what are some of the good flicks that he's been in? Bugsy was pretty good, but he was a bit role. Sneakers? Dave? Schindler's List? I liked "Species" a lot. Then there's the list of simply horrible movies like Bloodrayne, Lucky Number Slevin, Suspect Zero, The Love Guru, You Kill Me, and What Planet Are You From? and this one, in which he does a great acting job...but the stories are just crap. I even have this Sound of Thunder one on Netflix that has dinosaurs & time travel in the summary...but it has two stars on the reviews & Sir Ben Kingsley so I'm kind of dreading having to watch it...and yes, I must watch it...because it has Dinosaurs & Time Travel.
Where was I? Oh yes, the movie I'm talking about is called "Sexy Beast" and it stars the aforementioned Kingsley, Ray Winstone (voice of "Beowulf") and Ian McShane. The story is about a retired safecracker (Winstone) who is living the happy life in a Spanish villa with his beautiful wife and friends...until he's recruited by a brutal gangster (Kingsley) for one last job. Obviously he doesn't want to do it...but the gangster isn't going to take no for an answer...so what's going to happen? What do you think is going to happen? You may be right...but then you'd miss out on Kingsley being creepy and childish all at the same time...which is even creepier...and a lot of English accents and colloquialisms so you can barely understand what the hell is going on...like the movie should have subtitles saying what they mean and not what they're mumbling. I would honestly just say pass on this movie...and if Ben Kingsley shows up at your door and insists on it, then maybe humor him since it's only 90 minutes...but be sure to tell him to quit making sh*tty movies. He's just too great of a guy to have to whore himself out like that. Anyway, stay tuned for a review of "The Sound of Thunder" probably coming next week.
That should do it for today. Got some photos to take & Bubbles is still in town so maybe we'll hang out for a few, get some drinks like we do in Vegas, just earlier in the day. I hope that you're all having a great weekend and remember, Father's Day is just a week away. Be sure to show the big guy how much you care. Have a great day everybody!!! Stay dry...unless you like the rain like I do.
Well, last night was an okay night. I ended up...well, not doing a whole lot except watching movies and the rain & thunderstorms. After a few movies, I just stood on my balcony looking towards downtown, sipping a Hornsby's Hard Apple Cider, watching the torrents of liquid sky fall to the Earth. Occasionally there you could see the electric boogaloo of the heavens towards the mountains flash through the wall of rain & light pollution...like trying to read neon through a sheet of frosted glass...just making out enough to know what it was...and let the imagination take over from there. Forms of craggy peaks, skyscrapers, clouds, illuminated only for a split second, then back to the frosty wet pane & its sweet fragrance...and then the low rumble of one of God's balls striking his celestial pins. (It's him bowling. You know that, right?) I think I stood out there for about an hour watching (except for going in for another Hornsby's here & there) but I really like the rain. As luck would have it, we've had more of it today as well here in Utah...and even on the Revival of the One Day Photo Project...but that's for another blog for you to check out, maybe loading those pictures (and stories) tomorrow. Today, I don't have much to say other than to tell you to tune into to that tomorrow...and review a few movies that I've seen in the moist weather. Yes, Jewels. I said moist...and I thought of you cringing as you read it when I typed it out. We miss you. Come visit soon.
The first movie of the evening was "Equilibrium" starring Christian Bale, Taye Diggs, Emily Watson, Sean Bean, Angus MacFadyen (no Scottish Festival today) and William Fichtner. It's set in the not-so-distant future where after the Third World War, society has restructured itself into a peaceful society by denying everybody the root of all evil...emotions. By destroying art, music, books (FINALLY) and anybody caught displaying any form of feeling is strictly punished by death. Humanity is kept null by a drug called Prozium...and there's a police force in place to keep the streets clean of any emotions. When a high-ranking cleric (Bale) misses his dose of Prozium, he finds himself being the one man who can bring humanity back to humanity...by kicking ass in a Batman meets the Matrix style. It's actually a really great flick by director/writer Kurt Wimmer ("Ultraviolet" and the upcoming Jolie flick "Salt") that mixes a lot of great action sequences with a real, hard-hitting story about what makes people human...and what's important in life, actually LIVING. As in the full gamete of human emotions - Love, hate, joy, sorrow, all the highs & lows & everything in between. It's a great flick and I suggest that you all check it out.
The second movie had a surprisingly similar message to it...but was completely different...and oddly enough, also starred Emily Watson. That movie was "Synecdoche, New York" from writer/director Charlie Kaufman ("Being John Malkovich" & "Adaptation") and starred Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Dianne Wiest. It's about a theatre director (Hoffman) who's wife left him and took his four-year old daughter with her...at about the same time that he wins a MacArthur grant (you know, for us geniuses...my check must be in the mail) and starts production on a play based on his life that is going to bring truth to the stage. To do this, he has a warehouse-sized venue in Manhattan where he's building a set that keeps expanding, with more locations, more characters, more confusion of relationships and character motivations. To watch this movie is to watch something completely different from the norm. The characters are not what you expect, time & reality seems to jump around a bit, if you walk in halfway and ask "What did I miss?" you are f**ked. Nobody will be able to explain it to you. However, the ending message is very similar to Equilibrium in that you can't merely record and try to reproduce life for others to see. You have to get out there and live it. It's done much more eloquently and artistically in this movie than I could ever hope to type out on this blog...but that's a little of what I got from it. I would say check it out if you're looking for a movie with a message that...well, kind of makes you feel bad for sitting around and watching the movie for two hours when you should be out finding the Love of your life or helping others in need or something more worthwhile. However, if you want a similar feeling...with Christian Bale kicking ass with swords AND guns, then I would suggest "Equilibrium" over this...just to keep you more entertained & less confused. Great flicks both though. Just completely different.
Now for a not so great flick, I simply watched a movie that starred the great Sir Ben Kingsley. I kind of feel sorry for this guy...and I hope that he's compensated well for some of the movies that he does. Sure, back in 1983, he played Gandhi and that certified his knighthood & established him as a respected actor forever like Orson Wells in "Citizen Kane." However, since then, what are some of the good flicks that he's been in? Bugsy was pretty good, but he was a bit role. Sneakers? Dave? Schindler's List? I liked "Species" a lot. Then there's the list of simply horrible movies like Bloodrayne, Lucky Number Slevin, Suspect Zero, The Love Guru, You Kill Me, and What Planet Are You From? and this one, in which he does a great acting job...but the stories are just crap. I even have this Sound of Thunder one on Netflix that has dinosaurs & time travel in the summary...but it has two stars on the reviews & Sir Ben Kingsley so I'm kind of dreading having to watch it...and yes, I must watch it...because it has Dinosaurs & Time Travel.
Where was I? Oh yes, the movie I'm talking about is called "Sexy Beast" and it stars the aforementioned Kingsley, Ray Winstone (voice of "Beowulf") and Ian McShane. The story is about a retired safecracker (Winstone) who is living the happy life in a Spanish villa with his beautiful wife and friends...until he's recruited by a brutal gangster (Kingsley) for one last job. Obviously he doesn't want to do it...but the gangster isn't going to take no for an answer...so what's going to happen? What do you think is going to happen? You may be right...but then you'd miss out on Kingsley being creepy and childish all at the same time...which is even creepier...and a lot of English accents and colloquialisms so you can barely understand what the hell is going on...like the movie should have subtitles saying what they mean and not what they're mumbling. I would honestly just say pass on this movie...and if Ben Kingsley shows up at your door and insists on it, then maybe humor him since it's only 90 minutes...but be sure to tell him to quit making sh*tty movies. He's just too great of a guy to have to whore himself out like that. Anyway, stay tuned for a review of "The Sound of Thunder" probably coming next week.That should do it for today. Got some photos to take & Bubbles is still in town so maybe we'll hang out for a few, get some drinks like we do in Vegas, just earlier in the day. I hope that you're all having a great weekend and remember, Father's Day is just a week away. Be sure to show the big guy how much you care. Have a great day everybody!!! Stay dry...unless you like the rain like I do.
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