The past seven days

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Sucker Punch

I don't really know what to say about this one, tbh. It was very interesting and was a complete mind fuck. I give it credit for the visual effects, sound design, and the soundtrack, but the story itself was very lacking. However, I wasn't expecting much of a story after seeing all the previews so I can't complain too much. It was a bunch of awkward dream sequences with 5 half-naked girls shooting guns and yielding swords. That's about it.

Worth it if you like Zack Snyder, which I do, and/or if you're into that sort of thing.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Omg, I lol'd.

http://rantsthoughtsmerde.com/2011/03/26/natalie-portman-black-swan-cover-up/


Any other body/stunt double in any other film wouldn't be complaining about anything because they understand their job. It's just the fact that Natalie Portman did such a great job in the film. Sarah Lane is just coming across as bitter and desperate.
Anyone with a brain knows Natalie didn't do ALL of the dancing in Black Swan. She spent a year preparing for a role and she pulled it off. People are acting like no other actor/actress has done it before. Take a look at the prep Angelina Jolie did for Tomb Raider (weapons training, yoga, kickboxing) or what Christian Bale did for The Machinist (losing a shit ton of weight) or what Taylor Lautner did for Twilight (gaining tons of muscle to look good without a shirt) or what Jamie Foxx did for Ray (learning Braille and piano, etc.) . They are actors and their job is to prepare for the role they will be portraying. That is exactly what Natalie did and there is no reason for anyone to be bitching about it just because she won a bunch of awards for it. Sarah Lane especially. She was brought in as a body and dance double, not to be featured as a principal dancer or for Fox Searchlight to go around boasting "HAI LOOK AT NATALIE'S DANCE DOUBLE. PRAISE HER FOR DANCING EN POINTE."
Studios and productions don't boast about extras and doubles. Their job is very specific and most of them seem to be proud of what they do. If Lane wasn't happy about that then she shouldn't have taken the opportunity and let them find another Natalie look-alike out of all the women who auditioned to be extras in the film. Not to mention the fact that this really doesn't matter at this point. Black Swan comes out on DVD/Blu-Ray on Tuesday and Natalie has already won a Critic's Choice, BAFTA, Golden Globe, Independent Spirit, SAG, and Academy Award for the role. Sarah Lane is just blowing hot air to an audience that doesn't really care at this point. The only people this might sway are those who haven't seen the movie yet and/or those who didn't have a brain and assumed Natalie Portman did all of the dancing in the first place.

Complaining about it now won't make you a principal dancer, sweetie. You're just coming across as an attention whore.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Star Tours re-opening in 3D

Star Tours to re-open in 2011

I don't know how to feel about this one. Disney is one of the companies taking this 3D craze a little too far. Everything does not have to be in 3D, especially Star Tours. The moving seats is enough to give you the impression that you're actually in the ride. Not to mention the screen covers the entire wall in the room and you are fairly close to the projection even if you're in the last row.
Yes, it is kind of cool they are including more footage from the newer movies, but can you imagine a Pod Race in moving seats in 3D? They better include barf bags.

Monday, March 21, 2011

AT&T apparently buying T-Mobile

Really, really sucks. Prices on plans will go up, variety of plans will decrease, no more unlimited data plans/packages, etc.. The only advantage will be a better phone selection, but I personally couldn't give a shit about phone selection. They're phones.

How is it possible?

How is it possible to still be so tired after getting a fairly significant amount of sleep two days in a row? Definitely something I don't understand.

In other news... I really want to see Paul.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Aronofsky bows out of The Wolverine

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/darren-aronofsky-bows-as-wolverine-168827

I'm kind of bummed, tbh. I was excited to see what he was going to bring to the table. But then again I was one of the few people who thought X-Men Origins was decent, so who knows.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

The Fighter

Yeah... this was one where I will honestly say I saw it once and once was enough. Such an overrated film. It was slow as hell and didn't really have an interesting peak.

Typical fighting through adversity and older sibling favoritism we have seen before.

Hmm...

I didn't know Darren Aronofsky was executive producer of The Fighter.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Battle: Los Angeles

So... this movie was fucking intense.

I will start by saying that I did really like it. I was disappointed to see the negative reviews it received and I don't really think they were justified. The story wasn't necessarily centered around the alien takeover, as I was anticipating. It was more centered around the one company of Marines you are following and its members. I found it to be very pro-military which I loved. I work for the military so anything that takes the initiative to respectfully show them on top, as they should be, is a good thing.
They could have focused on why the aliens came to Earth in the first place, but that was pretty much my only complaint. They touch on the fact that they come for our water supply but they just leave it at that. They were using our water, mostly from the ocean, to fuel their ships and weapons. You do see the aliens but not really up close in too much detail. They seemed to have tentacles of some sort and float in the air. It was near impossible to kill them without blowing them up, too.

The special effects were spectacular. Far better than the ones used in District 9. The sound design was also incredible. I could feel my chest shaking when the main alien control ship started lifting out of the ground.

Seriously good movie. I would check it out.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

The things I do to myself

I think I can officially be called a geek the rest of my life... and I'm alright with that.

Friday, March 11, 2011

So I got my Flip cam today

And it has a fucking scratch on the screen. I'm debating on whether I want to bother with sending it back. It's not severely noticeable and I can probably ignore it, but damn... thing was almost $200 and all I did was take it out of the box and charge it.

New perspective

I was watching an interview on YouTube about Black Swan with Natalie Portman last night and got an interesting new perspective on the ending of the movie. I feel like things just kind of clicked with that movie all the way.

When asked about the ending of the movie the interviewer commented that he didn't believe Nina dies at the end of the film and she cut in saying, "I'm with you." Whenever I have heard or read people say they didn't think she dies I have been like, ya'll are crazy of course she dies... Shit is all symbolism and that's what I realized last night.
We as the audience really have no idea what is real and what isn't real in this entire film. Nina "dying" at the end is symbolism of her killing the little girl and becoming a woman. She wasn't really dead; the child of her who strives for the approval of others and true cut perfection was what died. I laughed at Natalie Portman's anecdote about the crew putting the blood on her at the end and her telling Darren Aronofsky that it looked too much like a period when it got on her tights. He put it there intentionally to symbolize her becoming a woman. It put new perspective on the blood on her fingers in the bathtub as well. With her seemingly everlasting attempts to physically pleasure herself there came a point where she let it go more and become less of a child. The blood on her fingertips was used wonderfully.

Bottom line... Aronofsky is brilliant. Black Swan proves that even more than Requiem for a Dream did.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

I must say...

I am liking Amazon Prime.

I'm always prompted to try a free trial of it whenever I buy something on Amazon, which I'll admit is a lot, and with my recent Flip video purchase I decided to get the free trial so I could get free 2-day shipping. I got an email this morning saying I could pre-order Black Swan on Blu-Ray, get free 2-day shipping, and it will arrive on the actual release date of the 29th. I say, "hell yeah." As sad as it is, I use Amazon enough to justify paying like $70 a year for Amazon Prime. We'll see how things go after the trial is up. At this rate I'm probably going to keep it.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Soon to be flippin'

So I decided to order a Flip video cam today after shopping around for a while. Amazon still has the best prices on stuff like that. They had the newest 3rd Gen model cheaper than most other places had the 2nd Gen models. Not only that, but I was able to get it in black instead of silver, which is what I originally wanted.

I should have it by Friday and with a weekend off I'll be able to fool around with it. I originally wanted it to take with me to Texas Frightmare in Dallas, TX next month but now I figure if it is as easy as people claim I'll probably use it for YouTube videos too. I was pretty active on my YT account until I got annoyed with using my webcam and/or my Nikon. My webcam is lousy quality, both sound and picture, and I try to use my Nikon for just photos. The video quality on it is alright, but it's so bulky. I hate trying to shoot video with it.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Musical adventures.

Along with the sountrack to Inception I also got TRON: Legacy and the The Social Network.

I was hopeful for TRON because 1) I love Daft Punk and 2) the music in the previews and clips sounded amazing. I wasn't terribly impressed, though. Almost all of the songs sounded the same and lacked a climax/resolution quality. It was good and I'm glad I have it now, but I expected more. Just a little disappointed I guess.
What was not disappointing was what Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross compiled for The Social Network. I hated the movie and previously just went on the free 5-track sampler and what I heard in the film. I had been meaning to get it but I never managed to get around to it. I am SO glad I did. As Trent said after winning the Oscar, it does resemble the Ghosts record a lot. I personally loved Ghosts and it did have that same kind of feel to it. Not as many tracks, obviously, but it was still very lovely. It was great to have new music from Trent again. I can't wait to see what he puts together for The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

I also got the full score to Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake ballet performed by the London Symphony Orchestra. It was another one I had been meaning to get since I can remember. I just never found a full composition that I liked the sound of. I have been listening to the score Clint Mansell put together for Black Swan and decided to just get the newest one I could find on iTunes and that happened to be by the LSO... and I love it. I listened through the first two acts last night and will probably finish it in a little while. The music to this ballet has always been one of my favorites. No doubt a minor contribution to how much I loved Black Swan, tbh.
I also got the suite from The Nutcracker performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. What can I say? I'm a sucker for Tchaikovsky.


Now to drift away into a world of beautiful sound.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Hans does it again.

Just to say... the soundtrack to Inception is amazing. I'm in the process of a straight listen and am in love. I love movie scores so much.

lulz

Lol @ Mike Huckabee and Michael Medved criticizing Natalie Portman for getting pregnant outside of marriage. Of all the Hollywood stars doing God knows what they chose to criticize that of all things. What about Charlie Sheen acting like a complete crackhead in on national TV describing how he smokes rocks all by himself and getting busted beating up hookers and porn stars? What about Lindsay Lohan constantly getting arrested on drug and alcohol charges and not staying in jail like any normal person would? What about all of Paris Hilton's DUI charges and blow job tapes? Seriously, guys... Out of all that they say Natalie Portman is the one setting a bad example. It's time for these politicians to really start picking their battles more wisely.
Seeing that Natalie Portman is almost 30 years old I would say she is capable of making her own decisions. Not to mention she's been in a relationship with her fiance for two years and they are now engaged to be married, she is hardly a single mother. Whether her pregnancy was planned or not isn't relevant. What they should have been complimenting her on was the fact that she chose to have her baby and is going to marry its father. I thought that's what they were pushing for? Traditional families who have babies and get married. ha ha ha ha ha.

This all just made me laugh. What made me laugh more was my mom trying to justify the statement and defend Huckabee when we read the articles.







In other news, I am seriously debating for the first time on getting an Xbox 360. The more I see about the Kinect the more I kind of want it. The idea of not having to hold a controller is pretty awesome.

You learn something new every day.

Did you know that a single Academy Award statuette weighs 8.5lbs and costs over $800 to make?

I never would have guessed.

Friday, March 4, 2011

Like clockwork.

I find it funny how my music choices vary season to season. I usually start getting into peppier, more mellow music around this time of year to last me through Spring and Summer. Fall and Winter are my most metal times of the year. Something to do with being stuck indoors with snow and rain, I suppose.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Speaking of...

Seeing that I mentioned No Strings Attached I just want to add that it was surprisingly enjoyable. I actually saw it twice. Yes, it had the typical rom-com ending but it was genuinely hilarious. I was laughing almost the entire way through both times. I enjoy a good raunchy comedy every now and then. It was a good movie to open up 2011 with.

And you have to give Natalie Portman credit. In all the kind of nude scenes* she has started doing in the past 5 years, or so, you have yet to see a nipple. She seems to keep that shit on lock.






*By "kind of nude scenes" I mean seeing her ass in Hotel Chevalier and Closer and seeing side profiles of her naked in Closer, No Strings Attached, and Black Swan.

Love & Other Drugs

I figured I would give this movie a shot. People kept saying how funny it was and that it was cute... Basically all this movie had going for it was a couple funny moments, specifically Jake Gyllenhaal's brother, and Anne Hathaway's tits. Not to mention the fact that you first see them about 20 minutes into the movie. I would guess they have a good 10 minutes of total screen time. For a two hour movie that's pretty substantial considering she doesn't appear until that 20 minute mark. While watching The Princess Diaries all those years ago I never would have guessed that I would see her naked so much in the future; Havoc, Brokeback Mountain, and now this one. I'm hoping Christopher Nolan has her keep her clothes on for Dark Knight Rises. I don't know how much of naked Anne I can take.

But back on the subject of the movie... it's a typical romantic comedy. Couple gets together reluctantly because one person doesn't really want a relationship, they stay together for a while, something causes a rift, they split up, then one of them goes running back to fix everything, everything is fixed, and they live happily ever after. This was another like No Strings Attached in the sense that it gives false illusion that the bitchy girl will actually get what she wants and stay away from the relationship. However, it is suddenly halted by a sweet guy who says the right thing to make her melt. It's such bullshit but what else can you expect.

Worth a watch for the laughs but I wouldn't say it was a favorite. I probably won't watch it again unless it's on HBO and I'm bored.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

127 Hours

Let me just say that this movie surprised me almost 100%. I was expecting it to be boring and yet another typical story of survival. I'm glad I was wrong.

Despite watching one actor for practically the whole movie it really keeps you into what's going on. I will admit I got restless at some point wanting to see something other than James Franco, a water bottle, and a giant rock but that is the beauty of film. The emotion the character felt of being restless seeing nothing but a giant rock for 127 hours relayed onto the audience.
I still haven't seen True Grit, Biutiful, or The King's Speech but I am curious to see how close James Franco got to winning Best Actor at the Academy Awards. He did a phenomenal job.

If anyone hasn't seen 127 Hours yet I suggest giving it a shot. It is a very mentally intense film and it is amazing that he survived. The fact that it's based on a true story, and the real Aron Ralston praised the accuracy, is just unbelievable. I just was in awe after really thinking about it.
And just to say... people bitching about how gruesome the arm cutting scene was need to see more horror movies. That was tame compared to a lot of the things I have seen on film. Knowing it really happened is what made it horrific, I suppose.

Pick it up on DVD and watch it. Hell, rent it on iTunes for $3. That's what I did.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Born This Way

I just watched the new video from Lady Gaga. I caught myself saying "really?" about 4 times. I listen to her and will be one of the first people to say her music is usually quite catchy and enjoyable, but I just do not like this one. Aside from the fact that it does sound almost exactly like Express Yourself by Madonna (face the music, people, it does) it's just not a strong song. The video was even weaker. She is trying too hard to outdo herself now and it's not going on her favor. At least I don't think so.

We all know you're weird, dear. Just keep doing what you do and you'll be fine.