'K', Bored Now

A week of rain. The long weekend was so promising: the first May LW in about ten years where long-johns and scarves weren't required. And now, precipitation for five days straight. Bored and slightly blue.

So I watched a lot of movies. A alot of movies.

Lessee. Let's start with a block-buster. the social club at work sponsored a special screening of the Indiana Jones movie. I'll give it, er, what rating system do I use, oh yeah 4 out of 10 cigarettes. Not the best of the Jones franchise (that would be the first one) but about on par with the worst. No spoilers here, so let's just say a fundamental plot pattern was violated. There were a couple of times I saw this film racing up the ramp (you know the one, it has a shark just beyond it) but veered off at the last second. Still considering the tripe coming out of La-La land, not a bad film. Just, please, Mr. Lucas, please stop there.

For a bad film, go try Vexille. Or rather, don't. What is it about Japanese animation (a lot of it at least) where they go into the most intricate visual detail and nuance with the scenery (especially the technology) and then have the character's faces about as animated as a hammer? Wait, that implies some kind of movement. Rock? Wax figure? My love-life? Yeah that works. I actually managed to finish this one after stopping and starting three times (insert another love-life joke here). I picked it up for $20 which is kind of the "what the hell?" point of impulse buying for me. I am now thinking what I could have done with that twenty bucks. One old crumpled cigarette butt.

Now Hogfather on the other hand is quite brilliant. Made for TV this sucker is four hours long but keeps very faithfully to the Terry Pratchett novel with only dropping a few passages. For example no Librarian. Now I totally understand he wasn't cogent to the main plot, but still. The editing was a little, er, "loose" and I got the impression that there was a limited number of takes per scene, but this was made for TV, so I can forgive. Highly recommended for rabid Disc World fans and for those who like a little humor in an otherwise insipid Christmas movie list. Ridcully is perfect, and Susan (Michelle Dockery) is fantastic as Susan Death. And she has those big, dark brown eyes that make me ... er ... yeah sorry. It's extremely rare to find a holiday movie that I would insist my kids watch. If I had kids. Wanted kids.8 and a half out 10 smokes. And that's only because it took so damn long to be released in North America. Don't the Brits know how desperate we are over here for intelligent entertainment?

Now a movie that I think stood up to the hype is Cloverfield. There's a part of me that is really sick of watching beautiful twenty-something in everything so seeing them wiped out by a rampaging monster made me feel a little better. And it's also a good movie. Great concept which got me wondering what of the classic sub-genres would be good in the handy-cam style of remake. Seven of ten cancer-sticks. Bonus screwdriver for ending the way it did.

Which is why I'm watching Diary of the Dead tonight! That and the little brothers don't want to go to the peelers. Usually my life is sex or violence. Or at least simulated.