Ok, so I finally got a chance to root through some of my dvds that have been gathering dust. Both Kill Bill and Master and Commander have been sitting on my shelf for a few weeks - Monster is pretty new, but I really wanted to see that one. I'm just writing this because a lot of folks on the Grove seem to have nearly the same movie-watching tastes as I do, so I figured I'd share my thoughts.

---

Most disappointing for me was Kill Bill. First let me say that I haven't seen KB2, and I probably won't till it comes out on DVD (I don't do theaters much - if I'm gonna pay $15, I mine as well own the damn thing). The movie was <i>very</i> Tarantino, almost <i>too Tarantino</i>, if you can imagine that. It's like he took the shticks that were his "signature" and just kept rolling them out, over and over and over. Camera cuts, weird fade outs to adjacent storylines, bad 70's music. I'm proud of my Japanese heritage and all, but damn, the "5, 6, 7, 8's" just cannot sing. Or play, for that matter.

As for the fighting... Wu Ping, what happened? :(
Neo just walking down the street in the Matrix was more exciting than any of the fights in this movie. The Wachowhatever brothers (brother and soon-to-be sister) knew that they were playing with wires, and didn't even try to hide that fact - but they made it look cool - just like the kung-fu movies from Hong Kong have been doing for decades. Tarantino seems like he threw all that knowledge out the window and decide to make it look as hokey as possible. Yeah, I understand that he was trying to capture the "feel" of the Kung-Fu and samurai movies of the years gone by, but this was just sad. For trying to "imitate" Kurosawa, Akira's got to be laughing in his grave.

Kill Bill?
Rent it, it's not worth buying right away. Besides, by Christmas there will be a two-box set with KB2 and probably a "Special Edition" edit box set.

----

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World... oh my god, this movie sucked much donkey hoof.
After watching it, I completely understand why everyone said it felt like "part of a whole." This movie just rushes you through concepts, you don't feel attached to any of the characters, and it's just one plot device after another. One of the shipmates gets their arm cut off due to gangrene, and you don't even feel like going, "awww, poor kid," just rather, "Ok, why do we care about this guy?" Another mate falls off the side of the ship and gets left behind. Do you feel for Crowe's character? His so-called "Mental Anguish" at having to make the "Captain's Decision"? Nope. Thanks for stopping by, it sure does suck to be you, Russell.

The only salvation in this movie for me was on the shoulders of Paul Bettany. As corny as the movie "A Knight's Tale" was, Bettany's character was just fun to watch. I think he practically stole the show from Keith Ledger. Then he's paired up with Crowe for the first time in A Beautiful Mind - another reason to applaud this guy's acting ability. In M&C however, he just comes off as this whinny little bastard that you hope gets killed. "I don't get to see my bird. We're fighting a war, but I don't get to see my bird!" War sucks. Being a Captain sucks. Take me back to my birds." That's about the gist of his character.

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Don't buy it. Don't rent it. Maybe catch it on TV if nothing else is on. Comes pretty close to "Wing Commander" (but not as bad as Dungeons and Dragons) in the movie rating hierarchy.

----

Monster: The story of Aileen Wuornos - Just like M&C licked the bottom of the dung pile, this movie just simply kicked much arse.

First off, Aileen is played by Charlize Theron.
If you have no idea who Charlize Theron is, I urge you to go online and Google a few news photos of her before or after you see this movie. If you don't know what Charlize looks like, you have no idea how much she changed for this movie.

Second, this was just a well written, well acted, well directed movie. This is not a run-of-the-mill hack and slash "story of a serial killer" movie. The killing is actually very secondary to the story (albeit very integral). It's one of those really awesome movies that will affect every person who sees it differently. Some will just come away thinking, "She got what she deserved," while others will sincerely empathize with the main character. Where M&C failed to develop any audience-to-character associations, Monster will leave you earnestly wondering what's going to happen next. Strangely enough, for the violent content, to me, it was much more of a sad (though convoluted) tragedy/love story, than a hack and slash thriller.

Monster - Buy it, watch it with friends and talk about it. It will start a lot of conversations and debates.

----

So that's it.

The summer movies are coming out (HP3: Prisoner of Akakalalalbam is out today in fact!) but I'm not much for theaters... but I'm sure I'll buy'em on DVD.

Knights Tale was campy, sure, but I still like it.

Your review of M&C is mine. Only I would have shoved the ending up that donkey hoof. How does it blow, let me count the ways.




edit: I would have filled up the barrels of that raft with gunpower and cannonballs. Even if it did not work as planned, it would have been cool fireworks. /smile.

What's wrong with Wing Commander and D&D? ^.^ I liked those two movies. They're campy, hokey fun. So bad, you laugh at them. I dunno if you've ever played D&D, but a typical D&D session amongst teenagers is exactly like the movie. Overacted, outrageous villains and plots, The whole shebang. That's why I liked the movie. And Wing Commander was cheesy too... bad acting, but I liked the setting and the way the ships were treated like submarines. It was a new concept for space travel and sparked a redesign of my sci-fi d20 setting.

I have been trying to catch a movie a week and the recent movies I have seen are:

Troy: Juvenile and filled with lots of gratutious sex and violence.
Mean girls: Very funny with a nice moral message. A good chick flick movie with no/little violence.
Prince and me: Another chick flick that is fun and witty.
Van Helsing: Action thriller vampire movie. A definite see.
13 going on 30: A good chick flick with a good moral message.
The Punisher: grim and dark. This could be a tarantino film.
Alamo: So so movie. The movie tells a story but the story is pretty grim.
Envy: an excellent movie that is funny and has a good moral message.

KB2 is supposed to be awesome whereas KB1 wasn't a lot of people's taste.

I liked the way the do wormholes(hyperspace) in WC. I think that was the movie.

I just don't think, if they do exist, that they act like waterslide tubes.


I thought Mean Girls was an excellent movie. Not just for kids. Very good Post-Feminist movie. Good contrast with Stepford Wives which is coming out soon.

I couldnt agree more about Master and Commander, the character development was so poor.

I never got into the specifics of how Wing Commander used the black holes and such to jump through space, but the idea behind it is very interesting. Makes exploring space a true adventure rather than just point and go after doing some math since to get anywhere you have to know how to get there or be ballsy enough to jump an uncharted point.

One of these days i'll finish the sci-fi campaign setting and run it for my friends. I just get so distracted from the work with other things like CoH, EQ, D&D and work.

KB1 is a terrific exploitation film... that's what it is.. quentin even says so himself. KB1 kicked ass.. KB2 was very good as well.. it didn't have nearly as much violence.. there was definitely more story development, but KB1 is still an excellent film imho. I'd say if you like any kind of martial arts films that are slightly on the cheeze, you should pick this up ASAFP. Monster was a great film. Haven't seen Master an Commander. Saw HP3 just a few hours ago. It was good, but there wasn't enough consistent story development for my taste... IT just sorta happened all at once...still good .. but I think the change in directors hurt the film.