+ 3 - 0 | § ¶War of the Worlds
I got a chance to catch War of the Worlds yesterday (thanks Kelly for buying the tickets for us!). Here are my thoughts... I think this Wired Review was dead on. The movie was very enjoyable to watch, but in the end there was no major lesson that you could hang your hat on. Even though I knew how the movie was going to turn out, the ending was pretty cool. It was sorta ironic that the aliens were defeated by the smallest of creatures when humanity had failed. mmmBenson said after watching it that it was ridiculous for the aliens to get defeated by bacteria, that they should have prepared beforehand for that eventuality. I think that the aliens were so busy planning to take out all human life, that they didn't consider all of the other life. If you're going to take over a planet/country/etc, you're going to be primarily concerned with taking out the most powerful beings on the planet. However in the case of the movie, the aliens didn't realize that humans and bacteria share a symbiotic relationship... that both are the most powerful in certain ways. Here's another thought for Mr. Benson, maybe there was no bacteria on the alien's homeplanet. It's entirely possible that they knew nothing about bacteria in the first place. If that's the case, they would have had no drugs or vaccines to prevent them from getting sick.Even though I enjoyed the movie alot, there were a few things that bugged me. I hated how the little girl was constantly screaming... her voice could was harder to stand than nails screeching on a chalkboard. Also, I found it pretty stupid that Boston was pretty well preserved (did the aliens forget to take it out on their way between DC and New York?) and that everyone from the main character's family survived. How's that for a sappy ending. The whole world is getting obliterated, people are dying left and right and this "special" family is spared any sort of harm... STUPID. But I liked the movie :)
+ 0 - 2 | § ¶Land of the Dead
So, the movie that I have been waiting to see for a while has finally come out. I got a chance to watch Land of the Dead yesterday and here are my impressions (along with a quick summary)...The movie takes place after the other movies in the series (Night, Dawn, Day of the Dead), after the zombies have basically taken over the earth. The only remaining living beings are forced to live in a city (there may be more than one, I think I remember other cities being mentioned in the movie). The rest of the earth is a wasteland, with zombies wandering around aimlessly. The city sends out a group to collect supplies (canned food, booze)...
Here is my first issue: Night of the Living dead happened in the 1960's and this movie is apparently set in the present day, so I'm not sure how long food can last even if it's canned. Regardless, the food probably would have been all consumed already be the living people, since no new food is being produced. The same goes for the gas that the people were using, and the bullets that they were constantly shooting. There aren't infinite amounts of the stuff just sitting out in the world. I would have liked it better if the movie showed some sort of effort at farming within the city walls, of manufacturing new ammo and the use of some sort of new fuel technology (solar?). At least it would have lended some plausibility to the idea that these people are still living after 40 years of zombies roaming around. I do like how the city was shown to be all dark except for the main building that all the "rich" people occupied. That implies that there isn't enough power to have the lights on all over.
Another thing I had an issue with were the weapons in the movie. All of the soldiers had these brand new weapons that were produced way after the 1960's. I do remember seeing a steyr aug rifle which was first seen in the Die Hard movie... it must have been produced in the 1990's at the earliest. There are more issues like that in the movie, but I'll spare you the details
I think it would have been nice to know exactly how this movie related to the others. If it happens after, then there are some pretty big holes in the timeline. Now on to things that I liked...The acting and story were pretty good. Even the people who played the zombies did a good job. I especially liked how the main zombie (the gas station worker) taught and communicated with his fellow zombies. Also, it was interesting to see the world from the point of view of the zombie. The movie implied that they had feelings and were just trying to exist. It's an interesting perspective if you're a zombie movie fan like I am. Just like in the previous "* of the Dead" movies that Romero made, there was a little symbolism included. There was a sharp divide shown between the have and have-nots in the city's society. It was interesting that the society developed into a class system, even though the world around them was in pieces. All of the powerful people got to live in this great tower, with all the comforts that they could ever want... while the rest of the people had to live on the streets, surviving the elements. Even the soldiers that protected the people didn't get treated any better. There was a rebellion that was being planned, and the government was trying to crush it. All of this was going on while everyone's survival was at stake.
I wonder if Romero will make another "* of the Dead" movie. There seems to be alot more stories to tell in the world he created. For now, I'll watch this movie again to catch some more symbolism
Final rating: A-
+ 2 - 1 | § ¶Razr
It came to me, my own, my love... my... preciousssss.
+ 1 - 2 | § ¶Carmack on Slashdot
Since I'm a big John Carmack fan (Doom, Quake, etc...) I like to keep track of his ramblings on slashdot. I do this because he never updates his blog... Here are some of the cooler posts he has made:Carmack is a rockstar in my book
+ 1 - 1 | § ¶Boomerangers
I was skimming away messages, and I ran across the link on a friend's profile. Apparently she got interviewed by CNN Money online about her current living situation. Pretty interesting read, something that you wouldn't want your parents to read if you still live with them....+ 1 - 1 | § ¶Shuffler!
I recently sat down and tried to learn python. I created a small program called shuffler to try and recreate the iPod Shuffle's ability to randomly grab mp3's from your music collection and upload them to your flash-based mp3 player. To use it, you'll need to run it from the command line, it's all explained on the project page. If this seems too hard for you, wait a bit. I'm working on a GUI interface for the program. It works on linux and windows, so make sure you grab the right version.+ 0 - 2 | § ¶Cinderella Man
Over the weekend, I got a chance to see Cinderella Man (thanks Greg). The movie is about a boxer named Jim Braddock, who fought during the great depression. The movie does a great job showing how bad the great depression was and how many people were affected by it. The part of the boxer is played by Russel Crowe. He is great in the role in my opinion. I think he nails the Jersey accent perfectly and the has the boxer's stance down perfectly. His wife is played by Renee Zellweger. She plays her part even better than Crowe does, and they have great chemistry together on the screen. I thought that their relationship was the most distinguishing part about the movie, even more so than then boxing scenes (which were still quite good). I got a sense that they truely loved each other, and that's not easy to do. Most actors can't find that chemistry with each other, so when it happens it is all the more noticable.Back to the boxing scenes... They were done very well. I liked how the director (Ron Howard) used camera angles to convey the emotions and feelings that a boxer would have in the ring. There was some very good cinematography in the movie and the writing was excellent. In the end, I knew that my heart strings were being pulled, but I did'nt care at all.
I would definitely recommend seeing it. Final rating: A
