"Lady in the Water"

This has to be one of the most narcissistic production I’ve ever seen. Should have listened. Everyone told me to to stay away. Dont even go near this one.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

Saw the Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest today. This movie starts where the last one left. Will Turner and Elizabeth Swan are about to be married, and Commodore Norrington is out chasing Captain Jack Sparrow, and like all middle movie of trilogies ends on a cliffhanger. Firsts the comparisons. The first movie was like the Disney ride on celluloid. This is was more of the same. The characters were the same with the same attitudes and the same running after something of value, the race, the sword fights, the same cartoonish make-ups and special effects. While the first one was extremely enjoyable, this one seemed to be over complicated and more tiresome. Think of it as a great song on your iPod. You eagerly download because you liked it so much, and put it in your playlists so that it repeats over and over again. Then you reach a point where even though you still like the song you cant bear to hear it anymore. It was the same thing with this movie as well. I kind of felt that constant barrage of excitement was a little too much.

The other thing that was a little off-putting was the complexity of the story. I counted like four plotlines in the story. Other reviewers have put the plotlines to five. The story tried to tie in to the backstory of the movie. For example (Spoiler Alert here) How Jack Sparrow got the Black Pearl, what’s with the compass that does’nt work, Bootstrap Turner, etc, what happened to Commodore Norrington, etc. The other thing that I did’nt like was the villain. Captain Davy Jones was nowhere as cool as Captain Barbossa, and his reappearance at the very end of the movie was a bit of a relief at the end. For me it was a good way to set the stage for the 3^rd movie (which was reportedly filmed the same time as the 2^nd movie). How Captain Barbossa returned to life after being dispatched in the 1^st is not explained. I guess that’s part of the cliffhanger. I guess the other important bad guy or the bad entity here is the East India Company. Not much is explained about that. Initially Will Turner is sent to retrieve a compass, and then that’s suddenly changed to getting Davy Jone’s live heart. That was a little confusing for me. The most obvious explanation was that whoever got control of the heart would have leverage over Davy Jones, and that meant control of the seas. But the compass always pointed in the direction of what the user really wanted. We know that it was’nt the treasure that East India company wanted it was something else. Perhap’s the 3^rd will tell us more.

Netflix: The Stepford Wives

I saw The Stepford Wives last night. I did’nt quite get it. I understood in the end that this super-woman was trying to undo the technology that had wrecked her marriage through the same technology she was so adept in. What I did’nt get was the part where robot facsimiles and the brain implants come in. At one point, there is a hint that all the women were robots or androids and all the human wives were killed or dissappeared. Then during the third or second last scene, where they show Joanna and her husband go down in the cellar, actors mentions something about the women having a brain implants which programs them to act like “real” women. So which was it? Did they put implants in their brains and use them to control them or did they replace the women with robots that resembled them, or did they use the robots for all the house hold works (which is kind of cool actually, since no one, man or woman, would’nt appreciate the utility of a personal robot) and the real thing for more biological functions, e.g. SEX?

Maybe I should see the original movie…

Apple – Trailers – Sin City

Apple – Trailers – Sin City YAY!!!!! They are making a movie of one of favorite comics!! From the trailer i think its going to be an awesome movie!

Netflix: I, Robot

Netflix: I, Robot
This was a good movie. The movie is loosely based on Asimov’s collection of the short stories about robots (or droids in Star Wars parlance or androids if you prefer Star Trek). The three laws are extensively quoted and it turns the logic of the three laws on itself saying that sometimes the created will turn on the creators for their own “percieved” good.

I think the point where the robots go breserk and try to take over the world was inspired from the Zeroth law that Asimov wrote about in his “Foundation and Earth” where explorers final come to meet the 20,000 year old robot Daneel Olivaw (who first appears in “Caves of Steel”). The Zeroth law was something like a robot must preserve humanity under all circumstances. The first, second, and third laws are modified, as a consequence of the Zeroth law, in that as long as they do not conflict with Zeroth law.

Anyway, the point that Asimov and the makers of the movie, that we should be careful of what we create and the way we delegate power to our things that we create. That includes not only computers or machines, but also laws, conventions, and tradition. These creations may take a life of their own. Once something takes a life of their own and then it will find a way of its own. That line is used a lot in movies. It was used in I, Robot and, I seem to recall, in the Jurassic Park movies.

Netflix: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Netflix: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen–>CRAP!!!

Hotel Rwanda

Hotel Rwanda
This will be a good one.

Other Movies I Saw this Week …

The Big Lebowski Not sure what the point of this one was but after you see “Fargo”, then you realize that may be there is really no point to their stuff

The Core Boring mindless fun. The hacker was atrocious. Are hackers as far-fetched like that? That was one of the worst caricatures of computer hackers ever. I think its been done so many times, I can’t even laugh about it any more. The movie was a little far-fetched, but then that what movies like these are. Boring mindless fun on a cold, dreary December evening in NY.

Spider Man 2 Excellent Movie!!! One of the rare sequels that are actually as good, if not better than, as the original. The last scene where Peter Parker’s best friend finds the secret room with the Green Goblin means that a third movie is probably in the works. Hopefully it will be as good.

The special effects were awesome, and makers tied up the store from the first one to the sequel very well. The story this time is much different. The last time, the main chracters are in a phase of exploration, finding who they are and what they are becoming, and, finally, taking themselves a little too seriously. Consider this line “With great power, comes great responsibility”.

In this one, its about the alienation, rejection, and finally acceptance. As a thematic element, I thought it was much more mature and therefore, more appealing. (To me).

The people who chose the soundtrack seemed to have a very earthy taste in rock. The first one of the soundtrack is an awesome number by Dashboard Confessionals.

Here are some of my favorites.

Vindicated from the album “Spider-Man 2″ by Dashboard Confessional

Ordinary from the album “Spider-Man 2″ by Train (I was kind of surprised that this one got through. Not my taste but may appeal to someone)

Hold On from the album “Spider-Man 2″ by Jet: These guys are awesome. They kind of sound like the Rolling Stones. In fact, when I first heard their song “Will you be my girl?” I actually thought this was something from the Rolling Stones from their early days).

Gifts and Curses from the album “Spider-Man 2″ by Yellowcard

This Photograph Is Proof (I Know You Know) from the album “Spider-Man 2″ by Taking Back Sunday (Not so good)

Give It Up from the album “Spider-Man 2″ by Midtown

Lucky You from the album “Spider-Man 2″ by Lostprophets

Who I Am from the album “Spider-Man 2″ by Smile Empty Soul

The Night That the Lights Went Out in NYC from the album “Spider-Man 2″ by The Ataris

We Are from the album “Spider-Man 2″ by Ana

Someone to Die For from the album “Spider-Man 2″ by Jimmy Gnecco & Brian May

Ocean’s 12

Just saw this movie today. Not very smart as the last one. The last one had an amazing story, one continuous thread running from start to finish.

This one felt completely contrived as if the writer and director were trying too hard to be smart. The French jokes were kind of lame. I think the media is beginning to overdo this “French” humor that seems to be going around.

The bit about Julia Roberts’ character in the movie starts playing Julia Roberts was especially. I don’t think it added anything to the movie. The cameo appearance by Bruce Willis was ridiculous. One of the reason why I think that Ocean’s 11 was so popular was it’s stellar cast. In this one it seemed as if they were forcing good looking actors and actresses to increase the movies popularity.

As a rule, sequels are as good as the originals (exceptions being “Lord of the Rings” and the “Star Wars” trilogy (episodes IV, V and VI only) ), and Ocean’s 12 was no exception.

The previews before the movie were good. I’m looking forward to them, sometime next year.