RSS FeedA western and a shooter
Last week Netflix delivered the next two movies from my queue. The first movie I watched was Shoot ‘em Up. I’m a big fan of Paul Giamatti and was really looking forward to seeing it. I was really bummed that I missed seeing it in theaters. After getting a chance to watch it, I’d have to say that I’m glad I didn’t pay full price for it. Yes, there were some decent action scenes, but the story line was pretty lame. Not to mention the fact that they do the one thing about shooter movies that just drives me absolutely crazy. I’ll explain.
Why is it that when the hero is being chased he can run at full speed, throw his arm back and fire off two rounds and kill both people chasing him who were both firing dozens of rounds from their automatic weapons that never even graze the hero? Even if only by accident or ricochet he should at least be nicked, right?
Ahh well, it was at least entertaining…
Next I watched 3:10 to Yuma. I had heard some good press about it and then Todd mentioned that he loved it. I’ve enjoyed some great movies on Todd’s recommendation so I figured I’d give this one a shot. Just Wow! The movie is fantastic. I can’t really say that I’m a big fan of westerns, but this movie is fantastic. The characters in the movie are more than one-dimensional stereotypes of good guys and bad guys in the old west. The bad guy is mean enough to run his crew of hired killers, but at the same time he’s cunning and charming.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
I’m gonna Choke on 8/1/08
It’s been a long time coming! Chuck Palahniuk’s Choke is about to hit the big screen. OK, that’s not really news around these parts. But, the part that may be news to you is the fact that we now have a release date. August 1st, 2008. It’s still a bit away, but it’ll be here before we know it.
Chuck Palahniuk, for the 3 of you who may not know, is the author of Fight Club. Aside from Fight Club and Choke he’s written several other great books that are not your typical everyday stories and usually contain a fair share of fucked up characters. I have a hard time trying to decide which of his books is my favorite, but Choke is definitely one of them.
Choke was recently shown at the Sundance film festival and has received great reviews. Plus, here’s a short video interview with the director of Choke.
If you are unfamiliar with Choke, BUY IT NOW!
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Brain Overload, Time to Chill
My new position at the office has kept me really busy these past two weeks. On top of the many new projects I have on my plate, I’ve also been added to several new weekly meetings. This has made it fairly challenging to keep up. This morning I got to work just before 7:00 AM. Between 7:00 and 12:00 I had spent a grand total of 6 minutes at my desk. The rest of the time was spent in meetings. Ouch.
Don’t get me wrong, these meetings have all been useful. Knowledge transfer is one of the things I need most right now. I need to learn as much as possible as quickly as possible. But, when you spend 5 hours in meetings, you usually come back to your desk to find 2 or 3 voice mails and a slew of emails that need attention. Get caught up with those and now you have about 2 hours to get 8 hours worth of work done. Sweet!
After a couple weeks of that and I was in need of a night off. It was time to turn the brain off and just chill the fuck out! So last night, that’s exactly what I did. I got home from work, plopped down on the couch with some dinner and then watched a couple movies with the wife.
The first movie we watched was The Man From Earth. This was on the recommendation of both Rob and Todd. One word: Fantastic!
The movie is about a Professor who attempts to convince a group of his colleagues that his 14,000 years old. They spend the better part of an afternoon and evening trying prove or disprove his claim. Each of his colleagues goes through a roller coaster ride of thoughts and emotions as they go from thinking he’s lost his mind to thinking that he’s telling the truth and back again. The bulk of the movie takes place in a single room with nothing more going on than some conversation. The movie was like no other movie I’ve seen before. I can not recommend it highly enough.
Our second movie required a lot less thinking. Waiting…, staring Ryan Reynolds and Justin Long is about a group of friends who all work at a restaurant together. The guys all spend their time playing a game where they try to get the other guys to look at their junk. Succeed and you get to kick them in the ass. There’s all the typical relationship issues (waiter who’s too smart to not being doing something bigger, waiter lusting after the hostess, manager trying to hang with the group of “cool kids”, bitter waitress who puts on the fake smile all day until she’s in the kitchen where she rants and raves like a lunatic). There are several funny parts strewn through the story, but overall, the movie didn’t really do it for me, though I can’t exactly pinpoint why.
Next on my Netflix list are 3:10 to Yuma and Shoot ‘Em Up. But tonight LOST returns. WOO HOO!
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Welcome back, Netflix
I was an early adopter of Netflix. I was a member back when they had only 1 or 2 distribution centers. That never really was an issue since I was in Redondo Beach and they were in Anaheim. I’d still get my movies the day after they were shipped. But, at some point I got so busy with other things I started holding on to movies from Netflix for 2 and 3 weeks at a time. “But there are no late fees” you’ll say. But I’ll say paying $19.95 a month to watch 1 or 2 movies per month is not my idea of a good deal. Netflix benefits most the people who can watch at least a handful of movies each month. If I’m going to pay $10 or $20 to see 1 or 2 movies, I should just buy the DVD and watch it whenever I want.
I reactivated my account yesterday and I opted for the 2 DVD deal. I can rent unlimited movies and can have up to 2 DVDs out at any given time. Plus, I have unlimited access to their downloadable movies. This is a new feature since I was a member previously. I put several movies in my queue and am now waiting for the first to arrive. On Rob & Todd’s suggestion I put “The Man From Earth” as my #1 movie. I’m looking forward to seeing it.
After a great dinner at the Cheesecake Factory with Todd, Justin and Jessi (happy birthday, Jessi) last night, I came home and checked out the downloadable movies. I was a little bummed that you are FORCED to use a PC (meaning I couldn’t lay in bed with the Mac and watch a movie) and Internet Explorer (I’m a Firefox junkie). But, after a quick update or two I was elbows deep in a zombie comedy. Todd had sent me a list of the best 19 movies of 2007 that you didn’t see. One of the movies on the list was called “Fido” and stars Carrie-Anne Moss and Billy Connolly. I won’t even try to explain the movie to you. I’ll just say that it was quite entertaining.
I’m heading out the door to go to Softball practice. My company is putting together a softball team. I haven’t played baseball in probably 30 years and I don’t know that I have ever played softball. This should be interesting. I fully expect to end up in the emergency room at some point.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Cloverfield: 1, Me: 0
This weekend ended up being pretty busy, though I didn’t really start out with many plans. I capped it off with a trip to the movies with Todd & Sarah to see Cloverfield. If you haven’t seen it yet, let me just say…. MOTION SICK!!! The way it’s filmed is very similar to Blair Witch Project. Single camera angle, hand held, bouncy as hell. With about 15 minutes left in the film I started feeling sick. By the time I left, I looked like this:
I am amazed that I didn’t throw up. Seriously, I felt THAT bad. But, I went home, crashed on the couch for a while and felt better after about an hour or so.
“How was the movie?” you ask. It was so-so. The story isn’t new. It was just shot from a different angle. I will say that the new Rave theaters by my office are fantastic! First off, they are all digital projection. Second off, they are hidden away in the back of Town Center and not a lot of people know about them. So even though I went to see the #1 movie on opening weekend, the theater was only half full.
As for the rest of the weekend, on Saturday I spent the morning at work trying to get a head start on the weekend. Then Saturday evening Todd and 4th Place came over to play some Rock Band. Sarah, who had originally suggested we have Rock Band night, pulled a big no-show. She claims to have been sleeping. I don’t know that I buy it, though.
This morning I bailed out on my Sunday run. My knee has been feeling funky still. This week I’m going to make a point of riding the stationary bike at least 3 times to try and build up some strength in my knee. I think I may need to hold off on running until I’ve had a few weeks of the stationary bike under my belt. No sense going out and hurting the knee even more.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
-
Socializing
Flickr Photos
