Film: Shotgun Stories

January 29, 2009Leave a comment

Susan got a recommendation for this one from Bob Mondello on NPR and we watched it last night. Disappointing sums it up. It’s a drama about a feud between two families that becomes violent when the family patriarch dies. It’s a meditation on violence that’s not very well acted and not very well filmed, plus there’s a certain lack of….verisimilitude? Authenticity? One character walks around in the same bleached white gauze bandages all movie, another demonstrates his supposed mechanical skills by showing his younger brothers how to tighten a bolt…it just came across poorly. There were a few laughs to be had at the expense of the dim rednecks that make up one of the families, the ending is unusual for a film with this theme, and it exhibits that rare ‘show, not tell’ quality I so enjoy – these are the only positive things I can think of to say about the film.

It’s well reviewed over on IMDB so maybe it’s your cup of tea – it wasn’t mine despite generally liking dramas.

Book finished: Bangkok Tattoo

January 26, 2009Leave a comment

If you enjoyed Bangkok 8, which is the previous book by this author and features many of the same characters, or if you like well crafted detective stories steeped in local (Thai, in this case) color with generous helpings of raunchy sex and graphic violence, there’s some fun to be had with this book. Others should probably stay away, because the book is flawed. Sonchai, the main character of the first book and one of the main draws, sits on the sidelines in this book for long stretches as a flawed narrator, a beautiful young-ish Thai prostitute, relates how she became involved with the CIA agent who turns up dead in the beginning of the book. Thai prostitute adventures in the USA are fun and all, but I prefer Sonchai’s world to the one I live in seen through the eyes of another. The writing style’s the same, there are plenty of laughs, and there’s still enough Thai color to keep it interesting, but I’d probably give this one a pass if I could choose again.

Bangkok Tattoo over on amazon, if you’re still interested..

Pineapple Express – don’t bother

January 21, 2009Leave a comment

I watched Pineapple Express over the weekend, which may surprise folks since it’s not really in tune with my tastes, but I loved the Cheech and Chong movies back in the day and enjoyed the 40 year old Virgin and Superbad, which had some of the same folks involved, so I figured why not give it a shot. I shouldn’t have bothered. It starts off ok, introducing the main character, his dope dealer, and the improbable series of events that leads to them spending the movie fleeing a gang of murderous thugs, but the whole thing feels like amateur hour with bad acting, sophmoric humor, a plot full of holes, and an unsatisfying ending. My recommendation? Stay away.

Just finished: Crystal Rain

January 6, 2009Leave a comment

So I just finished reading Crystal Rain. I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as the reviewers over on Amazon, but all in all it was an enjoyable read. Strengths would be: imaginative setting (descendents of an Aztec and carribean islander diaspora battle it out on a world fallen far from it’s starfaring origins, proxies in a war between interstellar powers trapped on the planet with them), action packed. Cons would be writing quality, cardboard characters, unsatisfying ending. It’s the authors first book, so he deserves some slack, but I’m not sure if I’ll continue on to the subsequent books in this setting.

More news on George RR Martin on HBO

November 12, 2008Leave a comment

Image via Wikipedia

Last winter I noted that HBO had optioned the rights to George RR Martin‘s Song of Ice and Fire series of novels. I incorrectly assumed this meant they were going into production but it turns out that at the time they simply optioned the rights, and they’ve recently announced that they’re funding the production of a pilot episode. Pretty great news really – it still doesn’t guarantee we’ll be seeing the series on HBO, but it’s a significant step forward and increases the chances. Here’s hoping it’s good – as the article I link to notes, if anyone can pull this off it’s HBO.

If you’re unfamiliar with it, The Song of Fire and Ice is an as yet incomplete series of gritty high fantasy novels set in a sort of alternate medieval Great Britain. It covers some generally familiar ground, but it’s really well written, has some fantastic plot twists, and plays quite a bit with conventions in the genre. They’re definitely worth checking out if fantasy is your cup of tea.

Before the Devil Knows you’re Dead – two thumbs up

November 10, 2008Leave a comment

Susan and I saw Before the Devil Knows you’re Dead this weekend, and we both liked it to differing degrees. Susan didn’t care so much for the open ended conclusion, wereas I thought it was pretty great – otherwise we both enjoyed it. The story concerns two brothers with cashflow problems who decide to pull off a robbery and the chaos that follows as things go wrong. Central parts of the story are presented as out of sequence vignettes, jumping around in the timeline of events, and one particular vignette may not even be ‘real,’ but I’ll skip the spoilers so as not to ruin it in case anyone reading this wants to see it. This makes understanding the story and identifying the characters challenging at times but it kept us engaged trying to puzzle out what was going on and who was who. The acting is uneven – Philip Seymour Hoffman is great in one of the leads, as is a very aged Albert Finney, but I was less fond of Ethan Hawke’s manic younger brother (the scenes in the car rental place in particular I thought were pretty bad) and have mixed feelings about Marisa Tomei’s character. All credit to her for spending half the movie unclothed, but several scenes, especially when she leaves Hoffman’s character, just came across as forced. On the plus side, she looks great 😉

This is a slow moving drama, so it’s not for everyone, especially not for a lot of my regular readers, but if you’re in the mood for a well crafted, thought provoking, reasonably well acted crime drama, it’s definitely worth checking out.

Review: Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead – reelviews.com

The new Incredible Hulk movie? Mediocre at best.

November 2, 2008Leave a comment

I grew up reading men in tights comics, mostly the Marvel stuff, and David Banner shares my first name so I loved him as a little kid, predisposing me to like this movie. Instead I was mildly disappointed. The last 20 minutes or so are fun, with competently executed action and special effects, but they fail to make up for the rest of the film, with it’s turgid pace, uninteresting relationships, and flat acting. I mean, come on! There are some seriously talented actors starring the film – Edward Norton, William Hurt, Liv Tyler – and the director fails to get decent performances out of them. I think this is the first time I’ve disliked Norton in a film. The film is worth seeing if you’re a fan of comics or the Hulk, but all others are best off staying away, and even Hulk fans will probably be frustrated with how much the movie messes with hulk cannon (his origin, the origin of two of his nemesis being the chief offenses).

[edit] As Kevin points out in the comments, it’s Bruce Banner, not David Banner. No idea what I was thinking there – now I can’t remember why I loved the Hulk so much as a kid.

Credit where it’s due: Netflix and Blu-Ray fees

October 21, 2008Leave a comment

Some months ago, Netflix announced that they would be introducing new fees to cover the cost of customers like me who have Blu-Ray and opt to get Blu-Ray movies over DVD when they’re available, because the discs cost more to purchase than regular DVDs. I was irritated by this. While I like Blu-Ray I didn’t neccesarily want to pay a tithe to get movies in that format. It’s great and all, but for most kinds of movies it’s not that much of an improvement over DVD. Only big budget or carefully shot movies are markedly improved by the higher definition. Meanwhile, I figured Netflix’s fee structure would only lengthen the time it takes for Blu-Ray to catch on and for the cost of the discs to come down, because folks would simply opt not to get them if they cost more.

As of this month, Netflix is charging the fee, and they made a great compromise move. It’s only $1 more a month, easily palatable and an acceptable balance between cost and access. I was pleasantly surprised, figuring they would raise it by at least several dollars, or start charging a per Blu-Ray disc rental addon fee. Kudos to the folks at Netflix for how they handled this.

Netflix Charging $1 More for Blu-Ray [NetFlix]

I can’t get ‘The Road’ out of my head

May 15, 2008Leave a comment

I’ve been on a bit of a Cormac McCarthy kick of late, working through Blood Meridian, No Country for Old Men, and now The Road. It’s completely fantastic, telling the story of a boy and his father struggling their way across a post-apocalyptic landscape, questing for food and safety in a world turned barbaric. It’s also very grim. I had nightmares while I was reading it, but at the same time I couldn’t put it down. If you fancy a stroll through a post apocalyptic landscape bereft of hope, I can’t think of a better book to recommend.

How’s that for a sales pitch 😉 Seriously though, the book is fantastic so long as you know what you’re getting into and appreciate it for what it is.

Dave's Place/Metamusing

News and pictures of the Hamilton Kimballs

Category: Movies-n-music