I mean, how old am I?

I hope someone understands why I've titled the last two posts the way I did.

So we go to see Star Trek. We had planned on seeing it in the IMAX, but it was sold out! I guess there were other awesome mothers out there after all. We sit down and get ready.

At this point I'm not sure at all what to think. I'm back to being torn. I want to see new Star Trek Things, but this? It looks like a "summer blockbuster" that just happens to have the name Star Trek plastered on it. The rest of this review will be delivered in "real time"

Ooooh it's getting dark in here

Ugh ads. Why do I have to look at these. I'm not going to buy a Jaguar.

Previews, I like previews

Okay, star trek.

Wow, I didn't really realize how much I was used to the Next Generation theme. This is really nice tho.

Who are these people???

OH

The CGI really does a whole lot for this. There's really interesting aliens, and they look good, but no green girls.

That kid can drive a stick waaaay better than me.

Cool

Wow

Nevermind about the green girls.

Oh no.

Oh no

OH YEAH

YEAH

YEAH

THAT'S AWESOME!!!


The end

So, I thought that they got the characters just right. Everyone had their little pieces of the original characters, but they really did well and didn't seem constrained by the enormous amount of history. I'm really trying not to spoil too much. I think that there was a magic bullet included in the play. This magic bullet, in my opinion, excuses the filmmakers to ignore all complaints of continuity or history. I laughed a lot, and I almost jumped out of my seat several times. My favorite re-vamped character was probably Uhura. She was just as smart and frankly, sexy as she was in the original.

Go see it. I loved it. When the last movie came out, I was begging people to go see it so that they'd make another, better, one. Well, here we have it.

I give the movie 10 out of 10 phaser blasts. On kill.

I should get a life.

Even though I've written so infrequently on here lately, if you've read some of the things I've written in the past, you may have realized that I'm just slightly off of the norm. I've always identified myself as somewhat of a geek, if you will, a dork. I've applied the following labels to myself over the years:

Questie
Moonie
Browncoat
okay, so right here I realized that I can't find a special name for someone who likes the following (if you know it, tell me):
Farscape
Battlestar Galactica
Star Wars

I think the first name I could apply (if I go by how much I loved a thing at an early age) would be Trekkie. I don't think I should be called a trekker, or any other name that some people fight for. I don't think there's anything shameful about being a fangirl, a trekkie. Two of you asked me to write a movie review, and Rachel, as hard as I thought about the bombs I've seen lately, there was one movie that stood out that I just had to talk about.

Star Trek

Now, I've said above that I'm a trekkie. Maybe not quite as hard core as some others. For instance, I've never had a burning passion for the original series. No doubt, I know the characters, really liked the movies, and still laugh like crazy when I think "Don't call me tiny", but Next Generation and the following series were/are really my thing. I have my own names for several of the episodes (the gross one, or the cake one, or you know that one?), and I have an odd Pavlovian response to the theme.

All that strangeness being said, I had mixed feelings when I heard about the new movie. New Star Trek movie? AWESOME! Directed by another person who doesn't know much about ST? Yuck. Oh, that person is JJ Abrams? Cool! It's not Next Gen, but TOS?? GRRRRR. Sylar as Spock? ODD. Speaking of odd, there's the whole odd/even good/bad thing.

I was upset more than anything about it not being another next generation movie. I was one of those who didn't receive nemesis well. Yeah, it was not as good as it should have been, but MAN! I want to see those characters some more. I still think that it is almost unfair that TOS got 6 1/4 movies and NG only got 3 3/4 so far. (I had to split generations).

But I got over it. I decided that since we were going to see it, I was going to do some review. The site listentoamovie.com is awesome. I embarked on a mission to listen to each one of the previous movies before seeing the new one.

I knew I wanted to see it. With each new preview, I knew that I wanted to see it more. I knew I cold probably drag Jason along with me to see it, but did anyone else want to go? I should have known better. I have the most awesome Mom, and she wanted to go see it on Mother's day.

I'll be back soon to post the actual review, but I'll leave you with a re-tweet of myself. The problem with listening to the movies online is that I don't speak Klingon.


p.s. Blogger insisted I capitalize Klingon.

Australia

This weekend's movie of choice was Australia starring Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman. Directed by Baz Luhrman, this film has been getting a lot of hype as an Oscar contender. I had seen the previews and I was interested even before I knew who was directing, but once I saw his name, I was really excited. If you like sweeping, and over the top and sometimes strange, Baz is your guy. Strictly Ballroom, Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge, all great movies in my opinion. So, with an almost 3 hour running time, I settled into the theater for something I knew I was going to like. I was not disappointed.

The movie is set just before the US entered WWII, in, obviously, Australia. Lady Sarah Ashley (Kidman) is going to Australia to force her husband to sell a failing business venture, a cattle ranch in central Australia. She arrives just as he is killed, apparently by an aboriginal man named King George. She is ready to sell the place when she meets Nullah, a half Aborigine child fathered by her husband's ranch manager, who is also a really bad guy. Nullah tells "Miss Boss" (Lady Ashley, Kidman) that the manager has been stealing cattle. The manager of course denies it, and tries to take it out on Nullah. Lady Ashley strikes him with a horse whip and he leaves, vowing revenge.

Miss Boss decides to drive the cattle to sell herself. She hires the Drover (Jackman) to help her push cattle. Romance ensues. I'm not going to go any farther, because if I did, I wouldn't stop until the end, and this post would take 3 hours to read.

The cinematography for this film is nothing short of epic. The land is beautiful, and plays a starring role. This film readily calls to mind others like Gone With the Wind, or, forgive me, Titanic. The CGI was, in my opinion, seamless. There were many times that we wondered how much was real and how much was computer.

The acting was wonderful on all sides but Brandon Walters (Nullah) really stole the show. He was so charming, it was heartbreaking. He played perfectly the mixture of wild and cultured Australia that his character embodied. Plus, he has eyes the size of dinner plates.

Last, but not least, if anyone out there disagreed with the appointment of Hugh Jackman as the sexiest man alive, they had not seen this movie. They need to.

This film was a western, an action flick, a war movie, a comedy, a romance and more. Despite the long running time, I didn't want it to end. The costumes were also superb. Lady Sarah Ashley was impeccably dressed throughout the film, and her dress really represented her character. In the beginning, her clothes were tight fitted, neutral colors, and very stuffy. The look changed and developed through the film and evolved as her character did.

I could go on for hours, but I'll leave you with this tacky cliche. I laughed, I cried, I grabbed Jason's hand really tight.

I give this movie a raging 10 out of 10 fat cheeky bulls.

Catching up

I've been so gone lately! I'm very very sorry. To the three of you who read this...

Last week was pretty crazy. I was off, there were big meetings and Mom had surgery. I'm pleased to report that she is home and as long as she's not lying to me, doing really well, very little pain. The big meetings were boring except for the smores part. Isn't it fun to be cryptic?

The week before, I don't even remember, It is all a haze. And, you know, looking back just now, I hadn't really been all that gone, I guess. It just feels like it. I messed up my metrics with the new scheme so it looked like my blog had been abandoned. You know, dusty streets, shutters waving in the wind, an empty old saloon with swinging doors where my blog used to be. At least, on my end.

This past weekend was nothing interesting, in fact it feels like it never even happened. We got lego star wars and not only has that developed in to a black hole of time (though I love it), we also watched the whole original (better) trilogy on Sunday. Yeah.

I've been gone so looooong but.

I'll be back very soon so:

City of Ember

It's been so long since I've written about boring, everyday stuff! So, last weekend, I was off Friday, and I went flying!! With Jason's Dad. We had gotten him a gift certificate for a flight at the airport near our place. It was a tiny plane, the interior was smaller than my car. You guys know how small my car is. It was fun, and it had been sooooo long since I had been in a plane that size. You know, come to think of it, last time I was in one that size may have been in Jr High, and I got to fly it. Not take off or land, or do barrel rolls or anything like that, just keep it in a straight line in the air. Then we went to lunch, and I went home. We gave my Dad the same gift, and he needs to get up there too!

That night we went to see Margaret Cho!!! Jason had bought me surprise tickets, and we were in the front row. I mean, you could touch the stage. She was really fun, but not really up Jason's alley, so he's the most amazing man for taking me.

The next day, I worked, blah. Then on Sunday, we tried the scary church and went to see City of Ember. I had really liked the book, and I was excited to see the movie, but sadly, it didn't live up to what I expected. Do they ever? Bill Murray was very good, and I really liked the actors who played Lina and Doon. I'd read reviews that didn't like Doon, but he'd never been a really likable character at that point. I think the movie could have really done better if they' spent more time developing the atmosphere and less time wit giant bugs and moles. Overall a give it 7 out of ten cans of hoarded pineapple.

Batman: The Dark Knight

We stayed up late and went to see The Dark Knight last weekend. We were really tired, and knew it would make the next day incredibly long, but we really wanted to see it. We got to the theater at about 10:45 pm and were told that our theater was already seating. We were shocked, but there were plenty of seats and we managed to snag some good ones. Four, in fact for two of our friends as well. The theater filled up with people in batman t-shirts, and a few guys in complete Joker getup. Then, the previews.

The previews alone deserve a paragraph. The one I found to be most memorable was for The Watchmen. I didn’t like Sin City and everyone said that this was shaping up to be very similar. But, the preview was scary good. Also we saw:

Terminator 4; I lost interest after the second one. 3 held no real interest for me, and I don’t think ahnold is even in 4.

Quantum of Solace; I never really liked James Bond movies before I met Jason, but this one looks great. I want to see it.

Body of Lies; another one I wouldn’t be interested in normally, but I sure didn’t recognize Leonardo DiCaprio in that trailer.

The Day the Earth Stood Still; Keanu Reeves is the shiny metal man. I still want to see it.

Bolt; let it begin, LET IT BEGIN!!!!!!

I think there were a few more, but I can’t remember for the life of me. Evidently, there was a teaser Harry Potter trailer if you saw it in the IMAX.

The movie itself was EXCELLENT. The acting was seamless, especially on the part of the late Heath Ledger. I was convinced that at some point during the movie, I would see Heath, but I didn’t. It was all Joker, all the time. So the film opens with Batman, looking to retire, so that Rachel would finally be convinced that she could love him. He sees this opportunity in the rising star of Harvey Dent, the new DA. Harvey is dedicated to wiping out crime in Gotham , through legal, daytime work. Bruce thinks that this is his way out, but the Joker has other plans. He wants batman, dead, and exposed, not retired. I won’t get much more into the plot… One of the most genius things in the film is that the Joker never reveals his true origins and has absolutely no motive other than chaos. Even when he makes a plan, he doesn’t want things to follow the plan. He embodies the unknown. He IS the chaos. I had NEVER been scared of the joker before, but let me say, I sure am now. I won’t go spoilery on you, don’t worry.

The other stand-out thing for me was the batmobile. I had loved the 90’s batmobile. It was the coolest part of any of the movies. The iconic shape, the new gadgets, it was awesome. That being said, when Batman Begins came out, and there was to be a new, very different batmobile, I thought I would hate it. It was a military machine, it wasn’t cool. Batman doesn’t drive a tank. After I saw Begins, however, I was a little more lenient toward the tumbler. It had a cool name, it was tough. In The Dark Knight, I fell in love again. The tumbler is AWESOME. Like I said, no spoilerification, but WOW. Sign me up for that.

I thought the movie was ending at least 5 times, I also thought that Two-Face was the villain for the next film. I was wrong. Every time I thought it ended, there was more and it was tenser, and more involving that I thought it could be.

I have one complaint. Gotham was, very transparently, Chicago . There were landmarks all over. The Lamborghini had Illinois plates. I can understand the filmmakers’ choice, because Chicago is filled with interesting and sometimes very gothic architecture, but when I can see the corn buildings out of the window in the mayor’s office, and Jason points out Weber grill, it’s no good. I think a little more CGI was necessary there. Or something, a less recognizable city maybe. I appreciated that it was lighter sometimes. It symbolized Harvey Dent and the crusader who dealt justice in the light of day, versus Batman, who works at night. I just really wish it hadn’t been so much the L train in the street scenes.

Overall, however, I give it (working up new and creative rating system) a 10 in the amount of time I spent either in or considering the fetal position, a 10 in the time I wanted to bounce on the seat, and a 9.5 in the amount of time that I forgot there was a seat. It was a really great movie, and I’m ready to see it again.

Wall-E

Last weekend, we went to see Wall-E. I went in expecting the usual stuff. Let me start off here. I love the Earth. I try to be green, and while I'm not always great about it, I try. So, I'm not at all opposed to movies that have an environmental message. That being said, I HATED Happy Feet. IT was bait and switch. A movie that was supposed to be about dancing penguins was really about what an awful person I am. So, that being said, I was glad to know that Wall-E was an environmental piece upfront. It was a really cute movie, and I liked it a lot. Wall-E reminded me A LOT of number 5, who is, in fact alive. I thought that it was all well done, and sent the message without condemning us as a species.

M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening

Bees are disappearing. Did you know that? This is a fascinating real life mystery and a great jumping off point for a film.

I love M. Night Shyamalan. Even though I am really not sure that I am even coming close to pronouncing his name correctly. So, even though we had seen all bad reviews, we went to see it yesterday afternoon. I loved it. It was scary, tense and the acting was superb. Now, I did call the "secret" 10 minutes into the movie, but it didn't ruin anything. Zooey Deschanel is one of my favorite actresses right now. I think she's cool. My mom got me her CD for my birthday. Its really good. So, the premise is that something is happening. (shocked?) In central park, everyone suddenly stops, like freeze frame. They begin moving erratically and eventually kill themselves in a variety of manners. Construction workers throw themselves off buildings, policemen shoot themselves, and more gruesome methods are used by others. Mark Wahlberg is a teacher and he decides to get away. He takes his wife and they go with John Leguizamo but get stopped on the way. I won't get any further into it, because I don't want to ruin the atmosphere.

As I said, I really loved it. It's the kind of scary that I can really get into. Not there's a monster somewhere, look at it, but maybe there's a monster and maybe it's just us. Also, I was pleased to see Frank Collison who was PERFECT as the nursery owner. He was perfectly creepy, smart, weird and kind at the same time. I think everyone who liked any of Shyamalan's previous films should go see this. It was well worth it.

Brotherhood of the Wolf

I loved this movie. It's the strangest sci fi kung fu movie ever made. The story is that a giant wolf is attacking villagers and the protagonist is sent to kill it. Well, really, you want to find out what it is. It's a scary movie and really really really cool. I was stumbling, and I came across this Wikipedia article. It was a real legend! Here's a summary:

The Beast of Gévaudan (French: La bête du Gévaudan) was a mysterious wolf-like creature that terrorised the former province of Gévaudan (modern day Lozère département), in the Margeride Mountains in south-central France from about 1764 to 1767. Many attacks took place - between 60 and 123 humans were killed – and debate continues as to the Beast's true identity. The story is a popular subject for cryptozoologists and conspiracy theorists.

The first attack that provided a description of the creature took place on 1st June of 1764. A woman from Langogne saw a large, lupine animal emerge from the trees and charge directly toward her, but it was driven away by the farm's bulls.

On the 30th of June the first official victim of the Beast was Jeanne Boulet, killed near the village of Les Hubacs, not far from Langogne.

The creature's reported method of killing was unusual for a predator, often targeting the head, and ignoring the usual areas targeted by predators, including the legs and throat. Often the head was crushed or removed. It also seemed to target people over farm animals, reportedly having an aversion to cattle; many times it would attack someone while cattle were in the same field.

There were some reports that the beast was seen with another such animal, or with young. No recorded testimony implies the presence of a man nearby.

Though it is difficult to establish an exact number of victims, an estimate based on official documents gives over 198 attacks, including 36 wounded and 88 dead. Other sources could expand these results to over 306 attacks, including 51 wounded and 123 dead. The Beast's preference towards women and children is perhaps due to their working the country-side farms in pairs or even alone, making themselves easier targets. Men, however, tended to have objects that could be used as weapons, such as sickles and scythes, and often worked the fields in large groups.

Various explanations were offered at the time of the attacks. They ranged from exaggerated accounts of wolf attacks, to a loup-garou (werewolf) all the way to the beast being a punishment from God, or perhaps an unholy creature summoned by a sorcerer.

Though wolves in the wild usually avoid contact with humans, they will attack livestock when their natural prey runs out. Conversely, the Beast itself was said to have taken exclusively human victims, ignoring the livestock present in the area. Some experts, however, state that wolves at the time may have been more aggressive than their modern-day counterparts, saying that today's generation of shy wolves is the result of natural selection favouring animals which were less prone to attacking humans with firearms. The areas in the world today where wolf attacks are still a common occurrence are usually poverty-stricken with a general lack of predator control technology.

Other theories say the beast may have been an escaped captive exotic animal such as a hyena. Two species have been known to attack humans: the striped hyena of Africa, the Middle East, Pakistan and western India and the larger spotted hyena of Africa. Hyenas are known to inflict injuries similar to the Beast of Gevaudan, primarily biting the facial regions when attacking humans; however hyenas do not have the smooth running gait ascribed to the Beast, and are not good at jumping. According to Loren Coleman's Cryptozoology A to Z, page 35, a taxidermist at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, Franz Jullien by name, discovered that an animal similar to the description and listed as shot by Jean Chastel, had been stuffed and was on display from 1766 to 1819. It had been definitely identified as an African striped hyena.

Another explanation is that the beast was some form of domestic dog or hybrid. This theory has found support from, among many others, naturalist Michel Louis, author of the book La bête du Gévaudan: L'innocence des loups (The Beast of Gévaudan: The innocence of wolves). The beast may have been a wolfdog, according to the TV show Animal X . Wolf-dog hybrids were usually noted as not sharing their wolf parent's fear of man and it would have also been quite trainable, perhaps lending further credence to the reports that the Beast was seen in the company of a human.

Some have suggested that a male lion imported from Africa was responsible, and this was the explanation used in the film Brotherhood of the Wolf. Proponents of this theory have noted how there are similarities between a male lion and contemporary drawings of the beast. Critics have argued that the local people would have recognized and identified a lion, due to the fact that lions had appeared on various coat of arms at the time.

I think it's really interesting.

Wayne's World

So, though a recommendation, I tried something new today. In my office, I listened to a movie! It was tres awesome! I listened to Wayne's world. It was party time as well as excellent. Check it out at www.listentoamovie.com

Invasion, White Noise 2

Okay, i said I'd review the movies I watched this weekend, so here goes:

Invasion, starring Nicole Kidman. It was good overall, I really was grossed out (in a good way) by how the invasion was spread. The arrival of the invasion on earth was incredibly believable. I liked most, I think, the science content in the movie. The rest of it I found mostly to be too heavy handed with it's message about passion and emotion and it's consequences. The acting waas good on all parts and I thought the costuming was excellent. When Nicole Kidman gets more tired and disheveled, it's authentic.

White Noise 2, I wanted to see for two reasons. The whole concept of EVP (electronic voice phenomenon) really intrigues me. Also, it had Nathan Fillion. I'm all for that. I need a little Mal viewing now and then. This movie really fell short on that first reason. They basically discuss EVP briefly in the beginning and then go ahead with a concept loosely based on that, but eventually more like Final Destination. The first one was way better.

Meet the Spartans

So, tonight we saw it. It was funny. The best part in my opinion was Kevin Sorbo playing the captain. He was hilarious, plus it was funny seeing Dylan Hunt/Hercules in a comedy. I think I've got the music settled with the organist, and all it took was FOREVER! I had my hair done today. I love it. It's a dark red, and it's just beautiful. It was EXPENSIVE. Lots of all caps tonight, hmmmm. I spent 4 hours at the salon and we spent $258. I got color, cut, highlights, and practice style. She made it match the extension perfectly. I really do like it, but it's a lot of money to spend regularly. So, I'm feeling pretty good tonight, so YAY! Soon, I'll let you all in my thoughts about Queen Latifah and Jenny Craig.

Movie Night

Last night Jason and I watched 2 movies. First we watched The Fountain with Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz. It was confusing, because it was 3/2 stories all at the same time. One in the past, one in the present and one who knows where. It was okay, kind of frustrating to try and figure out, because there was a whole spirituality element that you were so unsure if was inside his head, in the book she had written, or in reality. It was very visually pleasing. I read about the effects on IMDb, and they weren't cgi, they were all done with photographic effects. It was okay, but not thrilling.

Then we put in half of the Quentin Tarantino Grindhouse. It was Death Proof. The concept of the first half of the movie was that this guy, stuntman Mike was a killer. He had a car that had been "death proofed" by stuntmen, so he could wreck it and live. I won't spoil the end but it was a little confusing. I'm not sure I can say I'm a total fan of Tarantino. I loved the Kill Bills, but nothing else so far has made me jump for joy. I still want to see the other half of Grindhouse.

Monday and More!

It's Monday. Sure is. My fingers are FREEZING! I don't know why I'm so cold this morning. It's supposed to really start heating up around now. I'm here at work after a fun (and busy) weekend.

On Friday night, we went to see The Nanny Diaries. I loved the book, but I didn't like the movie. None of it had any depth, and I was kinda bored. We should have seen Balls of Fury instead. The acting was fine, and I liked the nature guide kind of asides, but the movie in general was just, eh. I'd give it 2 out of four stars. I didn't actively dislike it, but I didn't enjoy it either.

The last book I read (okay, listened to) was Mister Monday by Garth Nix. I really really enjoyed Lirael, Sabriel, and Abhorsen, but this wasn't as good. It was good, I listened and I liked it, but not his very best work. I felt the same about the one before that, The Prophet of Yonwood. I liked the two previous, City of Ember and People of Sparks, but this one wasn't as good! I'm looking for the next one, someone recommend me something!

So, back on track, Saturday, we got up early and went to get my new wheel. We got it, they took the old one but didn't give me anything for it. Then we took it to the tire place. While we were waiting for it to be done, we went to one cake shop, and freaked the woman out with our pictures. She said she would have to "think a lot about this one". Yeah, we're not going back. For those of you that don't know, we want our wedding cake to look like the original pagoda at the speedway. (look up) I think it might be a little hard to find someone to make it for us. We are going to a bridal show this weekend. Maybe there will be someone there to do it.

After the cake shop, we went back to the tire place and picked up my car! It's all better. Yay!!!!! Then we went to the grocery. Bought stuff for us, and stuff for a barbecue! We got home, and then went right back out to go to goodwill and walmart looking for a table. Goodwill had NOTHING that was appropriate and cheap enough, but we found one at walmart. Then we got oil for the cars and went home!

Larson came over and he and Jason changed the oil in all of the cars. Steve, Rachel and the boys came over. Then, we fired up the grill and had:

corn
grill fries
bacon wrapped stuffed jalapenos
giant shrimp
beer brats
chicken
all kinds of random stuff
smores

I'm still stuffed. It was really good.

Sunday we went over to my Mom's and cleaned out gutters. Gross. I hate those gutters.

Helooooo

Still here, I'm still a little sick. I think it's getting better though. I spent all day yesterday at a training session. Not the most riveting stuff, but not a waste of time either. No update on the bad stuff, still waiting for my appointment.

I'm still trying to read the newest Laurell K Hamilton. I usually love her, but Harlequin has just failed to grab my attention. I think it's on the cusp though, I didn't want to stop reading this morning.

We went to see Stardust this past weekend. I loved it. I'd like to see it again. Jason thinks Claire Danes has huge mutant eyes. I just liked it and thought it was under-loved by the critics/public.

I guess that's it, until I get inspiration.