http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070725/ap_on_fe_st/death_cat

Posted by vegetable at 12:05 PM | Permalink

but this one is won't because it is hooked on coffee.

Posted by vegetable at 11:39 AM | Permalink

Hey everyone. I just finished the new and final book in the series i have waited a whole 4 months to finish reading (it felt like FOREVER!). what are your thoughts?

my questions/comments are below -- don't click unless you're already done!

whom do you think Rowling 'spared'? She claims someone was originally supposed to die but didn't. I thought maybe it was Hagrid or Draco. But the scene where Mrs. Weasley goes after Bellatrix suggests that maybe Ginny was supposed to die? (sure, she was upset about Fred, but it reads almost as if ginny were struck down). Do you think Harry was the one that was spared? it seems like he was meant to live, though. the ending was so complicated, but the scenes after he talks to dumbledore in King's Cross don't seem like a lame attempt to get around his death. even though they essentially are.

A number of characters seemed criminally ignored in this one, particularly Ginny, but also Hagrid & even Snape. Of course, that is a result of the limited 3rd person POV Rowling has been using throughout all of the books. It was kinda a shame to have all of that friend/foe bullshit in book 6 and then have nothing at all through book 7 until Snape's final scene. there wasn't much to further the debate. although i guess the debate really just needed to end.

I was not surprised by Snape's loyalty. it was pretty clear that he had a thing for Lily. I really thought Snape was present at her death (i'm STILL not sure how anyone knows what happened the night of the Potters' murder). also -- Snape did NOTHING to protect the students at hogwart's. is that because he was annoyed with Dumbledore's final secret (that they were protecting potter so he could die?). if snape was that annoyed, why did he even bother helping with the whole sword dealy? confusing.

All of the background info on Dumbledore was really interesting. it gave the book a bit of a slower pace in the first half, though. i like that the final book threw Dumbledore into doubt, although book 5 had a bit of that as well. i liked the 'twist' where Harry had to die because he had part of Voldemort's soul (although I also thought that was telegraphed in book 6).

I'd say the biggest surprises were all the deaths, some of which just seemed unnecessary. did dobby really need to die? tonks & lupin seemed silly deaths as well. mad eye was a surprise, only because it was so early. Hedwig was also a shock. i wasn't saddened by fred's death. i figured one of the weasley's would go. laura and i suspected it would be one of the parents. i was also surprised that the malfoy's all survived. i mean, his dad really should have been killed. voldemort seemed reluctant to kill him even though he and his son sucked at being death eaters. how many times did Lucius screw up? like, forty?

i thought the final hiding place of the crown was a bit lame. after all the trouble he went through to hide the others, the room of requirement seemed silly. how could he have thought that he was the only one who knew about the room when it was FILLED with stuff other students had hidden through the years? i mean, come on.

did the book really have to feel like the lord of the rings? i was waiting for Ron to start whining about the precious around his neck before he stormed off only to return. plus there's the whole 'destroy the powerful magic object by going into the most dangerous place ever' storyline. but whatever. it wasn't a complete ripoff. it just felt like similar with the horcrux things.

i wish cho had died. i hated her.

was the denoument as short as it felt? this is the final book in a series and we get a short walk where the kids talk to eachother and then harry says he's tired? that's it? no hagrid? not sure what i expected -- and the epilogue clearly takes care of the 'friends forever' shit. but the lack of hagrid in the last 3 books was odd.

didn't it seem really pointless that ron and hermione went to the chamber of secrets and brought back all of the basilisk teeth? and was Neville using the fake sword or the real one when he killed Nagani? and if it was the real one, why didn't Ron & hermione just use it instead of getting the teeth? and if it was the fake one, how did it actually kill the snake? or did the snake not have the same indestructible properties as the other horcruxes because it was a living thing? [EDIT: I was informed by a fellow Potter reader that the sword appeared out of the sorting hat, so it was the real deal. prior to that, rom & hermione needed the teeth. so that's one less hole.]

jeez -- the more i think about this, the more holes i see. which isn't necessarily a new problem for these books. but damn. you'd think someone would have pointed these out to her.

Posted by vegetable at 2:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Does anyone know anyplace around here that is breaking street date on HP7? I hear that some places are selling it already in New York, and I am wondering if anyone has seen it around here.

Speaking of which, I may have to avoid the internet for the next few days. I am afraid of running into spoilers accidentally.

Posted by Victoria at 9:40 AM | Permalink

Rise and fall of a comic genius

As The Simpsons prepare to hit the big screen, TV critic and former fan Ian Jones explains why he fell out of love with Homer and co

Thursday July 12, 2007
The Guardian

Symbol of decline... The Simpsons Movie.

So now we know. Springfield, Vermont, has been named official home of The Simpsons. For this month, that is. The Simpsons Movie, it has just been announced, will get its world premiere there on July 21. The Vermont venue beat 13 other identically named US towns in the competition to host the event, having had to prove how similar they were to the fictional Springfield inhabited by America's number one animated family. Vermont citizens clinched the prize with their own video, in which a Homer lookalike gets pursued through the streets by a giant runaway pink doughnut. Having a nuclear plant nearby no doubt helped the town's bid.

It's the kind of stunt that would fit perfectly into the show. Which is precisely the problem. The Simpsons of today revels in big, stupid antics, one-note gags and obvious plot twists. The Simpsons of yesteryear, however, was a different beast, one that would have found no room for over-sized pastries pursuing characters along sidewalks. That's why it's hard to greet the arrival of the movie with whoops of excitement. If it's anything like the current TV show, this will be one of the greatest misfires in spin-off history.
You can almost hear the panic in the voice of The Simpsons' creator Matt Groening. The film will be "deliberately imperfect". It contains "everything we couldn't show on television". His co-producer Al Jean has even boasted that "if you've never heard of The Simpsons, you can enjoy the film". They know expectation is sky-high, even for something that's been 15 years (yes, 15!) in the pipeline. So why the need to qualify the film with so many caveats and premature apologies? Could it be that they know, deep down, The Simpsons is but a shade of what it used to be?

Once, it was the greatest show on TV. Every episode was brimming with imagination, excitement and some of the sharpest one-liners to come out of America for decades. But above all it was smart: The Simpsons knew how to parry crudity with intelligence blow for blow. Bart's big-haired nemesis Sideshow Bob stepping on a rake nine times would be followed up with a surreal two-minute performance of HMS Pinafore. Homer lobbing a lookalike of himself over a waterfall would be followed by a reference to Walt Whitman's collection of poems, Leaves and Grass. This was dizzyingly intelligent, daring, exhilarating stuff. For every burp gag came an arch pop-culture reference. For every time Homer fell down the stairs or Bart got strangled, we had a nifty TV parody or sly political dig.

And it kept on coming, week after week. An entire generation didn't understand it. George Bush senior, then US president, even wished aloud that American families could be more like the Waltons than the Simpsons. A massive rift opened up between those who "got" The Simpsons and those who hated it. You chose your side carefully. To be a Simpsons fan was truly one of the most privileged things in the world.

Then it all changed. A new guard took over and ripped up the rules. Veterans of the show with pedigrees on venerated US comedy institutions like Saturday Night Live and The Tonight Show - Jon Vitti, George Meyer, John Schwartzwelder - either departed or went part-time. In came writers who had cut their teeth on sappy teen comedies like Blossom and unsophisticated knockabouts like Beavis and Butt-Head. A looser, lazier sensibility took hold, given free rein by new executive producer Mike Scully. And the show became stupid.

You can even put a date on it: 1997, in the early episodes of the ninth series, where the head of Bart's school, Principal Skinner, was suddenly, arbitrarily revealed to be an impostor, and his entire life to date had been a lie. Come again? A major character in a long-running series gets unmasked as a fraud? It was cheap, idle storytelling.

This was just the start. The show went on to jettison all interest in pretending to have earthy, avuncular roots: the warm, good-natured centre that, when you scraped away the multi-layered jokes and cerebral grandstanding, had been there from day one was obliterated. No longer did we see the family bonding, caring for each other, showing emotion. Instead, it was anything goes.

Plots swung sickeningly from one cliche to another. Jokes arrived out of the blue for no reason. No attempt was made to cling to reality. Now Homer would end up in new employment six or seven times a series. To date, he's held 118 (and counting) jobs, from missionary to garbage commissioner to grease salesman to fortune cookie writer, which wouldn't be such a damning statistic had almost none of them been particularly funny.

True, a long-running series has to evolve. Nobody would expect Simpsons episodes to still be solely about Lisa getting a pony or Bart failing a school exam. But, in the second decade of its life, The Simpsons evolved into a dreadfully predictable monster. With each new series came the same questions. Which foreign country will the family just happen to end up visiting this time? Which pop star will the family just happen to encounter while there? And what unsubtle bit of physical violence will Homer be subjected to en route? Contract leprosy, perhaps; get raped by a panda; or maybe get his head trapped between two halves of a lowering drawbridge?

This was change all right, but change as an excuse for idiocy. It was desperately disheartening for those who cherished and loved the show's early years. Watching Homer hold forth on the topless women he'd seen on holiday in Florida, or Marge accidentally getting breast implants, you wanted everything to be revealed as a huge wind-up, or a cunning satire on trashy TV. But there was no hidden agenda. What you saw was what you got: a base, repetitive, unfunny cartoon.

And now, off the back of such a catastrophic decline, the movie has arrived. Is it too much to hope that it will, despite everything, turn out to be confoundingly brilliant? The omens don't look good. The trailers have majored in physical violence, including Homer getting repeatedly battered by a wrecking ball. And the publicity machine has been grinding away, humiliating into submission anyone who dares doubt the staying power of a show that's clocked up 400 episodes.

One thing's for sure. It's not the momentous occasion it would have been had the film come out when first planned. It's too late for that now. Indeed, with Channel 4 burying new episodes of The Simpsons on Sunday afternoons, rather than showing them at peak-time on Friday nights as originally promised, it might be too late for the TV show as well.

The residents of Springfield, Vermont, may soon be ruing that giant pink doughnut.

Posted by vegetable at 11:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The New York Times had an article yesterday about the demand for calorie counts to be given on menus at restaurants. New York City apparently passed a law requiring calorie counts in "some restaurants," that will start to be enforced this coming October.

Do you think this is a good idea? If you knew the calorie counts in food at restaurants, would it affect what you ordered?

Posted by Victoria at 1:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Rob, Mike, and I went hiking Saturday morning, in lieu of our semi-regular gym session. We went to one of the Pennsylvania state parks.

00:15
This is great! It's a beautiful day, nice and sunny, but not humid or too hot. The trail is really pretty. There's so much green, it's refreshing. When we pick the trail, Rob jokes that following it was "the first mistake" on our road to being killed by serial killers that horror movies have taught us live in the woods. There is mention of the Blair Witch. We muse that, according to the Scream metric, none of us will make it out alive.

00:30
I should probably have had something more for breakfast than just two slices of rye toast. I feel a little hungry.

00:45
Is this trail all uphill? Is that even possible? Mike says it's the M.C. Escher trail.

1:00
Now it's hot. My back is all sweaty. Rob and Mike - innocently, so they say - start to discuss if we had to resort to cannibalism, that they would eat me first, since I am the youngest and an "herbivore" so I'm bound to be the most tender. Rob starts asking for "mendallions de Vicki." Mike pinches me to check how tender my glutes are.

1:15
We are completely lost. More jokes about being lured to our demise. Mike says that he hears a strange noise in the woods, and maybe we should split up to investigate. When we finally find the trail again, and a map showing us where we are, we are disheartened to find that we are not even halfway through. Who chose this trail anyway?

1:30
Mike and Rob discuss a proposed trip backpacking in the Grand Canyon, where you have to train for weeks in advance to break in your boots and get used to carrying 40 pounds of equipment. I tell them they can drop me off at a spa for the week.

1:45
Hikers approach us from the opposite direction. Rob whispers, "It's the Others."

2:00
We are lost again. We start looking for edible berries or vegetation in case we never make it out of the woods. Cannibalism isn't looking that bad.

2:15
When we find our way again, we decide to take a short cut of the trail to get back to the car. Our moods are dropping along with our blood sugar levels.

2:30
My car is a haven of air conditioning and seating options. The next order of business is to find a restaurant as quickly as possible.

2:45
When the first place we stop - a pretentious "tavern" - refuses us entry because the boys are in tank tops, I briefly consider mass carnage, but decide it would take precious time away from finding food.

3:00
We end up at a place that is slightly nicer than fast food. I can't tell if the food is really delicious, or if I am just so hungry that anything would taste wonderful.

3:15
Mike tries to get us to go again next week.

Posted by Victoria at 4:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

so, here's a review with spoilers, since all of us have read the books, i believe. if not, tough luck.

oh, and i realize that my opinion is in the toilet because of the whole children of men thing. all i can say is: shut the hell up.

Laura and I saw the film last night. and so did a 2 year old. and about 300 other people who crammed into the Lowes Cherry Hill (the finest cinema in Cherry Hill). The 2-year-old voiced it's disgust with the film about half way through. fortunately, it's mother decided to walk it all the way across the front of the auditorium before commanding it to 'walk up the steps!' right next to me. had the child been 3, i might have kicked it's mother. but a 2-year-old doesn't need to see that shit. of course, maybe it was 3. can a 2 year old walk?

anyway. the film.

i enjoyed the film. it's certainly lacking every secondary plot from the book. Sirius doesn't stomp around, whining about how he's not helping the order. the house-troll "kreatcher" doesn't end up revealing the location of the house (which I thought was a major event in the novel, but whatever.) the battle with the death eaters and the kids at the end is more coherent than the book (no brain-suckers and running through doorways) but still just as silly (seriously -- "stupify!" is shouted out 15 times. and the deatheaters aren't doing anything to defend themselves. until the Order of the Pheonix shows up and they have all sorts of cool spells. ridiculous! they are DEATH EATERS. they shouldn't be that easily knocked around. )

the film really lacks the great banter between the 3 main characters. it's sorely lacking in this one. and part of that is the book's fault -- harry is so ANGRY the whole time. But in the film, he's not angry for as long. in fact, he's pretty much over his spat with ron and hermione about the whole 'you knew about the order and i didn't' stuff about 30 minutes into the movie.

but once they are all friends, there is literally one scene where they have the kind of friendship we've come to enjoy through the books and the movies. (there are 2-3 brief moments where ron & hermione talk/flirt, and harry does get to kiss Cho, but there's no chemistry between anyone).

Ultimately, it's fun and there's less of the recapping that the other films seem to do. but the reduction of the secondary storylines really leaves the movie with nothing much to do and plenty of time to do it. one of the great things about the film is dolores umbridge. she's great. in fact, probably the best performance in any of the films. she really steals every scene she's in. although, their her scenes, so she can't steal them. snape is usually the one that's THIS good -- where he owns the character and you couldn't imagine anyone else playing him. she's actually worth the price of admission, and is used enough that it's worth it. snape is only in 2 scenes in this one and i was surprised, but pleased, that they included the scene where harry sees snape's memories. of course, there's little time/room for harry to lament his father's assholeishness, but whatever. maybe the next movie will get more emo.

Again -- i actually enjoyed it, but I can see how it would be viewed as less textured. there's 1 moment between harry & malfoy, and that's in the beginning. hargid shows up about 30 minutes before the end with his half-brother, quickly explains where he's been, and then 15 minutes later the kids are back in the woods with Dolores and she's gone. if i hadn't read the book i would scream plot device. but i guess there was just no way to do the ending without hagrid's half-brother. still, they could have brought them back sooner, added another scene with the kids feeding him, and then it would have seemed a bit less of a deus ex machina (alright, so it's not technically a deus ex machina, but you get the point).

the directing was pretty good. i felt that the opening sequence with the dementors and Harry's annoying cousin was done really well and set the tone for the film. there were some great tense moments with voldemort trying to scare harry in his dreams and in real life. the fight between Voldemort and Dumbledor is amazing. when voldemort is trying to take over harry's body after the fight, well that was a bit silly. it didn't translate well (there are some shots of voldemort just 'posing' that, i guess, are taking place in Harry's mind? they were dumb.)

the cinematography has moments of inventiveness, too. also, the school looked great, with flourishes in all the right places and consistency where we'd notice (the dining hall looks the same, as do the moving stairs, but the room of necessity was fantastic as was the ministry of magic).

Ultimately, i enjoyed it more than the first 2 (which were done by Chris Columbus and therefore are really boring, but i guess work as simple kids movies), but considering the amount of material there was to work with, i was surprised that it felt less textured than the last one, which itself had been reduced to simply a string of competitions. but at least there was some Quidditch in there. i can't say which is my favorite because i kinda have an issue with 3, 4 & 5 that prevents me from watching them over and over. (3 has that whole time travel thing that makes the ending repetitive; 4 has a really basic structure that seems cramped in the 2nd half.)

Anyway. let me know what you all think when you get a chance to see it!

Posted by vegetable at 6:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

TORONTO — Canada announced plans Monday to increase its Arctic military presence in an effort to assert sovereignty over the Northwest Passage _ a potentially oil-rich region the United States claims is international territory.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said six to eight patrol ships will guard what he says are Canadian waters. A deep water port will also be built in a region the U.S. Geological Survey estimates has as much as 25 percent of the world's undiscovered oil and gas.

"Canada has a choice when it comes to defending our sovereignty over the Arctic. We either use it or lose it. And make no mistake, this government intends to use it," Harper said. "It is no exaggeration to say that the need to assert our sovereignty and protect our territorial integrity in the North on our terms have never been more urgent."

U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins has criticized Harper's promise to defend the Arctic, claiming the Northwest Passage as "neutral waters." But Wilkins declined to comment on Monday, said U.S. Embassy spokesman James Foster.

What is this country coming to....God dam you Bush
for more click here http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20070709/canada-arctic-sovereignty/

Posted by Buddy at 12:41 PM | Permalink

Posted by Buddy at 11:31 AM | Permalink

I am the proud new owner of prescription sunglasses, a move I felt I had to make since I have been refusing to wear my contacts now for about five years.

It is impossible to convey exactly how huge (and impractical) this shiny red case is. It's like the size of a small Japanese car. How am I supposed to fit this in a purse?

Not that I would actually have gotten them, but my optometrist ruled out my getting the huge, fashionable glasses that are in style now, because my prescription is so bad, the lenses would have had to be super thick. Mike jokes that my glasses are so thick, I can use them to kill ants by focusing the sun's rays. When I told him I was concerned because I thought my prescription had gotten worse, he said, "To what? Seeing-eye dog?"

You can kind of see how fat the lens is here.

These seem to working well, but the front part is so heavy, that they tend to slip down my nose a lot.

How come I haven't heard any discussion yet of the most pressing issue of the day: when are we going to see the new Harry Potter movie??

Posted by Victoria at 7:24 AM | Permalink

Have you guys seen this Wii Fit thing? It looks kind of crazy - click here for Nintendo's promotional video.

Posted by Victoria at 9:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

So, last week, a bunch of us had nothing to do, and despite everyone's insistence that they didn't want to see a downer movie, we found ourselves at the Theater Formerly Known as the Ritz, watching "Sicko" (I'm not going to attempt the funky capitalization). Although I was annoyed with the endless, fake-surprised repetitions of, "It's totally free?!?" questions to citizens of other countries, and the Cuba thing came off as totally staged, there was no denying that everyone left the theater plotting to move to Canada as quickly as could possibly be arranged. Yes, the health care system in this country does suck mightily, and there was also that added twist of the knife of six weeks guaranteed vacation time in the European countries. Kick us while we are down.

In that spirit, I have added a link to the Michael Moore "Get Involved" page on the sidebar, and I hope everyone will sign the petition for free universal health care. I'm not too optimistic that this will work, but it's nice to feel like you have done something.

In the news today:

• you can read about Ed Rendell's problems trying to reform health care in Pennsylvania
• Rob seems to think we are moving closer to the days of nuclear-powered cars (I think he is just hoping for a Batmobile instead of a broken fuel pump)
• go to Stereogum and download OKX - they commissioned their favorite bands to cover all of OK Computer to mark its tenth anniversary. In other news, OK Computer is ten years old, holy shit. I think I was working at Borders when it came out.
• making Jersey look bad yet again, a man erects a windmill in his backyard, which, combined with 56 solar panels, reduces his electricity bill to $114 a year - and neighbors sue to make him take it down.
• one of my favorite opera singers may have shot himself in the head. And with an air rifle! Is it even possible to kill yourself with an air rifle? I guess we will find out - he is not expected to live.

Posted by Victoria at 9:22 PM | Permalink

How have I refrained from posting myself as a Simpsons character until now?

I made this last week - you can make one too at the Simpsons Movie website. It seems to be one of the only parts of the site that is actually working.

And yes, I am wearing anti-food chain propaganda.

Posted by Victoria at 3:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The answer: Newport, RI.

When my friend suggested we take a short road trip over the July 4th weekend, I thought of going up to Newport, where the rich and famous from the late 19th century spent the summer seasons in their huge mansions. I just finished the biography of Alva and Consuelo Vanderbilt that came out last year.

Marble House, the Vanderbilt's "cottage"

Alva Vanderbilt's Chinese teahouse

The Breakers, the mansion of another family of Vanderbilts

The veranda at The Breakers

In addition to huge mansions, Newport also had really great light. At sunset, it turned everything pastel shades. It looked like it had been painted by that really horrible painter who has those stores in the mall.

Rich people still live in Newport. For example, in this house.

Newport also has some damn fine seafood, according to Kris, who partakes of such things.

I think this is the New York Yacht Club

Newport is well-known for good restaurants, so I had researched ahead of time some places to go. I wanted to visit a famous old diner, but it had been knocked down last year. A Tim Horton's now stands in its place.

We did find the Blue Plate Diner, which I liked for its oddly pointy silverware, and the fact that it had Diner City's Ten Commandments painted on its walls.

P.S. Today is Mike's birthday, so leave him happy birthday comments.

Posted by Victoria at 3:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

So, Rob is trying to claim that Children of Men is one of the best films from the past ten years (see his comment to my last entry). I respect Rob. I think he's a good person. He has good taste in music, human beings, and movies. Usually. But to suggest that Children of Men is one of the best movies in the past ten years is wackiness on top of ludicrousness.

So here's a list of 22 movies from the past 10 years that are better than CoM:
Deuce Bigalow, Male Gigalow
Mr. Deeds
Phantasm IV
all 18 movies starring Steven Seagal from 1997-2007 -- http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0000219/
Herbie: Fully Loaded

but seriously....

30 movies off the top of my head (and off of wikipedia) from the past 10 years that are easily better than CoM:

Pan's Labrynth. this movie did NOT suck. Beautiful. Sad. actual characterization. good acting, even by a ten year old (i'm guessing her age). This is what a good movie should have. Plus I just watched it and it washed the taste of last night's awfulness out of my mouth.

Now a list with no comments:
Oh Brother Wear Art Thou?
Amelie
Fight Club
The Big Lebowski
Magnolia
Boogie Nights
The Insider
Hot Fuzz
Shaun of the Dead
Memento
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Requiem for a Dream
Amores Perros
Zodiac
Finding Neverland
Capote
Office Space
Affliction
Lost Highway
The Ice Storm
Seven Years in Tibet
Beloved
Gods and Monsters
He Got Game
The Truman Show
Bowfinger
Being John Malkovich
Jesus' Son
The Talented Mr. Ripley

Do i even need to go on? I stopped during the 1999 page from Wikipedia (the newer ones were off the top of my head). this list could get to 100 before there's a movie that CoM can compete with.

[on a related note, 1998 was a fucking HORRIBLE year for movies:
Meet Joe Black, Species II, Odd Couple II, The Patriot, Patch Adams, You've Got Mail -- oh the horror!]

Posted by vegetable at 10:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

i call shenanigans on this tripe.

the wife and i finally rented it and, while Laura enjoyed it, i was completely disappointed. and the more i think about it, the more i hate it. i was expecting something much more profound and a lot less heavy-handed. there were a couple of well-done scenes (the escape from Luke & co at the compound and the final scene where Clive Owens just walks into the hospital to get Kee). the cinematography was great -- easily the best part of the film. but the acting stank and the script was a hack-job -- both things ensured that there was no characterization whatsoever.

the girl who played Kee SUCKED. she sucked so much that i hated her within 3 minutes of her appearing. (and seriously, why does her character have to be a hooker? that's such a fucking cop-out of characterization. "who was the father?" "i didn't remember any of their names." please.)

Owens has no emotion and his character is absolutely boring. He sacrifices nothing and has no real motivation to help. there's talk about him needing the money, but they never show him needing the money. and he is pretty much on board (because, what does he have in his life? oh, i don't know. because they show nothing of his life.) but he says no just so the movie can be 10 minutes longer.

i find it shockingly dull and silly that Julianne Moore's character contacts him after 20 years. HE's the only one she can trust to get transit papers? sure, as it turns out, she was double-crossed (and that bullshit was broadcast from a mile away BY THE VERY FACT THAT SHE ONLY TRUSTED CLIVE OWENS'S CHARACTER. clearly she knew something was afoot). but come on -- their history is summed up in one outburst on a bus with the horrid line: "you don't have a monopoly on sorrow" or was it "grief"? well, there's a SUICIDAL TENDENCIES song called "monopoly on sorrow" so maybe that's why i'm confused.

the ending might have been a bit better if the boat didn't show up. (just like if AI had ended with the boy underwater). of course, the fact that the dumbassidly named HUMAN PROJECT is never explained suggests that maybe the girl and her child are ground up and sold as Lil Lisa's Magic Slurry once they are rescued. i was half-expecting "What the world needs now is love sweet love" to play while the credits rolled. that's how empty this movie felt. retarded teenagers can write dystopian stories. it takes something more than that to make a story interesting. (apparently there were 5 credited writers on this, so i guess 5 retarded teenagers can write a dystopian film).

maybe i was just looking for something ballsy to come from the film instead of a scattered, predictable movie with flat characters. ok, killing julianne moore was kinda ballsy. but the rate at which characters conveniently get out of the way through the movie ruins the impact of her death. and that abu grahb shot was dumb.

anyway. that movie sucked.

oh. and spoiler alert. as if a shitty movie can be spoiled.

Posted by vegetable at 10:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)