Summer Movie Madnss Part I'un

So...I see a lot of movies during the summer. Here I'm going to tell you what I think of them. I've placed them roughly in the order I saw them. WARNING: I'll probably ruin the plots of some. Sorry.

The Davinci Code - I'm a firm believer in the idea that how much you expect from a movie greatly affects what you get out of it. This movie I expected to be garbage. I mean, it is an adaptation of a mystery novel and most mystery novels are garbage, so...yea. I expected nothing. I just wanted to see what everyone else was so excited about. However because I anticipated so little, I walked out of the movie theater thinking "that wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be" while everyone who had been looking forward to it left pissed off.

M:i:III - What can I say about this one? I thought it'd be horrible. What sequel of a sequel isn't? Really my bf and I only went to see how crazy Tom Cruise had gotten (he did all his own stunts in the movie and judging by those I'd say he's gotten pretty freaking looney. sane people don't jump off buildings). But again, this movie wasn't that bad. It wasn't great, but it was fine for what it was. There was plenty of action, the plot was pretty good, and there were even a few "twists." Nothing to complain about.

Ice Age 2: The Meltdown - Yes, I enjoy watching a prehistoric squirrel chase a nut for two hours. Oh, the vultures were pretty good too. Seriously, though. I liked it. Feel good, but still funny and entertaining.

X-Men: The Last Stand - Brett Ratner what have you done to my beloved x-men? seriously dude, you fucked it up. I mean, I assumed this movie was going to be bad as soon as I saw the preview and realized it was trying to do the phoenix, apocalypse/cure, and mutant wars sagas all at the same time, but I was prepared to watch it anyway cus I love the x-men. I'd be happy as long as I saw them, so I assumed. But no, this movie was just bad. It brought up a bunch of characters that it didn't develop or portray accurately, the fight scenes were consistently anti-climactic, and the plot was both simplistic and muddled. The best part of the movie was the very end (magneto and the chess set and the scene after the credits) and thats always sad.

An Inconvenient Truth - The most entertaining and scariest slideshow I've ever seen. Love Al Gore. Wish he'd run in '08. Hate stupid businesspeople that like to pretend that creating an unliveable environment is worth the money they make doing it. Nuff said.

Superman Returns - GREAT movie. 2 thumbs up and a big juicy kiss to Bryan Singer. There was action, there was romance, there was drama, there was comedy, 3-dimensional characters, great villain, good acting, good scenery, great plot...what more could i ask for? Now, admittedly, I'm a bit bias. I love superman. But because I loved the old Christopher Reeves movies, I was afriad for this one. There was so much potential to fuck it up. But they didnt. Kevin Spacey made a great, evil, genius, businessman, revenge-crazed, coldblooded, cutthroat Lex Luthor. Brandon Routh (eerily and wonderfully reeve-ish) was everything superman should be: smooth, confident, capable, handsome AND everything clark kent needs to be: bumbling, clumsy, awkward, nerdy. Kudos to both of them. GREAT ending by the way. I look forward to the sequels.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - Now, this was a case of me expecting too much. I was excited for this movie. I loved the first one and anticipated a sequel judging by the ending of the original. But this movie was just bad. Plot was flimsy and unresolved. The CGI was over the top and didn't come off looking good. The fight scenes were dissapointing. The villain was and main gimmick of the movie were just not as cool as I think Disney thought they were. The best part of the movie was Johnny depp's performace (and even that didn't save it for me, which is pretty sad cus I love him). But again, I expected too much. I expected a sequel, forgetting that Pirates of the Caribbean is a trilogy and therefore, this is not a sequel so much as filler before movie #1 and #3. Doh well. I still look forward to the next one.

A Scanner Darkly - Not bad at all. I liked the rotoscoping technique. I liked the plot. Interesting characters. I think i'll read the book now.

Lady in the Water - I read and heard a lot of bad reviews of this movie, but I liked it. I think the people that didn't just didn't go into it with the proper expectations. M. Knight has repeatedly said...this is a fairytale I tell my children, so you should've believed him and expected a fairytale. A traditional one, like the Grimm or the Hans Christian Anderson ones. You know, the ones that are dark and scary with morals but not-so-happy endings. And for a fairytale, this was a great movie. Had the whole good and evil thing going on. Had the whole everything and everyone has a purpose thing (which is also one of M. Knight's recurring themes as well as a fairytale theme.) Also had at least one twist (wouldn't be a Shyamalan flick without one). I really respect M. Knight Shyamalan's ability to create a totally original bedtime story (albeit a nightmare inducing one). I also love how the movie kept calling attention to its artificiality (i.e. "this is just like a scene in a horror movie"). Also, this was a lot funnier than most of most of M Knight's movie. And at the same time, still scary, still serious. I love his ability to sway the crowd from laughter to tears to feel good. Thats the mark of a good story and a good storyteller. As always, kudos to M. Knight.

Big Brother Says

I've always enjoyed pessimistic, paranoid writers. In fact, some of my favorite stories are those depicting dismal futuristic distopias. You know: 1984, Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World, Anthem, A Clockwork Orange, V for Vendetta, etc. The worlds they depict are depressing and creepy, because they resemble our own. They show us how easily democracy can slip into something more sinister and that ease is frightening. But these tales are, in the end, relieving. They allow us to say things like "that's only fiction" and "our government/country/world is not that bad.

...Or at least they used to. Now a days, I don't feel so reassured. Everyday I increasing feel as though the only thing we can honestly say anymore is "Our government/country/world is not that bad yet."

The Patriot Act
War, lies, false pretenses
Secret Prisons
Torture
NSA Wiretapping
Internet and Phone Companies being forced to hand over consumer/client records
Financial tracking
Proposed amendment DENYING citizens rights (Gay marriage ban) - it would be the first such amendment
Reporters arrested for not revealing sources
Attempt to ban flag burning (the most paradoxical thing ever seeing as how burning a flag is an expression of the freedom the flag is meant to represent)
And on, and on, and on...

And now, THIS.

Treason? Really? Treason? WTF. Seriously, What The Fuck. Treason and Democracy cannot logically co-exist. Just so everyone remembers:

AMENDMENT #1
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

I.E. in our country, people and the press are free to think, believe, and say whatever the hell they want. dissent is not only legal, it is the cornerstone of our democracy. if the US government wants to start throwing the word treason at people who are speaking an acknowledged truth, then it might as well be honest and admit we no longer live in a democracy (if anyone believes we ever did, that is).

WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

the fact that one could effectively argue that any of those slogans are our government's right now has completly ruind my love of sci-fi dystopias. thanks a lot, America.