Category Archives: Movies

Still Hanging In There

Gaming, General, Movies

Well I see that it has been quite some time since I last updated ye olde blog. I have been busy working on other things and really haven’t had a whole lot to chat about. But now it’s November and we are heading into the final quarter of 2004, a year that will live in gaming infamy. So many new games are coming out that it is impossible to afford list them all.

Last week I mosied down to the cheapo dollar movie theater to check out Spiderman 2. I was thoroughly impressed. That is a must-buy when it comes out on DVD. By the way I am seriously behind on my movies. Some awesome ones came out this year. I will make it a goal to see The Incredibles before I forget because that sounds like one awesome movie.

Well that about wraps up the interesting stuff that has been going on. I am working on a new website and as soon as I can get it to the point of not sucking I might use it instead of this fine blog.

Summer

Doom, General, Movies

Wow, summer is here already. That’s neato.

I finally got to see the new Harry Potter movie, if you’ve read my review (see below). I was really tired when I wrote it, so it may not make a lot of sense, but hopefully it conveys my opinion that it really is an awesome movie. I was reading an article at Salon.com written by the cinematographer. Some really hard work went into that film.

In other news, my news script is coming along. I am going to be working on the news part of it next, followed by the comments. It is still quite a ways off, but I hope to get it scraped together enough to do a public beta-test. Something I am worried about is the speed of the MySQL server and PHP. We’ll just have to see what kind of optimizing we can do when we get that far.

Lastly, Doom 3 coming out August 3rd? Yes, please.

Something Wicked This Way Comes

Movies

[Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban]Well, I promised I’d bump this update when I had seen Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban for myself. Well, I just got back from seeing it this evening. What follows will be my take on the movie. That would mean my impressions and such. ‘Cause this is my blog, you know. Yeah.

I am going to say this early on in my “review” so that it sticks out above anything I’ve written below. PoA is, without a doubt, the best Harry Potter movie to date and one of the best book-to-movie adaptations I have ever seen.

I don’t want to let this turn into a M-M-M-MONSTER POST, but there is a lot to talk about with this movie, so please bear with me.

After seeing PoA, I pray that I will never again have to watch a movie directed by Chris Columbus. Keep him away from all my favorite books, games, and other vulnerable franchises. To be fair though, the first two movies were not bad. They were just good enough.

Enter Alfonso Cuarón. Frankly, I have never before heard of this guy. None of his previous movies have interested me. And yet, I feel the urge to thank him for breathing new life into what has until now been an at-best mediochre series. This man had the courage to take Harry Potter in a completely different direction. The colorful, cheery atmosphere of Hogwarts Castle has been replaced with a dark, sinister, even depressing one.

For those who persist in writing Harry Potter off as “just another kid’s book,” this movie will prove them wrong. The childish acting from the first two movies is virtually absent, thanks in large part to the more mature Harry, Ron, and Hermione. I was overjoyed to find some actual, serious acting going on in this movie.

Which brings me to the story. The translation from the book to the movie felt much more natural this time around. I didn’t have the feeling of being tied to a horse (er, unicorn? Hippogriff? Work with me here, people) and dragged through the movie’s plot at a dizzying pace. There were very few plot devices that didn’t work for this movie. Certainly many things had to be cut for this movie, but it is so well done that they aren’t blatantly obvious. Hermione’s little time turner sub-plot was well-developed, but still a little confusing to those who have not read the books.

The special effects and cinematography in PoA were top-notch. They never got in the way of the plot and they never looked out-of-place or unreal. Also top-notch was the cinematography. As a casual studier of camera and filming techniques, my eyes feasted upon every frame of this film. It was absolutely some of the most stunning, flawless camerawork I have ever seen. Suffice it to say, this movie has very high production value.

I know this is too long and most people won’t reach this part of my review, but I would just like to say that Mr. Cuarón has reshaped Harry Potter into something that, despite probably not being Oscar material, is really, really good. It’s got action, suspense, drama, fear, comedy, and just about everything else one would hope for. He has turned it into something much more than a mere kids movie. I hope this trend continues.

Grade: A-