Fuck You!
Merry Christmas!
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Saturday, December 13, 2008
The Day My Optimism Stood Still
Cynics like to talk about TV as nothing more then a vehicle for selling a bunch of crap to a bunch of dopes. Similar statements have been made about the Movies in relation to the sale of outrageously priced junk food. While I have often agreed with the former, I refused to understand the latter because of the semi-extraordinary streak I have been on recently when only paying to see thoroughly enjoyable films in the theaters. Coupled with rentals of Season 1-4 of "The Wire", my TV/Film viewing has been nothing but momentous since the Spring of 2008.
That was until today, the coldest day of the year in so many ways. I spent the full price of a movie to see "The Day the World Stood Still" staring Keanu Reeves. Granted I went into the film with limited expectations. I enjoyed the original, but found its message of hope and peace in the face of human ignorance a bit bland. I mean hey, whats wrong with a little bit of Anarchy? Why So Serious? and so forth. But the Cold War overtones are replaced with indignation over the way humans treat the planet earth. I felt "The Day After Tomorrow" drilled that point home well enough. Reeves, who has always been ridiculed for his remarkably stiff delivery, seems to mock the audience in the film, straining to sound and look like a statue. The GORT special effects are wasted, and the climax is as unsatisfying as my last evening at Mohegan Sun. The "Humans are stupid and destructive" approach worked in Dr.Strangelove, here it just becomes tedious. And this comes from someone who whole-heartedly agrees with the premise.
What got me were the trailers. It was after the trailers I realized the brutal truth, that I was sucked into the theater to watch a film I knew would be poor and yet felt a glow of satisfaction because it was simply a vehicle to show me what to expect in the spring of 2009, which may be the best season in the history of action movies. The three trailers prior to the film consisted of an extended trailer for the rebooting of "Star Trek", an extended trailer for "Terminator Salvation", and the first trailer out for "Wolverine:Origins". It was a fanboys wet dream. Out of the 40 people in the massive theater, I was the only one not to clap or "release" during that five minutes. People were most impressed with the Wolverine clip, simply for the inclusion of the "Gambit" character from the X-Men comics. With these films, along with Watchmen, 2009 should be fun.
Now I am off to watch more of The Wire, because Baltimore is a far more cold and heinous place then anything seen in a Keanu Reeves movie...
That was until today, the coldest day of the year in so many ways. I spent the full price of a movie to see "The Day the World Stood Still" staring Keanu Reeves. Granted I went into the film with limited expectations. I enjoyed the original, but found its message of hope and peace in the face of human ignorance a bit bland. I mean hey, whats wrong with a little bit of Anarchy? Why So Serious? and so forth. But the Cold War overtones are replaced with indignation over the way humans treat the planet earth. I felt "The Day After Tomorrow" drilled that point home well enough. Reeves, who has always been ridiculed for his remarkably stiff delivery, seems to mock the audience in the film, straining to sound and look like a statue. The GORT special effects are wasted, and the climax is as unsatisfying as my last evening at Mohegan Sun. The "Humans are stupid and destructive" approach worked in Dr.Strangelove, here it just becomes tedious. And this comes from someone who whole-heartedly agrees with the premise.
What got me were the trailers. It was after the trailers I realized the brutal truth, that I was sucked into the theater to watch a film I knew would be poor and yet felt a glow of satisfaction because it was simply a vehicle to show me what to expect in the spring of 2009, which may be the best season in the history of action movies. The three trailers prior to the film consisted of an extended trailer for the rebooting of "Star Trek", an extended trailer for "Terminator Salvation", and the first trailer out for "Wolverine:Origins". It was a fanboys wet dream. Out of the 40 people in the massive theater, I was the only one not to clap or "release" during that five minutes. People were most impressed with the Wolverine clip, simply for the inclusion of the "Gambit" character from the X-Men comics. With these films, along with Watchmen, 2009 should be fun.
Now I am off to watch more of The Wire, because Baltimore is a far more cold and heinous place then anything seen in a Keanu Reeves movie...
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