The following entries are excerpted from http://archeon.livejournal.com/

Wednesday August 27th, 2008 10:32 am

a touch of evil

last night I started watching A Touch of Evil(1958)

A few months ago I saw the opening few minutes and it's one of the most amazing continuous shots you'll ever see in film. A three minute crane shot with no edits that still makes a lot of today's films seem amateurish by comparison.

See for yourself (though the youtube video is kinda dark)



Anyway, after that opening I knew I wanted to see the whole film, so I finally managed to record it to the DVR.

I'm only about a half hour in at this point, and it's pretty good, but Heston bugs me. Apart from Planet of the Apes, I'm not a big fan of his acting.

Full report once I see the entire film. but if you want to catch it and that amazing opening shot in all it's glory, its pretty much a staple on TCM and it's usually on once or twice a month it seems.
 
Current Mood: impressed

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Monday August 25th, 2008 2:09 pm

weekend movie mania

Friday - finished watching Clash by Night good stuff I kind of expected a darker ending than it turned out to be, but still great acting and wonderful dialog makes this a classic worth tracking down.

Saturday - Death Race a film full of awesome. I know I'm in the minority here, but I love Paul W.S. Anderson's movies... and here's why. You can say he's not as talented as John Carpenter all you want, but he is at least trying to make the kind of films that were a staple of my youth. On top of that... and why he is more awesome than just about everyone else at the moment... is that he doesn't put all of those crap "comedy" moments in his movies. Don't get me wrong, there's humor in his films, but THERE ARE NO FIELD-GOAL KICKING YETIS! (ala, the horror that is the Mummy 3) There's an internal consistency to his films which so many films lack these days, the characters act and behave like they are part of the universe depicted in the film and there's none of that meta BS or winking at the camera that drives me fucking crazy. They are also just damn entertaining, Mortal Kombat, Resident Evil, AVP... I'd rewatch those a million times over before I watch Kingdom of the Crystal Dragon Emperor of the Caribbean Episode 3 again.

Sunday - DVD moviefest!

Oldboy - Korean revenge film from Chan-wook Park. Wow! Seriously fucked up mind games played out for your fun and amusement. A must see if you like Asian cinema. Can't say much without giving it all away, but damn this is so good.

Mean Girls - Funny social satire worthy of being the spawn of John Hughes, (even set near Chicago for bonus points) Has a few obvious moments, but they don't detract from the story or enjoyment of the film.

Halloween, the Rob Zombie version - Definitely a film I didn't think needed a remake. (Hell, the original is a John Carpenter film, and one of his best) Much better than I had expected, and I do love that Rob Z is a fan of showing the boobies. It was interesting to see the focus shift. I think the original is much more of Laurie's story. Michael is the monster, but we really see it through her eyes. You like Laurie and you root for her to escape. In the remake, it's all Michael's story, not that he's a sympathetic character in any way, but it's his story and really by the time we get to Laurie, she seems like an after thought and you pretty much don't care if she gets killed or not. Plus, for as detail oriented as the first half of the movie seems to be, the second half is full of logic jumps where we are left to guess at how Michael just instinctively knows information that no one else knows. I guess you could chalk it up to the "supernatural" but that's the problem, the whole first half of the movie paints Michael in a realistic way, just a poor kid with a psychotic nature, so when he suddenly just becomes the world's greatest detective off-screen, it makes you wonder just how he figured out who and where Laurie is. Throw all of that out the window though and it's a fun if dumb scary movie, and did I mention the boobies?

Black Lagoon: second barrage, vol. 1 - When the original distributor went bankrupt, I feared I'd never get to see this... thankfully someone else picked up the ball and now I have another DVD full of hot chicks getting in firefights while swearing like sailors, lol. Seriously though this volume just ups the ante of awesomeness that the first three volumes put on display and if you have never watched an episode of Black Lagoon, you don't know what you're missing. High octane action and humor with LOTS of bullets... not for kids in any way shape or form.
 
Current Mood: glassy eyed

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Monday August 25th, 2008 10:45 am

I beg you, do not judge this book by it's cover

Cover to Patsy Walker, Hellcat #1





pretty kick ass right?

THIS IS THE SINGLE WORST COMIC BOOK EVER WRITTEN! EVER! FOR REAL, THE WORST EVER!


As someone who grew up reading The Defenders & The New Defenders, I've always loved the character of Patsy Walker. I especially loved how she was an occult investigator(along with her husband, Son of Satan)

well apparently Marvel decided to shit all over that past history and this new Patsy Walker is a bubble-headed teen superhero who's more like Paris Hilton than any respectable role-model.

The interior art is in that faux-manga style that Marvel seems to love these days, and as for the story... it's written by Kathryn Immonen, who probably got the job by being Stuart Immonen's wife or daughter or third cousin or something.

I get that it's supposed to be a "fun" book, but really anyone who would even get a single fluid once of enjoyment from this needs to be slapped.

It's just fucking terrible.

The writing is disjointed and doesn't flow, the logic is absent and the dialog is grade school at best. The characters are all caricatures and used like shortcuts so you won't have to worry about developing any real sense of the dramatic.

here's a quote from Marvel EIC, Joe Quesada, about this miniseries.

"Patsy Walker: Hellcat is important to the Marvel U. The Fifty State Initiative is still alive and kicking, but Alaska hasn’t been assigned yet. Enter Patsy Walker: Hellcat! Iron Man picked her for the job for a very specific reason. She’ll have to fight her way through demon polar bears, evil Yetis and insane Eskimo witches to save Alaska and the entire United States! Written by Kathryn Immonen (MCP, Never as Bad as You Think) and drawn by buried treasure David Lafuente (X-Men: Divided We Stand), this will redefine Hellcat in the Marvel Universe."

So by redefine, you mean let's take a kick-ass female hero, who was a grown woman with a great history and re-invent her as yet another stupid teenage girl who hates math, wants to be a fashion model, and is boy crazy.

Way to go Marvel!
 
Current Mood: pissed off

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Friday August 22nd, 2008 10:42 am

are we going to the picture show?

Sunday night I watched the original action hero, Errol Flynn, in the 1938 The Adventures of Robin Hood. What a great film! I think I've always loved the idea of Errol Flynn, but I can't recall ever having actually seen any of his films. The movie pretty much confirms what I've always suspected and I need to add that to my DVD collection. It was also great seeing Basil Rathbone not being Sherlock Holmes, and as a villain. Olivia de Havilland on the other hand didn't do much for me and she's not really given too much to do here, but hey there's swashbuckling to be done!

Next to track down, Captain Blood and The Sea Hawk.

Last night I started watching Clash by Night (1952) but only made it about half way through before I was too tired and had to go to bed. This has long been on my list of films to see since I have a quote from it on my LJ user page.

"What do you want, Joe, my life history? Here it is in four words: big ideas, small results." - from Clash by Night (1952)

I have a book on Film Noir, with a bunch of great quotes like that one and just fell in love with that line.

Anyway, the film was on TCM in the middle of the night so I DVR-ed it.

I was pretty surprised to see that it was directed by Fritz Lang, yeah, that's right... Metropolis Fritz Lang. I tend to forget he ever did anything but Metropolis for some reason.

Surprise number two was that Marilyn Monroe is in this film. I spent a week watching all of her classic films back when I was in college, (Some Like it Hot, The Seven year Itch, Bus Stop, The Prince and the Showgirl) and just always associate her with the comedies, so it's been interesting seeing her in Clash, where she's not just the pretty object of everyone's attention.

Looking forward to watching the second half tonight.

In other news classic movie news, I just received word from amazon that my 2 disc edition of Forbidden Planet has shipped!


 
Current Mood: in love with the cinema

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Friday August 22nd, 2008 8:51 am

Writer's Block: Your Favorite Series: One Last Go Round

If you could pick any TV show that has been off the air to come back for one more season, which show would you pick and why? Submitted by idle_kid_city View other answers

Twin Peaks Seriously, that cliff-hanger at the end of season two, STILL has me wanting more.

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Thursday August 21st, 2008 11:33 am

I want out

I've always loved this song, but lately I just can't get enough of it... (video is kind of lame though)


 
Current Mood: wanting out
Current Music: HammerFall - Man On The Silver Mountain

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Wednesday August 20th, 2008 11:47 am

Couch to 5K: Week 1.3, Day 2

ok so I know these aren't the most scintillating posts in the history of LJ, and that most of you are just here for the pretty pictures anyway, so I'm going to create a filter for the running (walking?) posts... comment if you want to be on the filter.

Couch to 5K: Week 1.3, Day 2

Long Term Goal: Lose weight, feel better.

Short Term Goal: I know it's couch to 5K, but seriously if I get from couch to 5 Blocks without being winded, I'll call that a win, and a good start. PLUS just being able to jog without it feeling like my legs are exploding would be nice.

Obstacles: Somewhat chilly this morning, is that autumn I see coming? Also, what the hell to do with my ipod?

Today's Progress: Sticking with the plan, still just working on walking to try get my legs to the point where I will be able to jog.

Thoughts for the day: I need to find a better way to carry my ipod. I've just been holding it in my hand and while that's working, it's less than ideal. I'm not comfortable with putting it in the pocket of my sweats, since they aren't particularly deep and I don't want it to fall out.

Aftermath: Today was perhaps the first time since I've started that I didn't actually feel hobbled when I was done. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it was pain-free or anything, but there have been a couple times where I felt I may never walk again immediately afterward. Yay for progress! BUT we'll see how it goes over the next 24 hours.
 
Current Mood: busy

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Monday August 18th, 2008 11:56 am

send in the clones

Saturday we took the nephews to see Star Wars: The Clone Wars... both really enjoyed it.

Connor, age 7: favorite part - when the commandos rescued Padme from Ziro

Quinn, age 3: favorite part - when Jabba's son, aka "stinky", burps

Make no mistake, I'm not going to say that it's a good movie. It's not. It's a very average KIDS movie that serves it's purpose of being a pretty vanilla introduction to the Star Wars universe for the 8 and under crowd.

It was not as dreadful as some of the reviews I've been reading, but it's certainly nowhere near the quality of the previous Clone Wars cartoon. It's all very much camp, the robot bad guys in particular are about as menacing as the Keystone Cops. There's no real sense of drama or danger but a few of the action sequences are pretty cool.

Take your kids to see it if they love Star Wars, just don't expect it to move you the same way it will the young-lings.
 
Current Mood: at least there were no field-goal kicking yettis

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Monday August 18th, 2008 11:39 am

Couch to 5K: Week 1.3, Day 1

Long Term Goal: Lose weight, feel better.

Short Term Goal: I know it's couch to 5K, but seriously if I get from couch to 5 Blocks without being winded, I'll call that a win, and a good start. PLUS just being able to jog without it feeling like my legs are exploding would be nice.

Obstacles: not wanting to get out of bed, my legs were still sore from swimming on Saturday.

Today's Progress: Sticking with the plan, still just working on walking to try get my legs to the point where I will be able to jog.

Thoughts for the day: Must stay patient, must stay patient, must stay patient...

Aftermath: Really feeling it this morning after I got done, but now, some 4.5 hours later, it's not so bad.
 
Current Mood: damn tired despite going to bed early

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Friday August 15th, 2008 3:17 pm

a major win...

hotel rooms are reserved for both the Baltimore Comic-Con and SPX.

For the first time in three years I was able to get a hotel room for the BCC that's actually downtown and just a couple of blocks from the convention center without having to pay my life's savings because fans of the Dallas Cowboys, Boston Red Sox or New York Yankees were in town.

Thanks to the schedule makers for that!
 
Current Mood: excited

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