Visual Entertainments

I caught the Chronicles of Riddick on the telly (via sky movies) and I have to admit I thought it was loads of fun. The CGI was used in the right places for the right reasons. Some nice scope and the action was tidily done. Actually, the CGI made me wonder if a movie or mini-series of Dan Simmons Hyperion books might be feasible in the near to medium future. A series like Dune would be my preference in order that less would be cut out from the story.

Pixar on the other hand may have jumped the shark. The Simpson's many moons ago took the mikey out of the trailer for Cars, with 'Cards' and while it may be that they changed some aspects of the movie as a result, I still can't past the deliberate cutesyness. Part of the difficulty with animation is that the technical excellence can overshadow or even compensate for some viewers for what is basically poor story telling and weak characters. And how could people miss the fact that it is a blatant rip-off of Doc Hollywood, which at least had a charming pig in it.

From someone else's posting. Cars is everything the other flicks were, even more so. Every cheesy, corny, cliché elementis extruded and shaped according to Pixar’s determination to not stray too far from the known. Here they want to pretend they really give a fuck about all the hicks, rednecks, and ignorant unwashed masses that they hope will still drag their kids to this flick and buy them the oodles of merchandising on offer. It’s the kind of reflexive window into Pixar’s perspective on Americans themselves, and it wants them to celebrate how wonderful they are just for being who they are. Ah, the laziest form of self-adulation.

Fifty first dates, how is it that Adam Sandler can be such a pain and make such awful movies at times and then he does the occasional stuff which has real heart and is quite touching. I disagree with the ending though.

Eurotrip, Michelle tractenberg, say Mr. Harris would say Daddy likey, our Dawnie is all growed up and she is like 21 or something now so that's all ok right? Still it was somewhat surprising that this was a Dreamworks production and it does seem like Slovakia can't catch a break from a tourist promotion viewpoint.

Ghost-Dog - the way of the samurai, didn't remember when watching it that it was a Jim Jarmusch movie, still I should have twigged. Interesting and enjoyable.

Then there is the girl next door. Or perhaps there isn't.