6 posts tagged “movies”

1. Beatrix Kiddo
2. Jack Bauer
3. Batman
4. Achilles
5. 300 Spartan warriors

ETA:
Top Five: Fictional Characters I wouldn't want to have my back in a fight
1. Master Shake
2. Screech
3. George Constanza
4. Peter Pettigrew/Wormtail...that double crossing bastard!
5. Napoleon Dynamite

I love making top five lists and I was reminded of it when I watched high fidelity over the weekend. I'm going to try and make a couple of these lists each week and see if anyone else wants to play along. So what are YOUR top five in each of the two above lists?

It's been awhile but the ever-lovable and hilarious Cleolinda has given us another m15m by spoofing the movie 300. Here's an excerpt:

A Chat Between Two Brothers

BOROMIR: S’up.
FARAMIR: My beloved older brother back from an entirely different movie the dead!
BOROMIR: Look, kid, we gotta talk. Are you absolutely sure you want to do this whole sword-and-sandals thing?
FARAMIR: Well, why not? It can’t turn out any worse than Van Helsing.
BOROMIR: You sure? Because with these ancient epic dealies, you’re going to end up prancing around in skirts looking stupid, and you’re still probably going to bomb at the box office.
FARAMIR: Yeah, but we’ve thought of a way to get around that.
BOROMIR: How? We had big budgets! Actual sets! Oscar nominees! We had Brad Pitt, and all you’ve got are That Other Guy from Troy and the Phantom of the Opera!
FARAMIR: We have homoerotic leather-Speedo slo-mo.
BOROMIR: …
FARAMIR: …
BOROMIR: Godspeed, little brother.

To read the rest, click here.

Other than the odd broken chair here and there and the faint aroma of burnt popcorn, the 3 dollar theatre is a good place to catch up on those movies you always wanted to watch, but aren't quite on DVD just yet. As a writer and a lover of all things literary, I just knew that Stranger than Fiction would be my kind of flick.

I'm a pretty big fan of Will Ferrell (he plays the cowbell like none other), but I think I was more excited to see Emma Thompson as the narrator - no one could have played the part like her. I just love, love, love Emma Thompson. She's such an amazing actress. I know she's been in a lot of well known movies, but my favorite role that she played was in a made-for-HBO film of the play Wit by Margaret Edson. She plays an English professor who is diagnosed with cervical cancer and shows all the emotions that she goes through in the final days of her life. It's quite touching and brilliant really and I would recommend it to all.

So anyway, back to the movie - I thought it was funny and it really had a "post modern" feel to it. And when I say post-modern, I mean that it's a story that is aware that a story is being told within it (examples include Life of Pi, The End of the Affair, Atonement) and I'm really big on post-modernist kind of stories - not sure why, I just think they are fun. The ending was what especially got to me - I never thought it would tie up so beautifully and yet it did. So if you haven't seen it - go and check it out! I definitely recommend it.

Saturday has now come and gone and my total Nanowrimo word count is now at 13,705/50,000. I must say things are coming along quite well! I'm hoping to hit 20,000 by the end of Monday night.

I did manage to pull myself away this evening for a well deserved night out. I watched The Prestige and, seriously, it is such an incredible movie. No. Not incredible - GENIUS. Oh if only I could tell a story like that. Plus you've got Batman, Wolverine, Gollum, and the Goblin King all in one flick together - totally awesome. If you've already watched it, I highly recommend that you read the latest installment of Movies in 15 Minutes, and if you haven't watched it - just ignore that link since it will totally spoil the film for you.

Here's a little snippet from the m15m (but nothing that will spoil):

There are three parts to a magic trick: the part where you bring out something ordinary that isn't really, the part where you do something extraordinary that really isn't, and the part where you bring something ordinary back that was really there the whole time. Ideally, there will also be hot magicians and death feuds, but these are entirely optional. Fortunately, we at The Prestige are looking out for you.

Whether you are a cult follower of Snakes on a Plane or a serious hater of Snakes on a Plane, I think you'll appreciate this either way. Personally, I have no idea what to think...

Comic from nataliedee.com.

What did you do this weekend?

This was one of my famous lazy weekends--mostly because I'm still getting used to getting paid twice a week instead of once a month, and so with the way my bills go, I'm broke for the first two weeks of the month and I'm rich the last two weeks. I suppose I ought to do something about that, but that is for another entry, right?

Aside from the regular weekend house chores and errands, a few walks around the neighborhood with the dogs, and some well deserved naps, I also watched a couple of movies that I thought were particularly good.

Seven was on one of the cable network channels and so I decided to watch it since I always enjoy Brad Pitt's choices of movie scripts and I was actually kind of puzzled that I'd never seen this one before. Basically, it is a murder mystery movie where two detectives (Pitt and Freeman) are on the trail of a killer who is committing murders that demonstrate the seven deadly sins: gluttony, greed, sloth, lust, vanity, envy, and wrath.  I loved the philosophical commentary throughout the movie and also the references to various works of classic literature (hey, an English major's dream, right?). Anyway, the ending of the movie where the last two murders for envy and greed were so wonderfully masterminded and Kevin Spacey as a crazy serial killer was just too perfect to watch. I'd definately recommend you watch this movie if you haven't seen it, or if it has been a while since you've seen it.

The other movie I watched over the weekend was much older. I was over at my parents' house on Sunday and my dad is always watching old black and white films from the 50s and most of the time they are old westerns that don't interest me much, but this one was a sci-fi flick called The Day the Earth Stood Still made in 1950 that, despite it not having anything happen at all in the film, it really pulled me in. Basically, a flying saucer lands in Washington, D.C. and a spaceman named Klatuu and his robot Gort have come to deliver an important message to the people of earth, but it is something that all the nations must hear because it concerns everyone. Well, with the setting as Cold War era America, obviously such a meeting could not take place (nor could it take place today, for that matter) so Klatuu escapes from the mental hospital where they were keeping him to live among the people of earth to find out a way to get his message out to everyone. The movie went on and on for quite a while, but the dialogue was so well written and the acting was actually quite good. It was obvious that this film was speaking of the paranoia in the U.S. about atomic warfare and also the possibility of life on other planets, but I really liked it and I'd have to say its a good cult classic for sci-fi fans.

Next weekend should be more eventful since I'm going up to Donner Lake for my company picnic. I'm also trying to decide if I want to see the new Superman Returns movie next weekend as well, but I keep getting mixed reviews from everyone I talk to and I'm wondering if I should just wait for the DVD. Eh well, hope everyone is having a happy Monday!