Category Archives: Movies

July 17, 2011

Movies: Machete

Milla Jovovitch, I’m sorry, I loved you long time, and it’s not over (I’ll keep buying Resident Evil movies as long as you make them), but Michelle Rodriguez just stole your crown in my heart for most beautiful kickass woman in the world. I’m afraid you’re now number two.

Michelle Rogriguez! We’re talking baying-at-the-moon beautiful! We’re talking bullet in the eye beautiful! I’ve liked her since her appearance as Rain Ocampo in (coincidence alert) the first Resident Evil movie in 2002. This was only two years after her first film, Girlfight in 2000. Since that time, she’s proven to be a major star (and apparently quite a handful). She’s been in several of the Fast & Furious movies, and many know her from Lost (a series I avoided like the plague — I’m allergic to trendy)

What can I say, I like a woman with some attitude.

9 Comments | tags: El Mariachi (film), Machete (film), Michelle Rodriguez, Milla Jovovich, Quentin Tarantino, Resident Evil (film), Robert Rodriguez | posted in Movies

July 10, 2011

Sideband #7: Down with 3D!

By Wyrd Smythe

I completely forgot to rant about 3D when I wrote about the Green Lantern movie. Part of the reason I did forget is that I didn’t see it in 3D.

Except for certain special cases — basically occasionally checking to see the state of the art — I will never willingly see any movie in 3D.

Number me, along with film critic Roger Ebert, as a hater of 3D.

Leave a comment | tags: 3D, Roger Ebert | posted in Movies, Sideband

July 10, 2011

Sideband #6: The Boston Syndrome

By Wyrd Smythe

In the Green Lantern post I mentioned “The Rocky Syndrome.” That’s what I call the common American trope where a single hero prevails after having the living crap beat out of him (or her) and being at the edge of defeat. (I’m going to assume you’re all familiar enough with the Rocky films to know what I’m talking about.)

A more modern example is one of the first (and greatest) action films of its kind: Die Hard. (Obviously, I’m talking about the first one. The others are… okay, but that first one is a classic. One of those films you can watch many times and still enjoy.)

In fact, that’s such a great film that one of these days I’ll have to write a post about it, but for now I want to talk about what I call, “The Boston Syndrome.”

11 Comments | tags: Boston (album), Boston (band), Heavy Metal (magazine), M. Night Shyamalan, The Sixth Sense | posted in Movies, Music, Sideband

July 9, 2011

Movies: Green Lantern

By Wyrd Smythe

Finally saw Green Lantern; thumbs definitely up. I’m no Green Lantern expert, but I’ve read enough to recognize a lot honor done to that comic. The Guardians and Oa seemed pretty on the money to me; so were Abin Sur, Tomar-Re, Kilowog and Sinestro. And I had no problem with Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan; no more so than Christian Bale as Batman or Toby Maguire as Spiderman. Or with Robert Downey Jr as Ironman, for that matter. (And I like them fine, in case you mistake me as being sarcastic.)

I also appreciated the way Hal used the ring: unusual, and yet appropriate, inventions to solve the problem at hand. That seemed very Green Lantern-ish. I’ve always considered slightly odd-ball combat and rescue tools as kind of a signature of the comic. For one example, lofting the oil tanker with a pair of bigass rams and then blowing it up with AA guns.

That was pure GL.

1 Comment | tags: comics, Green Lantern, Heroes (TV series), superheroes | posted in Movies

July 4, 2011

Hello world!

By Wyrd Smythe

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was…”

Many of you will recognize that as the first words of John 1:1 in the Christian New Testament Bible. There’s also a cross-reference to the very first words of that Bible (Old Testament in this case), “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

This is about words and about beginnings.

Others might recognize it as a conflation of the lead-in to a Moody Blues tune, OM, from In Search of the Lost Chord, and the title of a song from another album, In the Beginning, from On the Threshold of a Dream.

(Yes “album.” I’m old!)

23 Comments | tags: brain, brain mind problem, computationalism, computer guy, human brain, human mind, logos, Marriage, Moody Blues, rational mind, René Descartes, Theory of Consciousness, theory of mind | posted in Baseball, Basics, Books, Computers, Life, Movies, Opinion, Philosophy, Politics, Rant, Science, Society, The Interweb, TV