I <3 Sushi

That is all.

More movie reviews

Nice lazy weekend = catching up on movies.

Thankfully, I didn't waste a spot in my queue for Hellboy. It basically sucked. The first half of the movie was spent try to figure out who was the voice of Abe Sapien was (David Hyde Pierce). The second half of the movie was spent trying to figure out why Selma Blair's clothes don't burn off when she flares up (a shame). The action was boring, the one-liners were lame, the plot was sketchy. I gave it 2 stars on Netflix.

The Virgin Suicides was very good. I didn't realize until the credits rolled that it was written (adapted from a book) and directed by Sofia Coppola. I should have known, though, it felt somewhat like Lost in Translation. Very morose but visually impressive. I gave it 4 stars on Netflix.

Donnie Darko is the first movie that I can think of in a while (if ever) that I didn't understand. I suppose I can guess what happened, but it was a very strange moive. Both Gyllenhaals were pretty good, and Drew Barrymore put in a surprisingly good performance. I'm really starting to like Jena Malone. She was briefly in Cold Mountain, and was really good in Saved!. I hope she shows up in more movies soon. I gave Donnie Darko 4 stars on Netflix.

Edit: Oops, I forgot Girl with a Pearl Earring. I've always liked period pieces. This one centers around a servant girl (yay Scarlett Johansson again) who works in the household of 17th century Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer. I have no idea how accurate anything in the movie was, but it was pretty good. Scarlett again showed that she can act, rather than just look pretty. In fact, there's only one scene in which she even looks good at all, when she finally takes off her always-present bonnet. I gave it 3 stars on Netflix.

Potter-mania

I blame my family.

Like most people my age, when I heard about the Harry Potter phenomenon, approximately in 1999 or 2000, I thought it was for kids. I heard my aunts go on about it at family gatherings, but I never believed the hype. When my parents finally bought into it, and liked it, I thought it would be worth looking into. With the first Potter movie looming, I caved and bought the first book. I was hooked. I'm sure I can't say anything about the books that other people haven't already said, but I'm going to say it anyway.

The books are remarkable on a lot of levels. There's the struggles of poor Harry, who lost his parents at an early age. There's the magical other world, so fantastic, but feasible enough that you can see yourself in it. There's the good vs. evil, with the mystery of never knowing for certain who is on which side. I am addicted. Every book I have read at least once, but I have listened to each of them a number of times. My parents, having never turned a page of Potter, chose to buy the books on CDs. I have the entire set of books on MP3s as well. The audio books have kept me company while working on house projects and while making long drives.

April and I went to Media Play at 1115 last night to get in line to get Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the sixth installment of the series. We got the book minutes after midnight, and, though I was tempted, went to bed shortly after getting home. I woke up at 630 this morning, and did little else but read the book until about 9 tonight when I finished it. I'm going to spare writing a detailed review for a few days, because presumably, there are people who did not dedicate their Saturday to reading the book (my wife included). It is enough to say that the book is incredible. For a book this long (652 admittedly large-printed pages), it's remarkably fast paced. I had intended to put the book down for the day, and finish it on Sunday, but made the mistake of starting one too many chapters, over one hundred pages from the end, and had to finish reading.

If there is anyone reading this that isn't on the Potter bandwagon (and knowing that I only have 2 readers, there probably isn't), now is the time. Buy the first book (it's available on paperback). You will not know why you waited so long.

MMORPGs...

They say the first step to quitting an addiction is admitting you have a problem. I have a problem.

I've been playing MMORPGs since the fall of 2002, when I started playing the now-defunct Earth and Beyond (I'd link it, but the site just redirects to EA's home page now). I had a good group of friends in the game, and that is really what hooked me about MMOs in general. My best friend from that game, Vindilion (link to his blog on the right) came with me to Final Fantasy XI in early 2004.

I played FFXI until about October of 2004. I quit for a few reasons. The main reason was that I was tempted by World of Warcraft, which I'll talk about in a minute. The other is the fact that FFXI basically requires that you group with 5 other people to get anything accomplished. Without that requirement, the game is perfect. Deep, vast, pretty to look at. But requiring a (competent) group is a deal breaker most night. Spending an entire night looking for a party (like I did tonight) is not a lot of fun.

I joined World of Warcraft two weeks after it was released. I immediately joined a great guild, led by my brother-in-law and sister-in-law. Everyone in the guild is fun to play with and extremely good at what they do. We raided countless dungeons, got tons of great loot, and had fun doing it. Unfortunately, the PvP Battlegrounds that everyone was looking forward to were not what the people in the guild were looking for. Everyone is quitting to go back to their original game, Dark Age of Camelot. I'm welcome to join them there if I wish.

My problem is that I don't like what the games are doing to my life. I've always been a gamer, I've always played a lot of games. With console games, I can pick them up and leave them whenever I wish. With online games, especially when I know a lot of people in-game, I feel like I have to play. If there's something going on, I feel like I need to be there. Even if there isn't anything going on, and I log in, I feel like I have to accomplish something. If I don't accomplish something, I get pissed off. It's ridiculous how seriously I can take these things.

So I think I'm going to quit. What am I going to do with my time? Hell, I don't know. I think I'll increase Netflix to three movies at a time, so I can see more movies on my list. I'll probably console game more. Maybe I'll start going to the YMCA again. I was doing well working out for a while there, but I basically stopped going once I joined WoW. I have a lot of projects going on around the house, maybe I'll finish them (/shock!). Dunno. Wish me luck.

Movies from the past... month?

Yes, I lose. I'm aware of this. I suspected when I created this blog that it would be a passing fancy. I'll update now, with reviews of the movies since I last posted. I'll try to update later with other stuff.

Big Fish was pretty good. The stories about the things that the father did (or didn't do) when he was young were so far out there as to be painful at times, but enjoyable others. The ending was really good and touching. I gave it 4 stars on Netflix.

I, Robot was OK. As an action movie, it was good enough. The premise was fine, Will Smith was believable enough as the guy who hates robots. Hooray for Alan Tudyk though. I love seeing Joss Whedon actors in non-Joss stuff. Its tie to the Asimov books was about as loose as you can get. The only thing used from the books would be the three rules of robotics, and the fact that there were robots at all. At least in the credits it said that the movie was "Suggested by" the books, rather than based on the books. I gave it 3 stars on Netflix.

Resident Evil was pretty terrible. As an action movie, it failed, there's little action. As a horror movie, it failed, because the zombies were boring and the scariness just wasn't there. As a vehicle for the hotness that is Milla Jovovich, it succeeds. I gave it 2 stars on Netflix.

Girl Next Door was surprisingly good. The story stuck together pretty well, though it's as unbelievable as most teen movies. Elisha Cuthbert looked incredible throughout, and the guy from Go was funny, as he usually is. I'll never remember his name, so he's just the guy from Go. I gave it 4 stars on Netflix.

Lost in Translation was great. I saw it originally while I was on my 2-week trip around the world, so it was particularly poignant at the time. I wanted to see it again, because seeing it on an airplane 3x4 monitor just doesn't do the movie's visuals justice. The movie is incredible because of the way it can set the mood of loneliness throughout. Bill Murray surprises you with his ability to play serious. Scarlett Johansson is not just gorgeous but talented. I thought the two of them played together really well, despite their considerable age differences. I gave it 4 stars on Netflix, though I may change it to 5.