DVDs

In an effort to catch up, let me give you some quick shots on the dvd front:

*Closer – Seeing this on the small screen doesn’t make it any less uncomfortable. It still hits too close to home.
* Blade III – Lame villain is balanced out by ultimate hottie Jessica Biel. Thank god Ryan Reynolds as smartass Hannibal puts the movie into the “win” column. It’d be a good idea to stop here, though.
* Darkness – A slow start makes it hard to get into this film. It’s not a bad film as far as horror films go, staying true to the classic ghost story (less actual stuff happening). Ultimately, it doesn’t quite live up to it’s potential.
* The Aviator – I’ve reviewed this before. It’s still great. Blanchett as Hepburn=amazing.
* National Treasure – Surprisingly entertaining. Ignore the Indiana Jones comparisons. This probably has more in common with The Mummy. Still, I wound up getting into it and found it quite satisfying.
* Finding Neverland – Johnny Depp is always good. This is one of those sappy, manipulative, heartstring movies and I don’t mind it one bit. Sad but sweet.
* Chappelle’s Show Season 2 – Hopefully this isn’t the last season. Dave continued his shockingly hilarious bits. Highlights are the racial draft, Samuel L. Jackson beer, and The Wayne Brady Show (probably one of the funniest skits I’ve ever seen on any show ever).

Crash

Crash is not only a wonderfully-crafted, compelling film, but it’s also an interesting sociological study. As you may know, Crash deals with the intersecting lives of Los Angelinos and their perspectives on race. It’s a heavy film, despite moments of levity, and it never really lets up in tension.

For me, part of the fun of watching this movie was seeing it in a Los Angeles theater. The movie is full of racial stereotyping and joke-making, and the audience would laugh at many of these instances. What was interesting was noticing that different sections of the theater would laugh at different racial jokes. With the lights up, I could tell why—different races found different parts of the movie funny.

The writing is strong in the film, but it’s really the performances that propel the movie. Don Cheadle turns in his usual awesome performance (he’s quickly becoming one of my favourite actors). Sandra Bullock (who I usually hate) plays a total bitch so convincingly that she managed to impress me (and the girl who cracked that Miss Congeniality joke behind me in the theater deserves props too).

Ryan Phillipe, Matt Damon, and Brendan Frasier are all good. Larenz Tate, one of the most grossly underrated black actors working right now, is solid, but rapper Ludacris steals all his scenes. I actually like Ludacris as a rapper, but his credible acting in this movie knocked my socks off. Thandie Newton turns in what might be her best work yet. Much has been written about how Terrence Howard is the next Denzel—believe the hype. I can’t wait to see Hustle & Flow.

This isn’t an easy movie to digest. It isn’t a date movie (despite my best intentions!). It’s a difficult film that merits serious discussion afterwards. Part of the best thing about this movie is that it’ll force you to consider your reaction to it.

Revenge of the Sith

God bless those geeks who waited in line for weeks on end for the new Star Wars movie. I can always point at them and say, “At least I’m not that big of a dork.”

Every boy my age loves Star Wars. This is simply a fact. It isn’t a question of whether or not boys of my generation like Star Wars—it’s simply a question of how much they like it. Pretty much anyone who knows me knows that Star Wars is something akin to religion in my life.

So it stands to reason that I would have high expectations for Revenge of the Sith, the final installment in the Star Wars oeuvre. I’m happy to report that those expectations were met.

In Star Wars speak, I’d say Sith was not quite as good as Empire, but better than Jedi and on par with A New Hope. For the rest of you, I’ll just say that it was incredibly enjoyable.

I know a lot of haters are already picking the film apart. Get over it. Every criticism of the new films can also be attributed to the original trilogy, if you’ll just take your rose-coloured blastshield off. Bad dialogue? Watch the first Star Wars film again. Bad acting? Mark Hamill, kids. The movies drag in the middle? This is true for probably every film except Empire. Corny jokes? “Laugh it up, fuzzball” is corny. I’m sorry, but it’s true.

There’s plenty to cringe at in Sith. “Hold me like you did by the lake on Naboo” may be the worst Star Wars line ever, and the hilarious “Nooooooooo!” from newly-masked Darth Vader is worse than anything Jar-Jar ever did.

Still, there’s so much to like in this film. There’s lightsaber battles galore, there’s the cool General Grievous, there’s that opening space battle. And don’t tell me that you didn’t love that Vader kills a bunch of children—how ballsy was that? That final duel over the lava? Completely lived up to the vision I had of it as a child.

And I guess that’s what it comes down to—can you watch this film with the same enthusiasm that you had when you were young, seeing the original films for the first time? Or have you become so jaded and worldly that you feel the need to bitch about every little flaw in the film? If that’s you, then go back and do it for the original films too. You’ll be amazed at how much there is to nitpick. Me? I’ll be watching Yoda throw down with the Emperor again.

Mea Culpa

Some of you have noticed the lack of updates on all the blogs (this one plus the project). I’ve been suffering from a prolonged case of writer’s block, and haven’t been able to muster up the effort to post even the most mundane updates. I don’t know if this is a good thing or a bad thing.

Anyways, my deepest apologies to my loyal readers (all three of you). Also, I’d like to give a shout out to my friend Jen for encouraging me to get back on the horse, as well as shaming me by posting more regularly even though she is out of the country on vacation (follow her travels here:http://soynoodles.blogspot.com/ ).

I will make the concerted effort to catch everything up, and to keep posting often.