Movie Night
So while waiting for the tram this morning I was looking at the movie listings on a nearby posting board, and noticed Cloverfield was playing. Excited, I then made up my mind to see it this evening. I didn't want to go home till after I watched the movie, so I also went and saw I Am Legend.
'I Am Legend' really did a good job I thought. If it had originally appeared that the monsters were mindless it seems to only be Nevilles lack of attention and general refusal to see them as anything but mindless. I however saw them as a pack, with a clear alpha male and such. Neville was just to stupid that he didn't take them as seriously as he should yet did at other points. "Don't let them track us to my home" I was reminded that Will Smith is actually a pretty good actor, and I cried when he was forced to kill his dog. Its been a while since I've been so involved in a movie, even if it wasn't perfect. I understood all the strange shit Neville did, and even his refusal to believe anyone else was alive. Originally I thought it was going to be a shitty, "I'm going to save the world because I'm an action hero!" character, but it really surprised me with the emphasis on the fact that this is a man who has lost everything and is only carrying on because otherwise he'd have nothing left. Though I have to admit the ending left me a bit disappointed, after such a great excecution of the first two thirds of the movie, it started losing me when the woman and child were introduced. It culminated with that stupid grenade charge for me. I mean, if this virus is so horrible, and somehow these two were also immune to the airborn strain then why does he even need to give them a vial of his own blood? Wouldn't his research backed up on the redundant drives be a shitload more useful? I guess that was too complicated for movie-goers to grasp, no we have to hand over the vial of this guys blood so we can start all over again. And we weren't even sure Neville had the cure! I hate it when a good scifi movie fucks it up in the final stretch with a feel good ending for the idiots who would walk out of it otherwise.
Now onto Cloverfield. My experience with the movie will unfortunatly be colored by the fact I was strongly affected by the jerky camera motions. I fell ill before the monster even attacked, and was periodically forced to cover my eyes and just listen to the lines while fighting back my rising stomach. I thought I had come down with food poisoning as I had eaten some questionable sandwiches from a grocery store not a half hour before, but after leaving the movie I began to feel a thousand times better so unfortunatly I am that much of a wuss. I did enjoy the movie though, and really look foreward to watching it in a smaller size or in segments so I don't get so ill. The comment was made to me by Lucas that the cameraman, Hud, looked and sounded a lot like me, and I gotta say he does have some qualities that are similiar. Especially a few years ago I really was that big of a goober. I also went into the movie with some preconceptions about the monster, namely that the creature was some kind of creature that had been living in the sea and we pissed it off or something. There were some parts that did irritate me, but honestly anytime something super cool wasn't happening the camera motions pissed me off so it colored the moment. I gotta admit I followed Hud on the love interest bit, so I was pissed off when she suffered such a shitty death. I mean, I could understand the bite killing her with poison or something, but she fucking explodes? That was some cheap gore we didn't really need I think. The parasites thing was kinda cool, but why the hell would a parasite carry a venom or bacteria that would kill living things so thoroughly? Especially creatures they had never come in contact with.
Also, I understand this is a monster movie, but how impossible is it for a biological creature to survive firepower like that without any damage? I'm not asking that the creature of died, but that it showed some battle fatigue. I mean, some of the bombs and tanks that were shooting at it are known to blow thru hardened steel like tissue paper and the monster just gets upset? That is cheating in a realistic setting like this one. Well as realistic as a monster movie anyways.
Oh well overall I enjoyed the movie, and I don't think it could have been shot anyone way. The great tragedy is that I don't know whether I can ever enjoy it like some people can without any physical discomfort.
Other then that, things have been going well. I visited my families previous exchange daughter, and was invited to her 'Prom'. This is not an american prom however, I would call it something closer to a beauty pagent and a graduation. Parents and family members come to throw change at you as you walk up to accept your victory sash, you can see them flinching with pride as Haddaways "What is Love?" plays as the undertone while an annoying announcer makes some pun with their name I can't understand. I wish I was making this shit up. Anyways, thanks to lax drinking laws, everyone can get drunk so I did. And then I danced, and it was hot because she and her sister have more girl friends then guy friends. Her sister is cute and fun to be around and even seems to like me(she invited me to sleep in the same room as her, which was odd cause it wasn't like I wouldn't have slept on a bed otherwise) but lives about 5 hours away and has a boyfriend. I don't know, this is new ground for me, but my instinct says go for it, even if I don't think I could work any kind of relationship out of it. Also I have no intentions of staying here in czech past June, and I get the feeling she's would only take me seriously sober if I were staying for more then 5 more months. But I may be overthinking the whole issue and whatever. It was a good time anyways and its got my self esteem pretty high, so that I can get it knocked back down again at the kindergarten. :P Oh and I'll be going to Vienna at the end of this week, for maybe a little sightseeing. I'm going to force myself to take some pictures and post them or just email them to the anime night or gaming night mail bots so hold me to it!
'I Am Legend' really did a good job I thought. If it had originally appeared that the monsters were mindless it seems to only be Nevilles lack of attention and general refusal to see them as anything but mindless. I however saw them as a pack, with a clear alpha male and such. Neville was just to stupid that he didn't take them as seriously as he should yet did at other points. "Don't let them track us to my home" I was reminded that Will Smith is actually a pretty good actor, and I cried when he was forced to kill his dog. Its been a while since I've been so involved in a movie, even if it wasn't perfect. I understood all the strange shit Neville did, and even his refusal to believe anyone else was alive. Originally I thought it was going to be a shitty, "I'm going to save the world because I'm an action hero!" character, but it really surprised me with the emphasis on the fact that this is a man who has lost everything and is only carrying on because otherwise he'd have nothing left. Though I have to admit the ending left me a bit disappointed, after such a great excecution of the first two thirds of the movie, it started losing me when the woman and child were introduced. It culminated with that stupid grenade charge for me. I mean, if this virus is so horrible, and somehow these two were also immune to the airborn strain then why does he even need to give them a vial of his own blood? Wouldn't his research backed up on the redundant drives be a shitload more useful? I guess that was too complicated for movie-goers to grasp, no we have to hand over the vial of this guys blood so we can start all over again. And we weren't even sure Neville had the cure! I hate it when a good scifi movie fucks it up in the final stretch with a feel good ending for the idiots who would walk out of it otherwise.
Now onto Cloverfield. My experience with the movie will unfortunatly be colored by the fact I was strongly affected by the jerky camera motions. I fell ill before the monster even attacked, and was periodically forced to cover my eyes and just listen to the lines while fighting back my rising stomach. I thought I had come down with food poisoning as I had eaten some questionable sandwiches from a grocery store not a half hour before, but after leaving the movie I began to feel a thousand times better so unfortunatly I am that much of a wuss. I did enjoy the movie though, and really look foreward to watching it in a smaller size or in segments so I don't get so ill. The comment was made to me by Lucas that the cameraman, Hud, looked and sounded a lot like me, and I gotta say he does have some qualities that are similiar. Especially a few years ago I really was that big of a goober. I also went into the movie with some preconceptions about the monster, namely that the creature was some kind of creature that had been living in the sea and we pissed it off or something. There were some parts that did irritate me, but honestly anytime something super cool wasn't happening the camera motions pissed me off so it colored the moment. I gotta admit I followed Hud on the love interest bit, so I was pissed off when she suffered such a shitty death. I mean, I could understand the bite killing her with poison or something, but she fucking explodes? That was some cheap gore we didn't really need I think. The parasites thing was kinda cool, but why the hell would a parasite carry a venom or bacteria that would kill living things so thoroughly? Especially creatures they had never come in contact with.
Also, I understand this is a monster movie, but how impossible is it for a biological creature to survive firepower like that without any damage? I'm not asking that the creature of died, but that it showed some battle fatigue. I mean, some of the bombs and tanks that were shooting at it are known to blow thru hardened steel like tissue paper and the monster just gets upset? That is cheating in a realistic setting like this one. Well as realistic as a monster movie anyways.
Oh well overall I enjoyed the movie, and I don't think it could have been shot anyone way. The great tragedy is that I don't know whether I can ever enjoy it like some people can without any physical discomfort.
Other then that, things have been going well. I visited my families previous exchange daughter, and was invited to her 'Prom'. This is not an american prom however, I would call it something closer to a beauty pagent and a graduation. Parents and family members come to throw change at you as you walk up to accept your victory sash, you can see them flinching with pride as Haddaways "What is Love?" plays as the undertone while an annoying announcer makes some pun with their name I can't understand. I wish I was making this shit up. Anyways, thanks to lax drinking laws, everyone can get drunk so I did. And then I danced, and it was hot because she and her sister have more girl friends then guy friends. Her sister is cute and fun to be around and even seems to like me(she invited me to sleep in the same room as her, which was odd cause it wasn't like I wouldn't have slept on a bed otherwise) but lives about 5 hours away and has a boyfriend. I don't know, this is new ground for me, but my instinct says go for it, even if I don't think I could work any kind of relationship out of it. Also I have no intentions of staying here in czech past June, and I get the feeling she's would only take me seriously sober if I were staying for more then 5 more months. But I may be overthinking the whole issue and whatever. It was a good time anyways and its got my self esteem pretty high, so that I can get it knocked back down again at the kindergarten. :P Oh and I'll be going to Vienna at the end of this week, for maybe a little sightseeing. I'm going to force myself to take some pictures and post them or just email them to the anime night or gaming night mail bots so hold me to it!