Zomgee

Where is Kentucky? Its kinda in the South, no actually its really the Mid-West, but on the map, to me it looks rather east-ish than west-ish; and more mid-ley, than south-ley. West Virginia lies to the east, Virginia to the southeast, Tennessee to the south, Missouri to the west, Illinois and Indiana to the northwest, and Ohio to the north and northeast. Ok if these words still don’t have you on page, just look at the graphic. This should give you a good idea where it is.

Enough about that, -what- is Kentucky? Well, a united state of course. (was I supposed to capitalize that? Spell-check doesn’t seem to care; communists.) What’s cool in KY? Louisville is the largest city here and is a must-see for any visitor, but beware: locals don’t take kindly to mispronunciations of their beloved city. Not “Lewie-ville” – try ‘Loouhvull’ or ‘Luhvull’ and you might get through a visit without being dubbed the dreaded title of “yank” or worse… “dang yank.”

Before you skip the rest of this post to the comments to question the existence of KFC’s in Kentucky, let me formally assure, they do and they thrive. Why, eating food is one of the primary functions of many of the denizens in this fine state. Another well kept secret locals hold dearly in lieu of Louisville is the fact we only have 49 states: Kentucky and Indiana form to make Kentuckiana, a deformed mutant, failed experiment of a state. BLARRGH!

Before you’re fast to overlook as ‘just another city’ in ‘just another state,’ mind you the wonders of a sport oft overlooked by many Americans: That’s right: Glue manufacturing, production and distribution! It all starts with a few short people, (we’ll call them jockys) and a few horses of high muscle/body-weight ratio, (we’ll call them race horses). Jockys ride these horses in some sort of ovular track. “Break a leg!” And whenst they have their hay-day, or become incapacitated, they’re shipped straight for materials. This is where the fun begins: First, make sure they’re dead, then beat them. It gets fuzzy after this part, I forget: then eventually glue comes out of the factory! (and when I say ‘they’, I mean the horses, silly)

Is there anything else cool about KY? Just as things that “Taste like chicken” aren’t chicken unless its really chicken; Louisville/Kentucky is just like many other cities and states, but aren’t those other cities and states, and chicken tastes pretty good. I dunno really, but apparently I’m the new Zomgee Kentucky Representative or ZKR for short. With my new deep-fried job, I should be able to have a few more time on my hands in the upcoming year. If there are any disputes or misconceptions about this state, please keep it in the comments area of this post, not in any previous post; thank you.

Hancock. Now this was a movie I’ve been waiting to see. I have to admit that I wanted to see this more than Indiana Jones. More than Hulk and The Happening too.

I figured that I’d be disappointed by this movie, but I could hope for the best, at least. I try not to read too much about movies before they come out (other that the MPAA rating and such) just so when a movie is nothing like the few previews I saw of it, I’ll be surprised.

That’s exactly the case in this movie. I went in thinking it’d be a comedy where Will Smith starts out a super hero bum and turns into a Men In Black agent-esque crime fighting champion. A black comedy meets Spiderman perhaps. Of course, when you think about it that way, it doesn’t sound like a great movie.

I don’t want to give anything away about the storyline, but if you’re looking for the Will Smith comedy routine, you’ll get a bit of it, but so much more. (continue reading…)

Last weekend, I had the chance to go see The Happening. My thought was that it would be a typical, suspenseful, yet profound movie from M. Night; however, it was hardly those things. (continue reading…)

There are two things I can distinctly remember from cinema as a child: Star Wars and Indiana Jones. These two trilogies quickly became my most beloved films and it wasn’t until Lord of the Rings poked its head out of a hole in the ground were the two even remotely challenged for first place. Then along came the Star Wars Prequels where George Lucas screwed with everything that was good and right about Star Wars and while he didn’t entirely ruin the originals he did put a bad sort of taste my mouth. Understandably when news that a fourth Indiana Jones movie was finally to be made I couldn’t help but have a bad feeling about it. I’m not sure if I could handle Lucas messing up the greatest action movie series of all time. I have returned from the theater and I have to concur with Roger Ebert when he said, “if you liked the other Indiana Jones movies, you will like this one, and that if you did not, there is no talking to you.”

I can’t say that this is the greatest movie of all time, nor is it greater than Raiders of the Lost Ark or the Last Crusade. There was something about the originals that can’t be equaled anywhere. It does come in quite close to Temple of Doom, however, and I might even make the claim that it is better. The point is, it’s Indiana Jones and its fun, that’s all Indiana Jones ever is. All he happens to be is a professor and an archaeologist, for everything else he’s just along for the ride by the seat of his pants as much as you are.

One thing I did feel like this movie was missing was tension and suspense, perhaps that was because every time something tense happened the annoying women sitting next to me would make all kinds of vocal noises. They also managed to talk quite a bit more often than I would like, but I did try my best to ignore them…mostly it failed. As for everything else, it felt like Indiana Jones should feel – albeit much older. Nostalgia was a driving factor in the creation of this and it was nostalgia that in some ways makes it work. There’s familiar characters, familiar actions, and familiar jokes, but there’s also plenty of new to go around.

I wish I could have come out saying that this was as great of an experience as it must have been to see the originals but in truth it wasn’t. I can say, however, that it was a fun movie to watch and that it was better than most of the cookie cutter action movies that come out these days. If not for the Bourne series and Batman Begins I think I might give up action altogether. Thankfully though Indiana Jones delivers in all that it needs to and may have earned itself a second viewing from me in theaters.

4/5 Stars

Anticipation is what killed the last Narnia movie for me. I prepared myself for its much hailed arrival by reading the books for the first time and even by going back to the original British version and watching what were some of my favorite movies as a child. When all was said and done I was left disappointed. Sure they didn’t destroy the books or anything they just got me to expect one thing and gave me something entirely different. I have since seen The ‘Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe’ a few times more and I have a few better things to say about it, however, it still not the masterpiece that I was hoping for. I have just returned from ‘Prince Caspian’ and it is without a doubt a better movie than the first in almost every way.

Andrew Adamson seems to be coming into his own when it comes to directing live action movies. One thing that worried me early on when I learned of his direction is that his only other movies were Shrek and Shrek 2 and that didn’t seem to be the resume I would have liked coming into one of the most beloved fantasy franchises of all time, however, it looks like he’s learning from his mistakes and improving. He seems to have a much better vision for what’s going on and is getting much more out of his actors.

As for the acting, the children have improved quite a bit. One thing I have always had a hard time with when watching children’s movies is how horrible children are at it. With one movie and a few years under their belt they’re starting to grow up and act like their characters. Peter is more believable, Susan is less annoying, Edmond is growing up, and Lucy…well Lucy is no longer the joyful innocent girl she was in the first movie, however, after all they’ve been through in Narnia – she shouldn’t be.

The music was brilliant as I would expect from Harry Gregson-Williams who did a fantastic job the first time around and once again WETA Digital did a great job with the special effects. That coupled with some well done cinematography and editing has led to a much better flowing picture. The battle scenes feel like battles and the sweeping landscapes are used correctly in a much more “epic” (if I dare use the word) fashion than in the first. Sure there wasn’t a lot to the story which boiled down to save Narnia once again, but there were times when you felt like they might not win, and that is what a film of this type needs. If there is no sense of urgency and no sense of the possibility of failure then there is no point to watch it.

All in all the movie was an enjoyable couple of hours and worth seeing on the big screen. If you liked the first one you’ll most definitely like this one, but even if you didn’t, I would give it a try anyway.

4/5 stars
[edit] I decided to rethink my rating system. While on one end this is less exact and does not distinguish between movies quite as well I think it will do a better job indicating the range of quality that a movie falls into. With 5-Great; 4-Good; 3-Average; 2-Bad; 1-Horrible; 0-Putrid.