So after watching ‘Wanted’ and then the thoroughly mediocre ‘Incredible Hulk’, I popped in ‘Re-Cycle’ by the Pang brothers.  While I found the last bit in the other-world akind of annoying, overall I’ll give it a thumbs up.  It is not your mother’s horror movie. 

But, then again, thats true of most asian horror.  Usually I love the stuff.  Sometimes it bounces off me, but I think thats because the cues used to indicate rising danger/tension/whatever are somewhat different than what we use here, and so I don’t know I’m supposed to be frightened.  I’m also a little confused about their obsession with hair, water, and the telephone.  But I very much appreciate how atmospheric these movies tend to be, and how unabashedly bizarre.  And here, well, I think the set builders probably had a LOT of fun.

That said, there are two things I really love about the ‘genre’.  First, the casual relationship with the supernatural.  If you watch Ringu, there’s a bit where the male lead mentions casually that he has psychic powers.  This is said, and taken, no different than if he had said he had run a marathon.  Slightly unusual, but not note-worthy.  Second, and more importantly, I love how the normal world always appears to be just right next to the  land of the dead, the world of ghosts and monsters and stories.  Like taking a wrong turn in a song, or painting a flower a slightly different shade of sad, or listening closely to yellow and suddenly you slip into the other place, often without notice.  I really do love that.

Wanted: A Movie I Can’t Believe I Watched

Before I go any further, can someone tell me if Angelina Jolie is an idiot? I mean, she has MONEY and doesn’t need to do shit like this so is it possible she’s mildly retarded and just does what she’s told?

First, a few technical issues. The ’super shooting’ thing was silly and annoying. I think the Gun Kata in Equilibrium was much more interesting. The lead looked WAY too much like Toby McGuire. And the voice-over, which I’m OK with as a rule, was done so poorly as to be out and out distracting.

The big problem, though, was the story. I should preface this by saying that a look at Wikipedia shows that this movie bears little in common with the comic.

Now, I understand that, in any teen boy wish fulfillment flick there’s going to be a certain amount of “been there done that”. But did the entire movie have to be a cliche? The the pathetic life, the training, the secret father, the struggle before accepting, the corruption. Seriously, the only moment that was even mildly surprising (and, actually, it was pretty good) was Jolie’s last shot, hell, even the camera was good on that. But outside of that there weren’t many moments I didn’t see coming. And thats sad because when I watch a movie like this, I really try to just let go of everything. I know its going to be light and eye-candy (btw, there were a handful of nice action moments) and escapist. Thats what I want sometimes. But when every scene is so predictable, you start feeling, well, cheated.

Jeez…I really should have just watched Ang Lee’s Hulk, which I accidently got instead of the new one.

OK, this wasn’t as automated as I thought it would be, but it still amuses me.  There’s this site Xtranomal.com that allows you to quickly generate movies based on stock characters and such.

Here’s Dinosaur Comics strip and the movie it generated

Holy fuck!
Dirty Harry Meets Unforgiven Meets (Miller’s) Dark Knight???
http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/grantorino/
(ok, no costume, but jeez!)
Yes, I’ll be seeing this.

A year or two ago, William Shatner had this movie club where, for like 10 bucks a year, you got a little known horror/sf/fantasy dvd in the mail each month.  I have a ton of these and have watched very few.
This weekend, I watched Immortal. 
I’m not sure if I’d call it a good movie, but it did the world very well.  It basically dumps the viewer into this VERY strange world and doesn’t treat them like idiots.  We are allowed to think and imagine and fill in the blanks.  I like it when an author, or movie, or whatever, lets YOU explore the world, doesn’t explain everything, just assumes you can pick it all up.  It makes the place more real for me, and much more interesting since there’s no way to explain EVERYTHING in a complex, bizarre universe.
I can very much suggest the flick for that and the visuals.
Interesting.

Yeah, I think I’ll be seeing this.

This makes me very sad.
I want to start out by saying that I completely disagree with Singer’s decision to, basically, do a remake of the first Donner Superman movie.  Personally, I think way too much has been made of these things in the first place, but I accept I’m in the minority here.
That said, when you watch Singer’s movie without expectations, its actually a pretty decent movie. 
Mostly, though, what he succeeded at was building the character of Superman.  I liked the loneliness.  This is one of the aspects of the character that seems to get talked about a great deal, but little is shown.  Here, I really did feel like he’s this man all alone in the world, but who feels completely beholden to it.
Anyhow, while I think that Singer needs a little guidance out of the Donner-worship, I also think he could make a GREAT Superman movie, with that guidance.

Bryan Singer on Superman: The Man of Steel | Movie Blog | UGO.com

JH: But there is talk of a new film, though. Are you officially involved in this talk of the new film?

BS: I am not officially involved in the talk, no.

JH: But when talk happens they’ll call you.

BS: Well it’s, you know, I have relationships with Warner Brothers and with the character and, and, and, and it’s just the way things work out.

JH: But you are not divorced from Superman at this point.

BS: No.

JH: All right.

Its the weekend, with time for thoughtful, insightful postings…
And I believe we will start out with

NAZIS!!!
ZOMBIES!!!
SNOW!!!!!!