may in movies

Return of the Living Dead 4, Necropolis - featuring hackers so elite they redirect cd drives to a: , great overacting and greatly horrible lines, and mediocre gore. 3/10 in genre, 1/10 overall

A Sound of Thunder - decent enough cast in a poorly written scifi. Goes nowhere fast, doesn't even feature decent effects. 4/10 in genre, 3/10 overall

Little Fish - Good Blanchett in a fairly well-written (if obvious) story about the difficulties of escaping the weight of our past actions. Very "feely" movie. 6/10 in genre, 7/10 overall

Akira - action packed scifi anime that can be read a million different ways thanks to its varied and vague messages and incredible attention to detail, though some might say a little light on true depth (a view furthered by the chessy dialogue). Includes possibly the best scoring of any movie. 10/10 in genre, 9/10 overall

Spirited Away - poignant fantasy tale about growing up. Great plot, characters, animation, scoring, dialogue. A wonderful world is created by master Miyazaki, following a dynamic central character as she deals with the stress of moving to a new city, and parents who just won't listen. 10/10 in genre, 9/10 overall

History of the World, Part I - Brooks' version of our past starts with pre-history, but isn't mean for its technical aspects. Cheesy yet addictive humour, with lines that resonant throughout the years, and acting to match. 7/10 in genre, 5/10 overall



Sorry, didn't really have time to watch more movies, seemed i kept having to work (don't know why i kept doing that), or hang out (don't know who kept making me do that).

Around the World

Tomorrow i leave for LA. I'll be there for just over a day, visiting my brother and family, after which i'll head to Beijing. There i'll see Tiananmen Square, the world's largest public square and site of the infamous 1989 protests. Maybe stop in and say hi to Mao, resting in eternal frozen state, and ask him "Why?"

From Beijing i'll hopefully train it up to Ulaanbataar, where i'll horseback ride along the same steppes as the greatest horseback rider of all time. After 1-2 weeks i'll try to make my way to Europe (hopefully by plane not horse) to see my parents and extended family in Germany, and then down to Rome to see a couple friends. If all goes well, i'll be heading back to DTW on the 21st, 58 days under those other folks.

For a bit i was stressing about the cost of this trip, but then a friend of mine mentioned some yoga workshop that headed to Peru for a week, at a cost of $3600, not including airfare. There's no way i'll spend more than that on this trip, unless i get real drunk. Or lost. Or bored. Or mugged.

Passed!

This maillist response made me happy. It's maybe 50% of the time that i know the answer to a question posed on that mailling list and %25 of the time that i respond to the poster, but that's the first time i was labelled as "best solution", and about something relatively esoteric at that!

Less than usual

Haven't had the time for my recent average of .85 movies per day - it's that crazy thing called work. Here's the April report.

Gandhi - an elegant and appropriate (being half Indian, half British) performance from Kingsley in this long 3 hour+ movie (was the guy's life really that long??). 7/10 overall, 8/10 in genre.

Sliding Doors - cutesy love comedy with a beautifully sad Paltrow; i wonder who's idea it was to not let her get outstaged in beauty - the other actresses seemed too deliberately selected. Watch it for sad Paltrow and that wonderful Albert Bridge in London. 5/10 overall, 6/10 in genre.

The Professional - Besson again proves his worth as a storyteller/director, Reno shows his amazing proficiency in action, and a very young Portman makes a stunning debut. With a supporting cast including such wonders as Aiello and Oldman, this bound-for-greatness action flick succeeds in developing deep bonds between two disparately similar characters, culminating in a hero-style climax that almost rivals Unforgiven's. It's a must see for anyone who likes action movies, and a really should see for everyone else. 9/10 overall, 10/10 in genre.

I Have Found It - Indian take on Sense and Sensibility. In other words a great storyline interspersed with song and dance sequences every 10 minutes. Good acting, nice sets, decent cinematography, and plenty of tongue in cheek humour. Worth seeing, if you can stand musicals. 6/10 overall, 6/10 in genre.

King Kong - Jackson returns to those zany monkey islands in another of his "more is more" movies. It's a good mix of humour and action featuring great special effects, but too overplayed in pushing certain morals. 6/10 overall, 7/10 in genre.

Hide and Creep - Yet another lousy zombie movie. It's a decent (well, typical) enough plot, but the actors forget their one task: to act! Overact, underact, or just get it right, but at least try! There's plenty of attempts at good humour, but the lack of acting makes for one lousy movie. 1/10 overall, 2/10 in genre.

Dead Man - Depp delivers a strong yet strangely slow moving transformation in a very typical Jarmusch film. Very good performances from Farmer and Henriksen. 6/10 overall, 7/10 in genre.

Elizabeth - If only it had gone further - whether it's due to Kapur's not pushing the line far enough, Hirst not clever enough in the scene transforms, or Blanchett not delivering the role, this almost perfect movie succeeds in leaving you knowing she was Great, just not completely feeling it. It also has one badass assassin sequence that puts the LotR wraiths to shame.

And so ya'll don't think i'm a slacker, i've been watching a lot of documentary shows lately, in particular the James Burke Connections and The Day the Universe Changed series, both of which i highly recommend.