A Bit of an Update

Hmmm, a few moments ago, it occurred to me that I have a blog, several blogs to be more precise (but not of course, completely precise). So, I had a quick look at my last post which consisted of me saying I had started watching Battlestar Galactica, I expressed some mad Once Upon A Time In America love, some Crash dislike and some Dark Knight indifference. Now, to recap. I have managed to watch every episode of Battlestar Galactica, some more than once, I have the same feelings towards Once Upon a Time in America and Crash and I’m yet to watch The Dark Knight again.

I haven’t written for quite some time, one month and nine days to be exact. What the frak has happened since August 7th?

The IMDB war has ended, but do we care?
Nope, not really

Some of us may remember that around July/ August, there was a bit of a war going on. The Dark Knight fans and The Godfather fans fought a lengthy battle of mice and keyboards all try to get the favourite movie onto the number 1 spot on imdb’s top 250. As you may have noticed from the title, the war is now over. The Dark Knight remained at number one for quite some time but, as some of use predicted, it is number 1 no longer. The Dark Knight has trickled down to number 3, and I believe it will only fall further. However, evidence of the war remains. Initially, the top 3 films were, in order, The Godfather, The Shawshank Redemption and The Godfather: Part II. There’s been a bit of a switcheroo between The Godfather and The Shawshank Redemption, the damage from the war brought The Godfather’s rating down.

The keyboards were at a bit of a disadvantage

Saturday Night Live returns
Political sketches n’ all.

Saturday Night Live has returned from its Summer hiatus with some good stuff…and some not so good stuff. I opened, as we have come to expect, with a sketch about the upcoming election. Amy Poeler appeared as Hillary Cinton and surprisingly, Tina Fey played Alaska Governor and Republican vice-presidential nominee, Sarah Palin. The aesthetic similarities between these two had not occurred to me until I saw the sketch. I believe this calls for a split screen.

Palin, left, Fey, Right. Or am I messing with you?

I strongly suggest checking it out, ‘tis hilarious. That was part of the good stuff, now for the not to good stuff. The first episode back was hosted by American Olympic hero, Michael Phelps, lets just say, he’s not the best actor.

Dr Horrible and that gosh darn sing-along Blog
Is there nothing Joss Whedon can’t do?

A while ago, by a while I mean weeks ago, a web series named Dr Horribles’s Sing-Along Blog was a available to watch for free online. It was fantastic. I wouldn’t say it was the greatest internet creation since gmail but it was great for what it was. It told the fun story of Dr. Horrible, a less than terrifying villain who was trying to get into the Evil League of Evil (run by Bad Horse). All the while being impeded in his efforts by Captain Hammer (played by none other than Firefly’s Nathan Fillion) who had caught the eye of Dr. Horrible’s love interest, Penny. If you’re a fan of Whedon, particularly the humour found in Whedon’s creations, I’d say you’d enjoy it. Oh snap! Yeah…it’s not free online anymore, check if you like it on you tube and if you do, you can buy the episodes and the soundtrack on iTunes….or…go through other channels *cough* torrents *cough*.

Welcome to the Dollhouse
We've got fun 'n' games

Continuing with the Whedon theme, the trailer for Joss Whedon’s new TV series, Dollhouse. Rather actually write about it, like some kind of peasant, here’s the trailer. It looks good to me, but then again, I intentionally watch rubbish.



Trailer Daze
Phrase “borrowed” from the IFC news podcast

Apple trailers has released some goodies since I last wrote. I’m not sure if the Watchmen trailer adventure happened before or after I last wrote, but here’s the story. Empire Online basically said that they had the exclusive new Watchmen trailer and it would only be available at 5am on the site on this day in question. Losers such as myself actually woke up at 5am to watch the trailer and lo and behold, it was available on Apple trailers already. I watched it, downloaded it in HD and went back to sleep. Now…about the trailer. In my sleepiness, it looked like the best trailer I had ever seen. Hooooowever, in my awakened state, it wasn’t too great. The images in the film looked good, but on the whole, not the best trailer I’ve been privy to. Watching the trailer made me even more aware of how unfamiliar I am with the cast, which may turn out to be a good thing as I don’t have them typecast. The thing is, I recognised one of the cast member, and he played a rather interesting character in another film. The film in question was Hard Candy, and he played a paedophile…hopefully I’ll forget once the film comes out of his performance will be so awesome that he’ll make me forget. Watchmen is a comic (trade paperback if you want to be precise) that had a lot of complex story that is generally hard to tell, I can’t help but worry that a lot will be left out. Kevin Smith saw it and said it was great, but he also liked Star Wars episode 3.

Woah, Watchmen got loads of attention. Erm, I think I’ll just do a separate post for trailers. Yeah…

The (not so) Secret Life the American Teenager
How this is still being made, I don’t know, but keep it coming

Have you ever watched something knowing that it was absolutely awful? This is the relationship I have with the ABC “family drama”, The Secret Life of the American Teenager. I was just browsing…a website, and I stumbled upon The Secret Life of the American Teenager. The thing that caught my attention was Molly Ringwald’s name who I have seen since in anything made after, erm, 1986? So, I watched the first episode and what terrible goodness it was. The acting is atrocious, the characters are walking stereotypes and the story is just, blah. However, as it is so bad, I can’t help but watch it. This drama is one of the best comedies I watch at the moment.

Guess what it‘s about

Getting tired…

On a final note, additional things that have happened, of that I have become aware of are:
-Ingmar Bergman is awesome
-The Ice Bar is as cold as you think
-Tropic Thunder was not as funny as I expected
-Caribbean Ice Tea is so very tasty
-Ruby Blue is rubbish
-The Daily Show is the best way to spend 25 minutes

And…

When you want people to arrive at a particular time, tell them to arrive half an hour earlier

Goodbye Godfather, Hello Dark Knight?

I never thought I'd see the day. Ever since I started using imdb so many moons ago, the top of the list had always housed The Godfather part 1. It was then followed by The Shawshank Redemption and The Godfather part 2. Today, I was randomly pondering whether The Dark Knight had gotten into the top 250 yet, not because I’d seen it and thought it was great (which I haven’t), but because there have been quite a few previews for it and with most films nowadays, as soon as they come out, they receive a surge of votes and end up in the top 250. This year this has been the case for Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Indy 4, Wall-E and many more. So, I went on imdb to check The Dark Knight’s position and my gosh, I saw something I’ve never seen before. The Godfather was not in the number one spot. The Dark Knight had topped imdb’s top 250.

The question is: Is this further evidence that imdb’s top 250 is not reliable and valid or Is The Dark Knight the greatest film of all time? At this time I cannot comment, I’m yet to see The Dark Knight, as mentioned previously, it isn’t in the running to be my favourite film due to my clown problem but it may still turn out be a great film. I’m yet to get over the shock of seeing The Godfather at number 2. Strange. What one needs to remember is that this is the initial reaction to the film, this may be the responses of all The Dark Knight fan boys who where going to give it 10 stars regardless of how good it was. Then again, Empire gave it five stars (out of five). Oooo, I feel so conflicted. There’s a strong chance that it will go down, like I said before, more than four other films from 2008 got into the top 250 when they came out, only two remain.

On IMDB and Hancock

Those people on imdb love to annoy me. Today I was insulted on imdb for the first time, well, technically it was a while ago but I only just returned to the board. It all started when the trailer for Adulthood came out. I considered the Kidulthood to be rather unrealistic and generally bad, but I decided to see whether the sequel would be better. Based on what I saw, I don’t think it is. Here’s the trailer in question.


This was the subject of a thread on imdb resulting in many people saying how great it looked and how good the film would be. I personally think the trailer was a bit long for a trailer. Who makes a 4 minute trailer? More importantly, how do does one make a 4 minute trailer without giving any details of the storyline. This is basically what followed all the Adulthood trailer love:

Bahometh: wow, looks terrible! i hope people who said it looks good dont really mean it.

I then responded with

SaphMB: You just made the most logical statement on this thread so far

I can support this claim as I believe the trailer looked awful. It started fine; the monologue looked like a good set up for the trailer and the film in general. However, after that, it is essentially a channel U music video. I didn’t notice that someone had responded to my post until today, here it is.

Legolased12: And you two are *beep* If you don't like this film then don't comment the board. People like you are mugs. Quick to complain about things and post negative comments online but if you actually see someone getting beaten you will just walk past and ignore it,and then complain about todays youth.

I had to respond to this. My thoughts as they were are expressed by my response.

SaphMB: Hmmm, okay then. Something you should be made aware of is the fact that the message boards on imdb are not just for those who want to compliment films but those who want to criticise them too. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, mine is based on my belief that the trailer does not look impressive. The monologue at the beginning looks like a great set-up but as soon as the monologue comes to an end , the trailer suddenly turns into a music video showcasing what garage now offers. Few elements of a story line are given and it’s bit too long to be a teaser trailer so this must be the theatrical one.

"People like you are mugs. Quick to complain about things and post negative comments online but if you actually see someone getting beaten you will just walk past and ignore it,and then complain about todays youth."

You have no reasoning to call me a mug or anything other than someone who did not like the trailer. My opinion of a trailer has nothing to do with what kind of person I am or what I would do in a situation where someone was being assaulted. As for complaining about today's youth, I am one of today's youth and I am constantly given reason. In London, there are many cases of children assaulting and killing others; some are reported, many are unreported. The problem is not that someone may walk past when someone is being assaulted, then problem is the fact that assault is so common in society today.

I hope Legolased12 sees that.

I saw Hancock today, wow, I watch some of the most mainstream films ever at the cinema. Oh well. Hancock; not that great, disappointing actually. My brother FELL ASLEEP, TWICE. This was my main source of entertainment as my brother snores, quite loudly actually. As a result of this, I decided to play a little game. I tried to see how long I could go without getting him to wake up meaning, how long would I allow the snoring to go on for. I allowed it to go on for a while but he woke himself up. I sent most of the text message I’ve sent this week during that film, I also listened to my iPod for a while. That’s how good Hancock was.

I think my may be growing tired of Will Smith’s humour. He’s essentially given to same type of jokes in most of the films he’s in; it gets old. What someone needs to do is give him a role that allows him to show greater range than we have previously seen. Jason Bateman was good, I’ve only really noticed him since I started watching Arrested Development; a jolly good watch. I’ve also be watching Six Feet Under. I watched 3 and a half seasons in 4 days. Evidence that the show is great and that there isn’t much to my life.

The Most Overrated Films of all Time

Every year people throw quotes around like “the best film of all time”. Are they really? So many films get an overwhelming amount of credit for being great when they are in actuality, average. These are the films overrated films. I shall name a few of these such films, please don’t hunt me down.

Titanic

James Cameron’s deviation from the sci-fi genre is a film that many take great pleasure in. Its greatest strength is in something that James Cameron is great with, the aesthetic. The film is visually stunning; at no point does the audience not believe that they are on the Titanic. Unfortunately this strength does not outweigh the crushing disappointment that is the other aspects of the film. The focal point of the film is the love story between Jack and Rose, a story we have seen many times before; boy meets girl, they fall in love, they can’t be together but they try to be. So very unoriginal. This was the point in Leonardo DiCaprio’s career where he was often in films to make young girls swoon. His performance was acceptable but not tremendous. Kate Winslet is an amazing actress but Titanic is most certainly not her best performance. A combination of satisfactory acting, an okay storyline and an unoriginal love story line make Titanic a greatly overrated film.

High School Musical

What happened to this world? Disney’s live action musical took the world by storm prompting sequels and tours. My main question is, why? High School Musical is clearly a musical for children yet many attempt to dress it up as something more profound. The storyline is almost non-existent. From the beginning of the film to the end there is hardly any character progression and at no point is the emotional tone at a low. Like any musical, High School Musical is reliant on the songs; this is one of the biggest flaws. The songs are mediocre. The dance sequences are impressive and this is one of High School Musical’s saving graces, the choreography is amazing but does it cancel out the lack of storyline and tremendous amount of cheese, I think not.

Crash

Number 156 in imdb’s top 250, winner of the academy award for best picture, Crash. A film that at the time of it’s release and still is, depicted as an enigmatic story about an untouched subject. The story is not enigmatic at all, to be fair, it’s quite simple and to say it is complicated or enigmatic is to insult the audience. The untouched subject? Racism. Shocking isn’t it. A film about racism; never heard that one before. American History X, Do the Right Thing-aren’t they films about racism? So why did everyone make such a fuss about Crash, a film that pales in comparison to the named examples. Crash’s clear lack of originality and shocking amount of credence makes Crash one of the most overrated films of all time and the most overrated film of 2004.

I Give The Godfather 1 out of 10

Being the movie nerd that I am, I spend a huge amount of time on imdb.com. Naturally I turn my attention to the message boards. Unfortunately, this is often a rather unpleasant experience. There is always someone who goes into a message board starts a thread with an ingenious name such as "This film is so rubbish" and then never returns. They give no justification for their comments, why? Because they probably have none. They're too simple minded to realise that they are watching a cinematic masterpiece (yes you imperfectpete from the Pan's Labyrinth Boards) .

A great thing you can do with imdb is look at the distribution of the ratings given by the users. 15533 people have rated The Godfather 1 out of 10. 1 out of 10? The Godfather? I am most certainly not the hugest fan of The Godfather but I can appreciate that it is a masterpiece. Few films are a 1 out of 10 except maybe Trees 2: The Root of All Evil (I'll get back to that).

I have the great honour of being a female under the age of of 18. This demographic seems to give out the most ridiculous ratings conceivable. The average rating of Rashômon for females under 18 is 2.7. Rashômon is a masterpiece and it is shocking that they cannot realise this. Many see subtitles and think "Oh no, it's foreign". Fools I tells ya!

Now, for your reading pleasure the plot synopsis for Trees 2: The Root of All Evil:
As Christmas approaches, Ranger Cody prepares to do battle with an army of carnivorous trees that may be from a special branch of the ominous National Forest Service.

Good Times