I’ve been very, very, very, very, very, very, VERY busy lately. This is going to be a busy year in fact. The era of me posting every single day is going away for the forseeable future. Work & Real Life are devouring me whole. But enough of the excuses and onto some content…

Sunshine

Recently watched this movie. Loved the style. Danny Boyle should do more sci-fi. That said, I wasn’t crazy about the story. Once you get over the absurdity of a team of space adventurers bringing a payload to detonate on the surface of the sun in order to re-ignite it, there just isn’t that much of a logical story there. If the story seems familiar, that’s because Solaris, Event Horizon, and Sphere got there first. On the positive side the cast was great, the music was great, and the entire style, feel, and vibe of the film were excellent. The story was the weakest link, which is not really the thing you want being the weak link, mmk?

We Own The Night

I’ve been a fan of James Gray since Little Odessa. The Yards was nothing to write home about, but interesting nonetheless. We Own The Night is like a re-imagined Yards infused with some of the battitude of Little Odessa. I found a lot of similarities between this movie and David Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises. Cronenberg and Gray should just get it over with and make a movie together. It can feature Russian mafia, gratuitous throat-slitting scenes, and hard-hitting tension between family members caught on both sides of the criminal divide.

That’s all for now…

P.S. What do you think of that Indy 4 trailer?

I’ve read The Mist short story by Stephen King, but haven’t read No Country for Old Men, by Cormac McCarthy of “The Road” fame.

Both involve strong characters stuck in sticky dilemmas, forced to make hard choices which the audience may or may not agree with. But wait! Doesn’t the title of this thread imply this post was about Hollywood and formula?

Well here it is; Formula is officially dead. Or maybe it never existed. Love it or hate it, these movies break a couple fundamental rules. Rules that, if there were such a thing as The Formula, are clearly being violated in Hollywood left and right.

One is substituting gritty drama in place of high action. While The Mist does give you a glimpse of its monsters, that glimpse is a fraction of the time invested in the movie. You more often hear characters talking about monsters or arguing about what to do than actually fighting them. It clearly violates the “show don’t tell” rule on many levels. Considering both movies come from books, that’s not surprising.

But to me, the most anti-Hollywood, and anti-formula aspects of these movies involve their endings. I won’t give any details away, but one is about the most anti-heroic ending I’ve ever seen in a movie, and the other ending is non-existent.

Clearly if Hollywood were ramrodding formula down the throats of audiences, not only would these endings not exist — but their movies might not either!

Now, being a bit more of a storytelling classicist and feeling a bit sympathetic towards the principles behind formula (do not piss off the audience, etc.), I must say that I wasn’t satisfied with the ending to either movie.

The funny part is, I feel a bit alone on this. Am I the only one who likes a good Hollywood ending anymore? And by that I don’t mean happy ending — a story can and should have sacrifices, but at the end of it all the sacrifices should mean something. Storytelling is founded upon the sense of meaning that is grasped by the audience. The Mist left me angry, No Country for Old Men left me confused.

Formula is a myth, or if it isn’t a myth then it’s dead. These two movies prove it, in a way that makes a case for formula itself.

Times like this I wish I had spoiler tags. Time to root up a plugin I guess.

I can’t keep up with it all. I’ve got a stack of books next to the bed, and piles of movies and games in front of the TV. Sure, there are worse problems in the world. But do you ever feel overwhelmed by it all? It’s blasphemy, I know.

My problem? If only I didn’t want to check out everything. There ya go, I admitted it. I’m an entertainment addict.

What about you?

A few thoughts:

• The Godfather game for 360 is super violent, and lots of fun. Inventive use of original voice recording from the movies, in addition to some re-recording done with the original cast.
• The Bourne Ultimatum was awesome. Thematically felt a lot closer to the first movie. I wasn’t a huge fan of the second movie. The third ties up a lot of stuff from all the movies, but mainly, there’s not a dull moment in it. Every scene in Ultimatum has a purpose, and almost every scene has high tension. What the third movie does most of all though, is make the trilogy feel very cohesive — like a single story.

More later…

Books

Old Man’s War

A bunch of geriatrics trade in their old bodies for new ones from the military, the catch being that they can never return to Earth and have to go fight in the Colonial wars. Interesting and humorous, I’m starting to see why this won the Hugo.

Ender’s Game

Ender Wiggin is recognized as being special from a very young age. He is recruited by the government to go to battle school, where his intelligence and aptitude are proven in mock battles with other boys his age.

It soon becomes apparent that nobody can beat Ender, and the military advances Ender to become the youngest military commander ever. But young Ender is still a child, and often laments over the fact he is not allowed to enjoy his childhood. He soon grows to despise his military benefactors.

Can Ender ever escape the hero’s burden placed upon him? How can he, when mankind needs him to save the universe from the evil Bugger threat?

Don’t forget, you can always find out what I’m reading in the Quantum Reading section.

 
XBOX 360 Games

Call of Juarez

Wild West shooters don’t usually do too well among the 18 – 35 demographic. Which is too bad because this one is quite fun. Play alternates between two main characters Billy Candle and Reverend Ray. Ray mistakenly views Billy as responsible for the deaths of Billy’s parents, and you spend a majority of the game alternating between Billy escaping the wrath of the Reverend, and playing as the Reverend chasing down Billy.

You often get to see levels from these two different perspectives which makes progress through the game interesting. How is the gameplay? Quite fun. Firing dual six-shooters in slow motion while playing as Ray is very rewarding, if not reminiscent of Max Payne. While playing as Billy you get to use the whip for some Indiana Jones navigation across hazardous terrain. Given there aren’t many games to play this summer, this one will keep you busy for a while.

Far Cry Instincts Predator

I had played the original Far Cry on the PC, and with a little bit of spit and shine it could have given Half-Life a run for its money. I’m playing the 360 versions for gamer points, and again because game publishers seem to hate the summer.

Speaking which, there are a ton of games coming out this fall like BioShock, Assassin’s Creed, Army of Two, and Grand Theft Auto IV. I fear I won’t have time to play all of those, and some of them will have to wait til the cold months of winter. Silly publishers and their Xmas deadlines. If they’d only spread some out in the summer they could make just as much if not more money for filling the dead space.

Hollywood learned this many years ago, as movie primetime used to be during the holiday season, and now we live in the era of the summer blockbuster. The game industry needs to wake up and follow suit.

As long as we’re on the topic of the 360, for those of you who are also gamers you may find me on Xbox Live as Redchurch77. All I ask is that if you request to have me add you to the friends list, that you send me a message letting me know who you are. There’s nothing more confusing than getting a friend request from some random nickname you’re not familiar with.

 
Movies

The Untouchables

While I wait for crowds and my busy weekends to die down a bit so I can go see Die Hard 4, I’ve been enjoying the steady release of HD DVDs on my Xbox 360 add-on HD DVD player. One must-have release for July is The Untouchables. There’s nothing like seeing Robert DeNiro as Al Capone smack someone in the head with a baseball bat in full HD glory.

Later this month HD DVD will see the release of The Bourne Identity. This is how I know.

What’s in your queue this summer? Got any entertainment plans?