The Doubleshot Expresso : movie

Art

ac3raven — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 04:28:00 GMT

Upon the eminent start of my 2nd quarter of ITT, I've been thinking quite a bit about my chosen career, that is video game design. I've been thinking about the place of video games in society, and where they will be in the future. I firmly believe that...(read more)

Beowulf in IMAX 3D

ac3raven — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 05:52:00 GMT

It was kind of a haphazard plan, but my cousin and I decided that it would be a good idea to see the recent Beowulf rendition by Zemeckis in IMAX and in 3D. We saw it today (Saturday) and the experience was well worth the 10.25 I paid for it, I would have been willing to pay 20.50 for it!

Firstly, I have to say that despite the criticism this film received prior to its debut about the CGI overlay style, I think it worked extremely well. The CGI overlay opened up options in terms of cinematography, allowing the fantasy-esque appeal of the story to be fleshed out via stylistic lighting, and more creative camera work. The 3D goggles I was wearing certainly helped to immerse me into the films settings and plot, although the 3D was a bit overwhelming at first. Visually, Beowulf was excellent, but the real question is whether or not the story-arc of the movie was handled well.

If you've read the text of Beowulf, then you know that it is a very generic (by today's standards) story with subtle undertones of love, grief, and the imperfect nature of man. The text focuses on heroism, defining the archetypal hero with attributes such as courage, physical strength, perseverance and what not. Well, I can tell you the movie pulls these things off very accurately, and of course that's not necessarily a good thing. Yes the fact that the movie followed the story arch of the text for the most part is respectable, but its also predictable. The movie suffers only because the reference material is so generic and lacking of depth. It's an action movie, nothing more really; that said, it is a good movie, one worth paying a steep price to see and you'll like it if your not expecting too much from it.

I sit down in the IMAX theater, and one of the first things I wondered was how Grendel would be portrayed. I've seen 3 different personalities of this being (Beowulf the original text, Beowulf and Grendel, with Gerard Butler, and the novel simply titled Grendel). Both the movie with Gerard Butler as Beowulf and the novel (more of a long short story) Grendel portray the being as a victim rather than a criminal and the same goes for the Zemeckis version. Giving Grendel a backstory adds just a little more depth to the story so I'm glad they went that route.

Overall it was a good movie (especially in IMAX 3D), but keeping in mind the not-so-deep reference material, I guess there was no reasonable way to make it anything more than an action fest. The visuals were nice, the casting was good (although I think they could have found a better actress to play the role of Grendel's mother, Jolie just wasn't strange enough), and the plot was executed finely.

I'm giving Beowulf a 7/10

Spider-man 3 review (Spoilers)

ac3raven — Tue, 08 May 2007 03:21:00 GMT

Before seeing the movie I had read a review by Christy Lemire from AP. She wrote that the film was very convoluted, and crowded with plot lines that decreased the depth of the film. She also wrote that Kirsten Dunst's character was left to perpetually whine about her failed career as an actress and do nothing more. I did not let this surprisingly negative review deter me from seeing the film, so I went with five other friends of mine to see the movie and hopefully validate my hype.

Firstly, I must say that I do agree with Lemire on her statement that there are a lot of plot lines, but I do not believe that they make for a convoluted film. The plots are Sandman's story, Venom's story, Hank's story, and the romance between Mary Jane, Peter Parker, Hank (I seem to have forgotten his last name), and a random, but thankfully not elaborate lab partner of Parker's. Each plot line, while short and to the point, is very well told and in the end they all seamlessly weave together. The film has something for everyone, I found my self sympathizing for every villain at one point, but I also found myself hating them. The action sequences are masterful as are the special effects (especially Sandman), the emo version of Parker, that was a result of the symbiote suit was hilarious, and the film some how manages to be quite an excellent romance. Throughout the film subtle dialogues of advice or reflection become the basis for Parker's quest to improve himself for Mary Jane, and although it is not completely obvious, viewers can see where Parker fails to remember his Aunt's advice. I must say that strangely enough I believe this film excels at the romance aspect.

Topher Grace as Eddie Broc/Venom was a bit out of place and did not really fit into the Venom persona we know from the cartoons, but I have to give him credit for trying and at least succeeding a little bit as the character of Eddie Broc.

I give Spider-man 3 Three stars out of four.