I'm not sure how I feel about Baz Luhrmann's glitzy, surreal adaptation of The Great Gatsby (and in 3D no less!). The Fitzgerald novel was one of my favorite high school required readings, and I feel that director Luhrmann and I imagined the book very differently.
Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts
Monday, September 10, 2012
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Brad Pitt's new trailer for Killing Them Softly has been recently released. The movie has a stellar cast, intriguing story, and if we can take the trailer at face value: a sense of wry humor. But what stood out the most for me was the trailer's use of Johnny Cash's "The Man Comes Around."
What is it about this song? It's one of my favorite Cash songs, mainly because it is downright foreboding.
I did a little internet research and gleaned that Cash was the sole writer of this song and refused any outside editing. Written later in his life after Cash became particularly religious, the song is about the Revelations and second coming of Christ.
Directors must love the chills Cash delivers here because the song has popped up in lots of places. I include this scene from the very underrated but very cool TV series The Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles:
I don't think the above scene uses Cash as effectively as the Killing Them Softly preview, and nothing can beat the use of "The Man Comes Around" as the opening credits of the Dawn of the Dead remake. Not for the squeamish, but if you want to take a peek, check it out here on youtube.
What is it about this song? It's one of my favorite Cash songs, mainly because it is downright foreboding.
I did a little internet research and gleaned that Cash was the sole writer of this song and refused any outside editing. Written later in his life after Cash became particularly religious, the song is about the Revelations and second coming of Christ.
Directors must love the chills Cash delivers here because the song has popped up in lots of places. I include this scene from the very underrated but very cool TV series The Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles:
I don't think the above scene uses Cash as effectively as the Killing Them Softly preview, and nothing can beat the use of "The Man Comes Around" as the opening credits of the Dawn of the Dead remake. Not for the squeamish, but if you want to take a peek, check it out here on youtube.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Stomach rumbling at 2 pm, I decided to drag Bryan out to lunch with me. I hadn't been to Duke's Beach House since getting breakfast there over a year ago, and since the restaurant was en route to our errand dash, it seemed like the best choice.
The restaurant is located on the Honua Kai Resort & Spa property, and it is gorgeous over there!
The hotel entrance is landscaped with these incredibly thorny flowers. Look carefully at the plant stalk. Ouch! I haven ever seen plants like this before.
The lobby, scattered with comfy dark wicker furniture, is refreshingly cool and spacious. Once you walk through the breezeway you are greeted by a gently curving infinity fish pond.
{I did cartwheels on that big lawn}
The pond is filled with sunset colored koi and clouds of teeny tiny guppies (too small to be captured well with my cellphone camera).
I made Bryan watch the fish for a long while before we headed down to Duke's for food.
Lunch at Duke's was fun and satisfying. We sat up at the bar where we were served by Finch and Adam--two guys that I run into ALL the time in Lahaina. Bryan and I shared the Crab and Macadama Nut Wontons (delicious!), and I got the Arugala and Farro Salad with Fresh Island Fish while Bryan got the Steak Tacos.
After lunch, we hopped back in the car and went to Honokowai to run our errand--
--of going to the VIDEO STORE.
I put that in all capital letters because in this day and age, renting movies from an actual brick and mortar store is so rare. Bryan and I were hunting for copies of Alien and Aliens before we go see the new Ridley Scott Prometheus in theaters tomorrow.
When we got there, both movies were checked out. Bummer. Bryan and I looked at each other in sadness and then wandered aimlessly around in the tiny video store deciding what to do with ourselves.
We were looking like a pair of pathetic souls when the store owner asked us if she could help us find anything. We told her our mission and how sad we were that we had failed.
And then she told us that while we were walking the store aisles listlessly, a guy had come in and returned some DVDs: Alien and Aliens.
Awesome.
Bryan and I set up an account, we rented the movies and now we are going to have an Alien movie marathon tonight.
We are the biggest nerds ever.
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Saturday, April 28, 2012
Bryan and I have been trying to keep our evenings a little low key this week, and what better way to relax at night than kicking back with a movie?
I finally got to watch The Descendants, and it was very, very good. I was taken aback by how much I liked the movie. At times soaringly hilarious and other times deeply despairing, The Descendants is a bag of mixed emotions in the very best of ways.
I finally got to watch The Descendants, and it was very, very good. I was taken aback by how much I liked the movie. At times soaringly hilarious and other times deeply despairing, The Descendants is a bag of mixed emotions in the very best of ways.
George Clooney in The Descendants
{via}
We also watched Carnage last night. The movie is Roman Polanski's film version of the stage production God of Carnage. After their children are involved in a schoolyard fight, two sets of parents meet in a New York City apartment to discuss the incident. The civilized meeting quickly unravels as the parents become childish and petty. The dialogue is whip smart and fast, although the pace of the movie doesn't really allow any of the characters to really develop. Instead, you watch the characters quickly shed their good intentions, their good manners and watch them bicker and point fingers to hilarious effect.
Foster, Reilly, Waltz and Winslet in Carnage
{via google search}
What have all of you been watching lately? Anything worth recommending?
Friday, April 20, 2012
I'm not so sure about this Instagram app, but it was what I used to take cameraphone snaps of my beach day with Bryan yesterday. I'm still looking into getting my Panasonic fixed--but it looks like sending it away may not be my best option. Le sigh. My camera fixing adventures continue...
We had a slow start to the day since Bryan and company were recovering from their big night out (The Shins concert on Wednesday night). I was able to rally the troops for lunch at Kimo's earlier in the day, then Bryan and I took the bus to the beach at Black Rock.
The water was like glass yesterday! There was absolutely zero surf, but there was a good amount of wind that intermittently blasted sheets of sand all over me. It felt safer to be in the water!
I took my Aquasphere goggles and swam like a fish to the peninsula point and beyond (featured in the photo above). I did that swim twice followed by a run on the beach--Bryan joined me for the two laps I ran!!
Having fun with silhouettes on the sand:
(I didn't realize that my Reef flip flop managed to sneak into the picture above until much later)
Bryan doesn't like having his photo taken, but he humored me and posed for our silhouette snapshot:
Clouds gathered over the West Maui Mountains behind us an the mist from the rain created this gorgeous rainbow. The rainbow's arc continued to arch higher and grow brighter over the next hour.
Leaving the beach:
After we bused home, we cleaned up and biked over to Fu Lin for some Chinese food. It's not the best ever, but it was fairly satisfying. I love their eggplant in Peking Sauce. And their Egg Drop Soup is not to be missed.
After dinner Bryan and I went to see The Cabin in the Woods. Writer/Producer Joss Whedon is one of my favorites. He's famous for his work in television (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly and Dollhouse), and I was interested in what he'd bring to the big screen (and for the ultimate fanboys, yes, I realize that Serenity was his first feature--but it's more of a continuation to his television series Firefly and not an original, standalone flick like Cabin).
The premise of the movie is original, clever, humorous and wry but it pivots on a premise that all of us is familiar with: five young, hot college kids go to a beat up, abandoned cabin in the middle of nowhere to have a fun weekend getaway but it all goes horribly wrong.
It's a great horror movie because it's plays off of all your expectations that been screwed into place by the horror genre. After leaving the theater, I felt like I had just watched an extended, R-rated episode of a Joss Whedon television show. If any of you are Joss Whedon fans then you know exactly what I'm talking about and are going to love the movie--especially with all the Whedon alumni featured in the movie, plus this guy:
We had a slow start to the day since Bryan and company were recovering from their big night out (The Shins concert on Wednesday night). I was able to rally the troops for lunch at Kimo's earlier in the day, then Bryan and I took the bus to the beach at Black Rock.
The water was like glass yesterday! There was absolutely zero surf, but there was a good amount of wind that intermittently blasted sheets of sand all over me. It felt safer to be in the water!
I took my Aquasphere goggles and swam like a fish to the peninsula point and beyond (featured in the photo above). I did that swim twice followed by a run on the beach--Bryan joined me for the two laps I ran!!
Having fun with silhouettes on the sand:
(I didn't realize that my Reef flip flop managed to sneak into the picture above until much later)
Bryan doesn't like having his photo taken, but he humored me and posed for our silhouette snapshot:
Clouds gathered over the West Maui Mountains behind us an the mist from the rain created this gorgeous rainbow. The rainbow's arc continued to arch higher and grow brighter over the next hour.
Leaving the beach:
After we bused home, we cleaned up and biked over to Fu Lin for some Chinese food. It's not the best ever, but it was fairly satisfying. I love their eggplant in Peking Sauce. And their Egg Drop Soup is not to be missed.
After dinner Bryan and I went to see The Cabin in the Woods. Writer/Producer Joss Whedon is one of my favorites. He's famous for his work in television (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly and Dollhouse), and I was interested in what he'd bring to the big screen (and for the ultimate fanboys, yes, I realize that Serenity was his first feature--but it's more of a continuation to his television series Firefly and not an original, standalone flick like Cabin).
The premise of the movie is original, clever, humorous and wry but it pivots on a premise that all of us is familiar with: five young, hot college kids go to a beat up, abandoned cabin in the middle of nowhere to have a fun weekend getaway but it all goes horribly wrong.
It's a great horror movie because it's plays off of all your expectations that been screwed into place by the horror genre. After leaving the theater, I felt like I had just watched an extended, R-rated episode of a Joss Whedon television show. If any of you are Joss Whedon fans then you know exactly what I'm talking about and are going to love the movie--especially with all the Whedon alumni featured in the movie, plus this guy:
Richard Jenkins is one of my favorite character actors and he is seemingly in everything. I was incredibly delighted to see him in Cabin in the Woods, and he played one of my favorite characters.
If you can stomach a few good scares and some gore as well as the unexpected, get thee to a theater and see The Cabin in the Woods.
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